...I'm okay with being REALITY-based.




Monday, April 21, 2003
      ( 1:32 PM )
 
Patriotic Correctness

More on the topic of DISSENT IS UNPATRIOTIC... fantastic article at GNN today. It talks about the chill in the air that was commented on by Tim Robbins in his speech last week. It is the broader problem under symptoms like the story I mentioned last week. The "Patriotic Correctness" was coined by Bill Maher, one of the last bastions of free thought on the airwaves. But not really free, since you have to pay to have HBO in order to see him anymore (which means I don't get to). I think it's an apt description.

While many people think it's alarmist to make a big deal about dissent being stifled, I take the opposite view. If we don't make a big deal about it now, in less time than we realize, we won't be able to make a deal out of it at all. It's what's called a slippery slope. In the broader picture, corporate media started down that slope long ago (witness the Roger Ailes ascent). But in the narrow picture, it's kids getting bullied by other kids when they express dissent. It's not being able to say your dissenting opinion at work for fear of employment reprisal. It's not being able to wear a t-shirt that asks for Peace on Earth into a shopping mall.

It's Donald Rumsfeld and John Ashcroft complaining that the Constitution is too lenient. It's the Republican Senate trying to make the PATRIOT Act permanent. If we don't pay attention, it could get very, very bad. You say: Mama, don't be such an alarmist! I say: friends, don't be so naive.

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