So many people in repressive regimes disappear, die mysteriously, shot on the street. Whether the taliban or the CCP. And the woke want that here. They talk about "reeducation" for trump supporters--half the country! They have fallen in love with censorship and election fraud. Scary as hell.

They talk about "reeducation" for trump supporters--half the country! They have fallen in love with censorship and election fraud. Scary as hell. ~ cc at August 25, 2021 5:46 AM

The problem is, as it is with most efforts to "transform" a society, that the folks demanding these things don't see them as censorship or totalitarianism.

They see them as necessary, even benign. Kinda like the Bernie Bro who said reeducation camps were a good idea because they were "about education."

These folks cannot conceive of their innocent ideas being used in any way for evil purposes. That naiveté is what makes socialist and communist movements so susceptible to authoritarian takeover; in fact, what makes totalitarianism the default setting of those isms.

The National Socialist German Workers Party did not start out as Jew-hating fascists. The true believers were eventually eliminated to pave the way for Hitler's drive for power.

Churchill was the first world leader to understand that Stalin was not a communist, but modern tsar rebuilding the Russian Empire. Communism was his means of control, not his personal belief system.

Napoleon had no interest in building a French Republic. He wanted a French Empire, even declaring himself "emperor" so he would outrank the kings and queens extant in Europe at the time.

Stories of dictators using a belief system to gain power are legion - the Taliban is simply the latest in a long line of people who use a movement and its true believers as pawns.

Today's lust of the Left to eliminate "misinformation" is a lust to control what people are told. However, lefties see it, and frame it, as an effort to make sure the benighted masses are not deluded by fraudsters, that only the truth gets broadcast. The simply cannot understand that letting lies get broadcast along with truth protects the truth; that their self-appointed "guardians" of truth might themselves lie, if not today, then one day.

They cannot see themselves getting taken in by fraudsters and hucksters who would use their movement as a means to gain power - a la Hitler, Stalin, Mao, et al - and who would use that power to enslave not only them, but the people they thought they were protecting.

They don't see themselves as naifs, but as warriors for a holy cause, truth and justice. And that is what makes them dangerous.

TL;DR from C.S. Lewis:

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

No. The best kind of tyranny is the kind where you know what to expect. Where they lay down a set of rules and you have to toe the line. Because at least you have the option to toe the line. The worst is when you are at the mercy of whims.

So... is this what you voted for?

It's what you got: those opposed to the idea of "Making America Great Again".

What has taken its place, and how is that being brought about?

TL;DR from C.S. Lewis: ~ Sixclaws at August 25, 2021 11:08 AM

Not unexpectedly, Clive seems to have put it better and more succinctly than did.

Now, if I could just get through one of his Narnia books without rolling my eyes.

No. The best kind of tyranny is.... ~ NicoleK at August 25, 2021 11:48 AM

There's a "best" kind of tyranny?

Conan, do you roll your eyes at "The Screwtape Letters"? I tend to find them persuasive on many levels.

To be honest, Caustic, I've only read snippets of The Screwtape Letters, so far. I'm looking forward to reading them in full.

I mentioned rolling my eyes at The Chronicles of Narnia simply because I generally find books about precocious children and anthropomorphic animals to be a bit too saccharine. Kipling's Jungle Books may be the exception. Lewis' writing itself is superb - e.g., "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."

TL;DR from C.S. Lewis: ~ Sixclaws at August 25, 2021 11:08 AM
___________________________________

I have to say, that sounds a great deal like a disguised speech from...children complaining bitterly about parents and teachers.

And, given that the young Lewis referred to his school as "Belsen," one has to wonder.
___________________________________

Not unexpectedly, Clive seems to have put it better and more succinctly than did.
___________________________________

Meaning what?

"A death metal concert with one exit, and it's on fire." - Former Army Ranger describing Kabul airport.

Meaning what? ~ Lenona at August 26, 2021 6:23 AM

Meaning Clive Staples Lewis is a better and more efficient writer than I am.

I have to say, that sounds a great deal like a disguised speech from...children complaining bitterly about parents and teachers. ~ Lenona at August 26, 2021 6:23 AM

It's from CS Lewis' God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics.

Lewis was a later-in-life, and self-described reluctant, convert to Christianity, fully converting at the age of 32, foregoing the atheist he had declared himself to be at the age of 15. As such, he was also one of Christianity's staunchest defenders.

What I meant was, Lewis sounded, wittingly or not, like someone who was giving more sympathy to children than the latter DESERVED.

And that sentiment showed up even in the Narnia Chronicles. (I don't mean the normal, childish anti-intellectualism, laziness, or even the valid hatred of schools that tolerate bullying - as in The Silver Chair and The Horse and His Boy.)

From the last chapter of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:

"(The Kings and Queens) liberated young dwarfs and young satyrs from being sent to school..."

Interestingly, while Lewis dropped two subtle hints in The Horse and His Boy that the high-born Aravis was illiterate (because she's a girl in Calormen and thus not considered worthy, no matter how rich her family), there's nothing to indicate that, even outside of Calormen, anyone will EVER teach her to read. But, maybe we're just supposed to assume that she'll get anything she might want in her new home, by the end.

What I meant was, Lewis sounded, wittingly or not, like someone who was giving more sympathy to children than the latter DESERVED. ~ Lenona at August 26, 2021 11:17 AM

DESERVED? How much sympathy do children deserve and not deserve? And why the emphasis?

Personally I think Lewis gave children too much credit as small adults. And too much credit for benevolence; all four of the Pevensie children turned out to be beloved monarchs.

What are the hints that she is illiterate? I mean I know that Calormen kids are taught story telling the way English kids are taught essay writing... but that doesn't mean she can't read....

And dwarves and satyrs shouldn't go to school because they're dwarves and satyrs! Though Tumnus seems to have been fairly well-read judging by his book collection.

1. The scene where she gets her father's secretary to write a letter for her and make it look as though it came from her hideous, elderly fiancé. Yes, there are other reasons why she might do that, maybe (such as forging his handwriting) but she was taking a huge risk by telling him her plans in the first place.

2. The fact that Lewis made a point of the fact that she and Lasaraleen, former party-goers, know each other as well as two schoolgirls would - except they DIDN'T go to school together. (Lewis could simply have left out the school reference - but didn't.)

I admit, I didn't think of it myself - others did.

And, I don't see the point of mentioning dwarfs and satyrs going to school when it never came up before in LWW and isn't relevant. Unless, of course, Lewis was just being gratuitously nasty to educators.

Conan, see what I said:

...the normal, childish anti-intellectualism, laziness, or even the valid hatred of schools that tolerate bullying - as in The Silver Chair and The Horse and His Boy.)

In those cases (and at the end of The Silver Chair) Lewis expresses sympathy for kids who only want to go to a school where there are reasonable standards on both sides - no bullying, but no student laziness either. (The kids nearly ruin their Narnian quest due to laziness, and Jill feels the need to apologize for that, to Aslan, even though they were nearly killed several times.)

But, kids clearly don't deserve to have the same vote that adults do (or that Aslan does), and the quotation from God in the Dock almost sounds contradictory to that.