The hullabaloo among the liberal cohort over Carlson’s interview with Putin unveils that those who label communists as tankies and authoritarians are well-aware of the necessity to suppress divergent viewpoints.
It emerges that freedom of expression is limited to ideas that align with the liberal narrative; when faced with opinions they deem detrimental, liberals demand cancellation, imprisonment, or even death for the proponents.
The real disagreement liberals have with communists is over what set of ideas has merit. When liberals screech about authoritarianism what they’re really saying is that it’s their ideology that’s being suppressed.
I mean whether they do it consciously or not, they demand holding others to a standard they don’t hold themselves to. No amount of rationalizing on their part changes this fact.