For John, BLUF: Democracy is not about shouting down the other side, or bullying the other side, but about somewhat respectful dialogue. We are at risk of losing that. Nothing to see here; just move along.
From The American Conservative, by Mr Rod Dreher, 2 March 2018.
Here is the lede plus two:
Last night I watched “Paper Heads,” a 1995 documentary about Communism in what was then Czechoslovakia. It mixed propaganda films from the regime with testimony from people who had been tortured in communist prisons, or whose relatives had been abused in some way by the state. It was a crude but very powerful film. All that talk about brotherhood and shared prosperity and justice concealed cruelty, injustice, and murder of those who stood between the Party and Paradise.Mr Dreher then goes on to talk about what NYT Columnist Brooks had to say, and what Mr Brooks had to say was scary, reminiscent of rule under Communist regimes, where people had to toe the party line or perish.The most chilling part of the film, at least to me, were the clips of the 1950s show trials. The rhetoric from the judges and prosecutors, and the narration by the state media announcer, denounced the accused as traitors, parasites, enemies of the people, and so forth. And these poor people, dignified but clearly in terror, confessed to their “crimes” and received the death penalty. Only in this way could the worker’s paradise be built, or so it was claimed by the communists in the film.
Just now I read David Brooks’s column today about how progressives are winning the culture war. Brooks had recommended earlier a moderate approach to advancing gun control, beginning with treating gun owners with respect. He now concedes that he might have been wrong about that.
Without saying it, Mr Brooks was praising the actions of such Stalinists as Antifa.
Somehow Mr Brooks has lost faith in, or interest in, the First Amendment freedom of speech section.
Hat tip to the InstaPundit.
Regards — Cliff
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