This article first appeared on Substack

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects us from being arrested or punished by the government for things we write, say, etc.

It does NOT protect us from other repercussions, such as being fired from our private, corporate job for problematic speech.

That’s why consequence culture (AKA cancel culture) can be a good thing — when it's organic. Sometimes, people should be held accountable for their words.

For example: FOX News host Brian Kilmeade recently said on live TV that we should involuntarily euthanize all homeless people(!!).

It would make complete sense for authentic mass public outrage to stem from this disturbing comment, leading to Brian Kilmeade losing his job.

That would just be the American people influencing the market!

What is NOT OK is what we're currently seeing in response to the murder of far-right pundit Charlie Kirk. In that situation, there is clearly a heavily coordinated (and probably heavily funded) effort to create outrage at the national level.

On top of the coordinated outrage campaign, we’re also seeing high-level government officials pressuring Americans to get their neighbors fired for speaking negatively about Charlie Kirk, a friend of the government.

Vice President JD Vance actually hosted Charlie Kirk’s show a few days after his death and made comments such as, "When you see someone celebrating Charlie's murder, call them out — and, hell, call their employer."

That is a dangerous, terrifying, slippery slope.

The Trump administration knows that they can't (yet) arrest or punish you for free speech, so they're pressuring your employers and neighbors to punish you instead.

Their goal is to create a culture where we're all afraid to speak freely.

But they will have a much harder time succeeding if we all speak out more often. There is strength in numbers.

Don't help the government hurt you.