Anthony Fauci has been in the public eye for decades. Literally decades.

During that time he has been one of the most high profile public figures in America, associated with controversial topics like AIDS, promoting gain-of-function research, vaccines, and COVID-related measures such as lockdowns, forced vaccination, mask policies, and vaccine passports.

Needless to say he is “at risk” as a public figure. Not as “at risk” as John Lennon, but any random nutcase might recognize him. I was a very minor celebrity in Minnesota for a few years, on TV regularly, with my own radio show, and regularly the target of verbal attacks by high profile figures including radio hosts and several local newspapers, alternative and mainstream.

I got death threats. Not often, but I did. I also got accosted in banks, on the streets, at the execrable state fair I was forced to attend, and random places. I was even compared to a cop killer by the head of the State Patrol union in Minnesota and I literally feared for my life for a bit as every State Patrol officer had been informed by their union leader that I was a threat. I forced a retraction by appealing to his boss.

Unwilling to pay the price of being in the public eye? Don’t be. It’s your choice. Fauci made his. If you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen.

Fauci, along with every Leftist is now pulling the “I am being put in danger” card as a response to criticism. His argument, as well as those from every Leftist on every issue, seems to be that no matter how controversial the assertion they make, the actions they take, or how critical they are to their opponents, it is wrong to take issue with what they say. Doing so is a form of violent intimidation.

This is, of course, absurd on its face. Fauci has been involved directly in most of the very controversial decisions made over the past 3 years. Decisions that cost trillions of dollars, forced millions out of work, destroyed the education of a generation of students, and divided the country more than ever. He is, needless to say, extremely controversial. Loved by many, hated by many. Nobody is without an opinion about him.

And he apparently thinks he should be immune from criticism. Because criticism puts him in danger.

Yeah, right.

Dr. Anthony Fauci says he doesn’t pay a lot of attention to Elon Musk and his musings, but he does feel the Twitter CEO is putting his safety at risk.

“Of course it’s at risk, that’s why I have armed federal agents with me all the time,” Dr. Fauci, who retired this month after decades at the National Institutes of Health, told the journal Nature.

Dr. Fauci was responding to tweets from Mr. Musk that suggested Dr. Fauci had something to do with the origins of COVID-19 through federal grants that supported bat research in China and a virology lab in Wuhan, where the pandemic started in late 2019.

What crap. No matter what Elon Musk says Fauci’s controversial status changes not one whit. Not a single mind changed, Fauci’s profile is no higher than before, and there is no Musk army waiting to throw him in jail. Suggesting otherwise is insane. Or rather, propagandistic.

This is the current tactic of the Left. Every time they receive criticism they cry “violence.” They are being targeted. Harmed. They are “unsafe.” “Safe spaces” are about nothing more than feeling affirmed. Screw that. I affirm what I agree with, and disdain what I don’t. That is a basic human right.

We are allowed to dissent. Vocally.

In this case Fauci and company have the added benefit of tying Musk to non-existent violence, which is a bonus because he is currently the focus on their hatred. Hatred that they themselves express very vocally. I see no Leftist holding back on criticizing Musk for fear he will be targeted for violence. Does anybody seriously believe that he doesn’t get death threats every day of the week and twice on Sundays?

It is, as I said, part of being in the public eye.

Turn the situation around for a moment. If Musk is placing Fauci at risk for changing his pronouns briefly to Arrest/Fauci, then what are all the people relentlessly attacking Musk in far more hyperbolic ways doing for Musk’s safety? Take a tour of Twitter any given hour and you can find a million examples of the most vicious attacks on conservatives, and nobody is defending them against the stochastic terrorism aimed at them.

Look on TV–prominent figures blast Musk constantly. There is a movement to deport him. The President of the United States said he could be an actual risk to the security of the country. Is that terrorism by the president?

It seems a lot closer to putting Musk at risk than anything Musk said about Fauci. How many times has a president authorized killing people who are national security risks? (No, I am not implying that is what Biden was doing, but clearly his criticism was a lot harsher than Musk’s about Fauci.)

None of that counts because their opponents deserve it, in the eyes of the Left. Safety only goes one way.

This is all part of the attack on free speech that is so integral to the Left’s agenda. It all boils down to this:

Shut up. Only we get to talk.