| You are surely familiar with Nigel Farage, the Brexit proponent whose forbidden opinions have earned him the ire of fashionable opinion in the UK.
He’s had his bank accounts closed at Coutts Bank.
The media tried to suggest that his holdings had fallen below the bank’s threshold, but the bank’s own report on the situation contradicts that claim.
According to Farage himself:
I believe Coutts targeted me on personal and political grounds, for its report reads rather like a pre-trial brief drawn up by the prosecution in a case against a career criminal. Monthly press checks were made on me. My social media accounts were monitored. Anything considered “problematic” was recorded. I was being watched.
This report is proof that any Coutts customer who holds even vaguely conservative views should be treated with disdain. My friendship with the family of Novak Djokovic, who stood firm over his belief that he should have the freedom to choose whether to receive the Covid vaccine, is mentioned on the charge sheet….
At all times, the report’s tone is accusatory and reproachful. The fact that Brexit is mentioned on 86 occasions perhaps tells us all we need to know.
The Telegraph amplifies Farage’s position: “The Coutts papers read as if written by gullible schoolchildren with a Marxist teacher. Criticising BLM is ‘incit[ing] race hate.’ Wikipedia is cited as if it were a reliable source – as is the far-Left boycott group ‘Hope not Hate.’ Even the repeated comment that Farage is ‘polite to staff’ is revealing, as if they find it surprising from someone with his opinions.”
The report in question was produced at Farage’s request, since he has a right to see the personal information they held about him. The resulting 40 pages contained criticisms of his political opinions, some of which the bank described as “distasteful and appear increasingly out of touch with wider society.”
Did you know your bank wants to make sure you’re not “out of touch with wider society”?
I can already hear the midwit response: “It’s a private company!”
Even if you could disentangle the state-created banking cartel from the state privileges that make its existence possible, and so even if we truly were dealing with a private company, where does it say we’re not allowed to criticize private companies? This is a caricature of libertarianism, so it’s always demoralizing to hear libertarians themselves repeat it.
If the restaurant serves your rare steak well done, I promise you don’t have to say, “I’m not allowed to criticize this steak because it was produced on a free market.”
This is all part of the hyperpoliticization of society, in which your political opinions become relevant to every aspect of your daily life. We are allowed to criticize this hideous social trend, I promise.
Our friend Wanjiru Njoya, a professor at the University of Exeter and a past guest on the Tom Woods Show, adds a further note:
Almost all the defenses of free speech and the argument that people’s bank accounts should not be canceled for their opinions begin with a progressive caveat. “I don’t agree with Farage, but…” Which is a way of saying, “Please, lefties, don’t cancel me, too.” Everyone is afraid….
Rights stand on their own. Everyone has a right to free speech. There’s no presumption that if you defend free speech you agree with and admire what’s said. Progressive caveats reverse that presumption. Now unless you begin with a caveat it’s presumed you agree with the speaker.
Moreover, if everyone begins with, “I’m no fan of Mr. Farage, but…” how is that different from what the bank said in their Stasi-style dossier, where they made it clear they’re no fans of Mr. Farage, either? Mr. Farage is not on trial here. Everyone doesn’t have to denounce him.
I’ll admit I’ve done this in the past (not in the case of Farage, but in other cases). Njoya’s point is well taken, and I will not repeat my mistake.
Now, on a much happier note, let me share what I did over the weekend. It was the first meeting of my mastermind, which kicked off in New York City in the penthouse of one of the city’s finest hotels and will meet again in Chicago in October.
This was one of the most impressive rooms I’ve ever sat in — a small group of successful people determined to become wildly successful.
The collective knowledge of the people in that room, combined with the presence of one of the all-time business geniuses, Marlon Sanders, meant everybody got specific strategies and action plans that will generate results — and probably massive results. |
