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Last October, Simon & Schuster, a giant in the publishing industry, announced it would be releasing Senator Josh Hawley’s book titled The Tyranny of Big Tech. As reported by AP News, Hawley had frequently criticized the various social media giants “for everything from alleged anti-conservative bias to monopolistic control of the online market.”

As Hawley explained, “At a time when these platforms are determining elections, banning inconvenient political views, lining politicians’ pockets with hundreds of millions of dollars, and addicting our kids to screens, I want to draw attention to the robber barons of the modern era. This is the fight to recover America’s populist democracy. That is why I am writing this book.”

Simon & Schuster: We “Cannot Support Senator Hawley”

The book was targeted for a June 2021 release date, but on January 7, 2021, one day after the storming of the Capitol, which was also one day after Sen. Hawley called for an investigation into claims of election fraud, Simon & Schuster released this statement:

After witnessing the disturbing, deadly insurrection that took place on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., Simon & Schuster has decided to cancel publication of Senator Josh Hawley’s forthcoming book, THE TYRANNY OF BIG TECH. We did not come to this decision lightly. As a publisher it will always be our mission to amplify a variety of voices and viewpoints: at the same time we take seriously our larger public responsibility as citizens, and cannot support Senator Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom.

So, a book exposing the tyranny of big tech got canceled because of a knee-jerk reaction to Hawley’s actions on January 6, actions that were neither dangerous nor unpatriotic. And this happened at the same time that President Trump’s Twitter account was being shut down for life, along with many other conservative accounts being purged. Oh, the irony!

But the story doesn’t end there.

Now a Bestseller

On January 18, 2021, Regnery Books, one of the conservative publishing giants, announced that their company would now be publishing the senator’s book, with a release date of May 2021.

As Mollie Hemingway reported on The Federalist, “Simon and Schuster canceled the book Jan. 7, quickly caving to a pressure campaign organized by leftist activists and making the Missouri Republican one of the highest-profile victims of cancel culture.”

Said Thomas Spence, the president of Regnery Books, “It’s discouraging to see them cower before the ‘woke mob,’ as Senator Hawley correctly calls it. Regnery is proud to stand in the breach with him. And the warning in his book about censorship obviously couldn’t be more urgent.”

The more the culture tries to silence us, the more we will get our message out.

Not surprisingly, interest in the book exploded after its cancellation and reinstatement, and now, it has debuted on Amazon as one of the top books in the nation.

Simon & Schuster inadvertently confirmed Hawley’s concerns, spiking interest in his book rather than drawing attention away from it.

This is how cancel culture backfires. This is how attempts to silence us can ultimately amplify our voices. This is how we push back.

But this is not the first time this has happened, nor will it be the last.

When Prof. Peterson Became an Overnight Sensation for Resisting Forced Speech

Were you aware of Prof. Jordan Peterson before he suddenly skyrocketed to international fame? Did you know of him when he was a respected but relatively obscure psychology professor at the University of Toronto? Were you one of the rare readers who waded through his serious, academic work, Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief, which took him thirteen years to write and which was published in 1999?

That was all before 2016, when quite suddenly and unexpectedly, Peterson became an international bestselling author and a man hailed by some as “the most influential public intellectual in the Western world right now.” What launched him into worldwide fame?

It was when he refused to bow down to the spirit of political correctness in Canada, specifically, being forced to use certain pronouns when addressing transgender-identified people.

When he was asked on TV what would happen if the government required him to comply with its new speech rules, he answered, “If they fine me, I won’t pay it. If they put me in jail, I’ll go on a hunger strike. I’m not doing this. And that’s that. I’m not using the words that other people require me to use. Especially if they’re made up by radical left-wing ideologues.”

But in Peterson’s case, instead of going to jail or being taken to court or being disciplined by his university, Peterson became an overnight sensation.

Attempts to Silence Us Will Backfire

According to his publisher, his second book, “12 Rules for Life has sold over five million copies worldwide and his global book tour has reached more than 250,000 people in 100 different cities.”

His Twitter account now has 1.7 million followers and his YouTube channel has 3.5 million subscribers.

Instead of his voice being silenced, Dr. Peterson’s voice has now been amplified to reach multiplied millions around the globe, providing another graphic example of what can happen when you make a principled decision not to cave in.

I’ve been working on a major book that addresses how we can overcome cancel culture, due out early next year. But suffice it to say now that we should be encouraged by the examples of Sen. Hawley and Prof. Peterson. The more the culture tries to silence us, the more we will get our message out.

We will not be silenced.

Dr. Michael Brown (www.askdrbrown.org) is the host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio program. His latest book is Evangelicals at the Crossroads: Will We Pass the Trump Test? Connect with him on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

39-year-old rideshare driver Ryan Long never could have imagined that appearing on “Jeopardy!” would turn his life around.

