Adam Carolla knew Dr. Anthony Fauci was, in his words, "compromised" before the rest of us did.
The comedian and podcaster has a keen sense of the culture and human psychology. He can see things before others do, which makes his "Adam Carolla Show" podcast a must-listen.
Oh, and it's funny, too.
Seven years ago, Carolla teamed up with Dennis Prager for a different kind of project. Humor wasn't the prime directive. Call it a cinematic warning for what lies ahead.
Their 2019 documentary, "No Safe Spaces," explored the growing fight to silence speech on college campuses.
The film earned an impressive $1.3 million at the U.S. box office. That's small potatoes for most films, but the vast majority of documentaries fail to crack the $1 million mark.
It should have earned so much more.
"No Safe Spaces" starts slowly, but before long delivers a mesmerizing look at academia in the modern era. It's not pretty. Nor was it supposed to be. Carolla and Prager bring some dark humor to the project, but the subject is deadly serious.
Leftists want to censor speech on college campuses. The film used the tragic story of Professor Bret Weinstein, literally chased off campus for daring to object to a radical plan to divide Evergreen College along racial lines, as a prime example.
It's one of many stories that shocked the film's audience.
The film, which highlighted both old-school liberals and conservatives, proved entertaining and provocative, but it did something else that few documentaries can do. It foretold the future all too accurately.
Colleges have been clamping down on speech for some time. That mostly impacts conservative speakers, but even far-Left pundit Hasan Piker got shelved last week from a college event.
What's even more galling about modern academia is the indoctrination taking place on colleges nationwide. There's a direct line from snuffing out speech to socialism run amok.
Socialists are never friendly to free speech. Just try to have your own thoughts in Cuba, Venezuela or other socialist hotbeds. If you've seen 2006's "The Lives of Others," you know the drill.
The modern college, too often, is an indoctrination camp. That explains why some of the Democrats' most radical politicians sound like grad students hopped up on Starbucks and Soros money.
Cue the rise of DSA — the Democratic Socialists of America.
There's a reason why college graduates vote so strongly for DSA style candidates. We just saw that with Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong. She scored well around parts of the state where voters attended college. The same held true in Minnesota, where Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan over-performed in similar regions.
That's no accident.
The DSA movement hasn't led with a free speech-snuffing platform. Not yet, anyway. It's mostly focused on open borders, eliminating prisons, scuttling the Senate and axing the president job title.
What happens on college campuses doesn't stay on college campuses. That's the ultimate lesson from "No Safe Spaces."
We didn't listen. We may see more results from this trend come November. Let's hope not. This is one sequel no one wants to see.
