Twitter temporarily suspends Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for vaccine misinformation – CNNPolitics https://t.co/I6rwFStlBS

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) July 20, 2021

 

Marjorie Taylor Greene got herself into trouble again–and this time, it looks as if she might have ruined her political career.

Twitter suspended her for spreading false information on vaccines and COVID-19, and even more importantly, Democrats drafted a bill that might lead to getting her expelled from the House of Representatives.

As a political observer, I am only surprised that it took so long for this to happen. As someone from Germany, I am quite shocked that she got away with comparing Liberals to Nazis, talking about Jewish space lasers, and insulting leading scientists.

When I first heard about her becoming the first elected official who supports the QAnon movement, I was shocked that this was even possible. But when Republicans took no action to stop her offensive behavior, I was really worried about the future of American democracy.

Last week, Marjorie Taylor Greene started campaigning with her fellow Republican buddy Matt Gaetz—a man who is accused of human trafficking and hosting questionable parties with minors. Both of them asked their supporters to take their anger to the streets.

I understand that freedom of speech is essential for democracies, but I would also like to remind everyone that the Nazis in Germany also used freedom of speech as a tool to take control of Germany (and try to do it again these days). Marjorie Taylor Greene spreads disinformation that actually puts people in danger as she urges her supporters not to get vaccinated.

She is the most prominent Trump supporter who is still in office. She portrays herself as a victim of cancel culture, while she is actually threatening the core of American democracy. Personal freedom ends when we put others in danger—and Marjorie Taylor Greene crossed that line several times.

One can only hope that the bill to suspend her from the House of Representatives will pass and set an example for any young politician aiming to copy her strategy. This is not about censorship; it is about holding politicians accountable for their actions.

When Donald Trump got blocked from social media, it was already too late. The hate he created already led to the events of January 6th. When Alex Jones lost access to his social media channels, it was already too late. He already spent 20 years building a community that believes his outrageous claims. And the same goes for Greene; she already got elected and is backed by a community of MAGA fans who blindly follow her lead.

Trump, Jones, and Greene already built a massive audience using social media. Everything we see right now is just an attempt to minimize the damage they already caused. But to me, there is a bigger question: how do we prevent this from happening again?

Nobody wants to censor controversial opinions, but as a society, we need to find a common ground on what is acceptable—and what isn’t.

COVID-19 showed us how dangerous it is when voices of scientists get ridiculed by Conservative media campaigns such as the “American Frontline Doctors.” There is a difference between disagreeing on policies and disagreeing on what is real and what isn’t.

As a society, we cannot accept that half of the population believes in conspiracy theories that question science and democracy as a whole—especially as we know that a lot of these conspiracy theories are backed up by foreign actors like Russia and China.

Folks like Marjorie Taylor Greene need to be held accountable for the damage they caused. This is not about having different political ideas or opinions; this is about what kind of political culture we are willing to accept as our new normal.

Greene needs to go—and I will never understand why it took so long.