His win streak even got the attention of former champion Mattea Roach, who said she’s excited to compete against him in the upcoming 2022 Tournament of Champions.

Shortly after his winning streak came to an end, Ryan talked to “Jeopardy!” producers about what his time on the show meant to him.

Ryan Long Opens Up About Successful ‘Jeopardy!’ Run

“When I first got the call for Jeopardy! I was a different man,” Ryan told “Jeopardy!” producers after his win streak was over.

“I initially applied for the online test in September of 2020,” he explained. “I had worked all spring and summer through the pandemic, but in the fall, I was off from work on medical leave, so I had time on my hands. I had signed up for the test a few times over the years, but there was always some hitch that prevented me from following through.”

“Ultimately, I think it didn’t happen then because I didn’t truly believe that it could happen,” he added, calling it “a pipe dream, the kind of thing that you halfheartedly pursue in your spare time because 1) you don’t really think there’s a chance and 2) you’ve been conditioned to think of life as a series of crushed ambitions, so why bother? (That’s long denied depression for ya. Anyway.)”

“A month later in October, I was contacted for a Zoom audition,” he went on. “I was not the most confident person in the world, but I did it, thinking the whole time, ‘There’s no way they’re ever gonna let my mug on TV.’ Still, I was happy I’d actually tried. At least I could say that. Life went back to normal, I got better, and in early January, I went back to work.”

“Then COVID came knocking,” he said, going on to explain that he almost didn’t survive his struggle with the virus.

Ryan Long Was Hospitalized Due To COVID-19 For Two And A Half Weeks

Ryan explained that he had gotten sick with COVID-19, which landed him two and a half weeks in the hospital.

“I had managed to avoid getting sick the entire previous year, but after a few days back at work, my luck finally ran out. It went bad pretty quickly,” he explained. “I ended up in the hospital for two and a half weeks. Now, like a lot of men, particularly African American men, I don’t like hospitals. I don’t like going to the doctor (although I’m getting better with that). This time though, I didn’t have a choice.”

“The hospital staff brought it home to me pretty quickly that they weren’t sure I’d make it,” he revealed. “I still keep the picture my doctor gave me of my saturated lungs on my phone, as a reminder of how close I came to never seeing my son again. Thankfully, I did recover. The experience taught me not to take anything for granted, and it relit a fire in me that I thought had gone out a long time ago: the fire to do something with my life. I remembered that life wasn’t just about survival; I wanted to actually live and not just ‘get through.’”

“A lot of things happened over the next year which, for the sake of brevity, I’ll spare everybody,” he went on. “Epiphanies fade; life largely went back to the regular routine again, except I couldn’t physically do my job anymore. I tried, and I failed. I started rideshare driving because it was pretty much my only option for making ends meet (which they didn’t, always).”

Ryan said he “made it work as best I could, like everybody does. Being on Jeopardy! was the furthest thing from my mind. And then this past February, I got a phone call…”

Ryan Long Thanks His Family & Friends For Helping Him Realize His ‘Crazy Dream’

Ryan said that, “with the help of friends and family,” that he was able to realize “this crazy dream” of appearing on “Jeopardy!”.

“That fire came back to me yet again; I wanted to do this,” he explained. “For myself, my kid, and for a thousand other reasons, I wanted to do this. I swore I wouldn’t waste the opportunity, so I went out and tried my best.”

“I think I did okay, although I only look back now and see my mistakes. And now, after being on the show, I find it has awakened something else in me,” he shared. “I’ve started to find joy in the possibilities of life again instead of fearing the potential outcomes. I’m still proud of those years when I was grinding and doing whatever it took to survive. But I’ve also been reminded that I still have dreams and ambitions, and that it’s okay to care about myself enough to have them. With the help of a lot of people, I managed to achieve a big one. For that, I am forever grateful.”

Now that his “Jeopardy!” run has come to an end, Ryan doesn’t know what the future has in store for him.

“People keep asking me what my plans might be,” he confused. I don’t know what the future has in store for me, but I do know this: I plan on following the advice of the illustrious Ms. Jill Scott and ‘living my life like it’s golden.’”

“I’ve worn a lot of hats in my years on this planet,” he added. “I started out at 14 with a summer job as a furniture mover. I’ve been a dishwasher, a water ice truck driver, a piano delivery guy, an airport security worker, a supermarket cashier, a bouncer, a street sweeper, a warehouse grunt, a package handler, an office clerk, a CCT operator, a rideshare driver.”

“And now, I’m a 16-game Jeopardy! champion,” he concluded. “How’s that for an entry on the ol’ resumé?”

Fans can’t wait to see Ryan again in the 2022 Tournament of Champions later this year. A 16-game champion is a great title, but the Tournament of Champions winner sounds even better!