Dissing Dissent

Los Angeles Times ^ | Oct. 26, 2003 | Liu Baifand

[Nachum]

Lately, I find myself worrying about my adopted country, the United States. I'm alarmed that dissent is increasingly less tolerated, and that those in power seem unable to resist trying to intimidate those who speak their minds. I grew up in the People's Republic of China, so I know how it is to live in a place where voicing opinions that differ from official orthodoxy can be dangerous, and I fear that model.

Like so many others, I arrived in the U.S. enormously relieved to have left my "socialist" homeland. During Mao Tse-tung's "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution," intellectuals were persecuted, physically intimidated, imprisoned and, all too frequently, killed. Educated people, known as "the stinking ninth category," were terrified into political silence after witnessing the dire consequences of voicing any suggestion of dissenting views. My parents were engineers, educated people, and so my family was separated and then "sent down" to labor among peasants in the countryside. We were punished merely for being educated.

[Nachum]

At first I was dumbfounded that a former Chicom, now free in the U.S., wrote this. Then, I looked at his place of residence and realized he now lived in Berkely, CA.

It is rather odd though, that he tries to equate the Bush administration with the Communists in Bejing, after living through 8 years of "Der Schlickmiester", heir Klinton. Never, in my lifetime do I remember an administration more repressive than that of Klintonville.

[Gringo1]

He should read the Terri Schiavo threads.

[Welsh Rabbit]

I'm alarmed that dissent is increasingly less tolerated, and that those in power seem unable to resist trying to intimidate those who speak their minds.

What's his definition of "tolerate" and "intimidate"? I'm getting so sick of these lefty titty babies whining that they're being "oppressed" just because they're being debated on their ideas.

[pogo101]

I'm certainly not suggesting an equivalence between the political climate in America now and China then. But I am getting a whiff of the Leninism with which I grew up in the air of today's America, and it makes me feel increasingly uneasy.

Right: he leads off with about ten column-inches on the horrors of China ... but oh no, he's not really comparing the two.

Never mind that in China what happened was official government policy, approved and readily, proudly admitted to. If the Plame leak were done by an administration official, it would be neither official policy nor proudly admitted to. In what country would he prefer to live? He appears to have "had his pick," and he came HERE.

Where were these anti-anti-dissent types when Dr. Laura's show got stomped?

[weegee]

This is a photo from ANSWER's rally:

This is the ugly face of those who mean to destroy America from within. This is not dissent. It is sedition. It advocates the violent overthrow of America's government.

If the media was doing their job, they would be exposing the "antiwar" protestors for what they really are. This is why we call their action "AntiAmerica" and "unAmerican".

[weegee]

Where were these anti-anti-dissent types when Dr. Laura's show got stomped?

The same Susan Saradon who played the victim in the controversy over being disinvited to the Baseball Hall Of Fame (regarding the anniversary of the release of Bull Durham) was singled out as a champion in the efforts to get Dr. Laura's tv show cancelled before it ever aired.

The left lies. They do not care about Free Speech or an open marketplace for the exchange of ideas. The socialism of political correctness is their religion. Learn it. Live it. Love it.

[Shermy]

I'm getting so sick of these lefty titty babies whining that they're being "oppressed" just because they're being debated on their ideas.

they're not used to argument - they're used to thinking being ignored validated their rants.

9/11 changed all that.

[Prime Choice]

So let me see if I got this right.

The Left can speak out against the United States and it's considered "protected speech."

But if we speak out against the Left for speaking out against the United States, it's "repression."

Where are OUR rights to free speech??

Grrrr.

[Steve_Seattle]

"But I am getting a whiff of the Leninism with which I grew up in the air of today's America . . ."

If he changed "America" to "American college campuses," I would agree with him. But of course, he's not talking about that at all. He's simply another authoritarian Leftist who confuses debate with oppression.

[Arizona Pard]

You got it right.

I have yet to see anyone thrown into prison or sent "to labor with the peasants" because they spoke their mind either for or against the government.

And speaking of laboring with the peasants, I work in my own carwash and plant lawns on the side...does that make me a peasant? Maybe the government will send me some engineers to help out with that 6000 sq ft job I got to get done this week.

[scory]

I don't get how these people can complain. It seems like every time you turn on the tube or read a paper or link up on the net there is some lefty ranting about how President Bush "lied" or how the war is a quagmire or how the "world community" hates our guts for invading Iraq, etc., etc. ad nauseum.

There is no quashing of dissent. There is response to dissent and this is what drives these people up the wall. They hate the reality that their dissent is now challenged and exposed for the juvenile whining that it all too often is.

[claudiustg]

"Lately, I find myself worrying about my adopted country, the United States. I'm alarmed that dissent is increasingly less tolerated, and that those in power seem unable to resist trying to intimidate those who speak their minds. "

If the LA Times managment is oppressing this man perhaps he could quit writing for them. Someone should expalain to him that it is not required to keep working for an oppressive employer.

[hotpotato]

He should read the Terri Schiavo threads.

They are too scary. I had to quit reading them.

[absalom01]

He notes: "But I am getting a whiff of the Leninism with which I grew up in the air of today's America, and it makes me feel increasingly uneasy."

I'm thinking he must be making reference to the ANSWER gang, no?

He's right: there is no toleration of dissent today. But it's the left, in control of the academy, the press, and the entertainment media that suppress and ridicule traditional and conservative views, not the other way around.

[MonroeDNA]

He called communist china "socialist," and put it in quotes.

He's a plant.

[PeoplesRep_of_LA]

At first I was dumbfounded that a former Chicom, now free in the U.S., wrote this. Then, I looked at his place of residence and realized he now lived in Berkely, CA. It is rather odd though, that he tries to equate the Bush administration with the Communists in Bejing,

This strikes as a bit conspiritorial-but after seeing a few of the North Koreans marching in our "antiwar" protests....just call me suspicious.

Never underestimate a Commie to call black "white" and white "black". I for one can't think of any single action that either the Justice Dept nor the Bush Administration itself, nor even the comments of their underlings that would justify ANY comparison to the suppression of desent in Red China, therefore, it is obvious that this is another attempt to slash and burn the English language by a Marxist.

The LA Times is such a pathetic joke.