This article and some of these comments really baffle me. China was the one major economic power who actually put in place the measures to prevent millions of their people from dying while also experiencing more economic growth than the "free" western countries that completely underestimated how deadly the virus would become. While we were debating about whether or not people should wear masks and get vaccinated, they were putting in place effective lockdowns, building hospitals, and taking decisive action to actually combat the virus in a meaningful way. The fact that our major media outlets, time and time again, feel the need to undercut China's successes shows just how insecure America is about its position in the world.
5
Please explain why China with similar lockdown measures as New Zealand is still behind the curve regarding COVID? Simple answer to that is a misplaced national pride in their homegrown vaccine which is not up to snuff.
21
@Abigaile I've heard from Chinese-American friends that the cost of "success" against Covid has included several people starving to death locked in apartments. I'm not sure if this is true, but it's a rumor that some people definitely seem to believe.
28
@Abigaile
"Experiencing more economic growth"? in what world are you living? have you missed the closed factories, the bankrupt building societies, the unemployment that China has experienced since its Zero Covid policies went into effect?
You're a regular apologist for China, but you're either misinformed or deliberately obfuscatory.
33
There's plenty to criticize about the increasingly Bonapartist character of the old Stalinist Xi's authoritarian rule. But the Times only concentrates on those aspects favorable to U.S. investors.
Zero COVID is a success which has saved millions of Chinese lives and kept their life expectancy rising (now higher than that of the U.S.). Meanwhile, U.S. life expectancy has dropped by three years, to the considerable glee of certain financial sectors.
The task of settling accounts with Xi is that of the Chinese working class, not the U.S. financiers who want direct access to cheap Chinese labor without the middlemen.
6
Zero Covid is a humanitarian calamity that the regime has exploited to transition the government into the world’s most “successful”dictatorial government in history; it is not something to celebrate on any level. If it saved millions of lives, millions more have died throughout history fighting against this sort of oppression to gain the freedoms Chinese people can only dream about thanks to Zero Covid.
21
Xi has a tight grip on China.
Resistance is futlile.
11
In the Great Chinese Famine-- an event that took place in living memory from 1958 - 1961; food was taken away from starving people and perhaps 55 million people died-- the greatest man-made famine event in human history. But it wasn't some invading army that did this: it was the Chinese Communist Party as part of the "Great Leap Forward", designed to industrialize the country and catch up. 55 million Chinese people starved, cannibalism was probably practiced on a scale unheard of in human history (by absolute numbers).
And do you know what? The Chinese did as they were told throughout all of that.
Change? Let me know when tens of millions are dead from famine and they're eating each other in the streets-- but even that won't be enough if history is anything to go by. Until then, China is just a nation of little pinks, plus a few frightened expatriates putting up posters overseas.
10
These students are indeed brave. But I hope they will be careful, because major universities worldwide have Chinese Student Associations overseen by Chinese consular or embassy officials who keep a close watch on activities, and who recruit students as informers to identify fellow Chinese students who stray from the Party line.
23
I salute these brave young [mostly] intellectuals] people, although I am not sanguine about the impact of their actions. Two additional things are needed. First, the critique must be broadened beyond Xi to include the CCP as a whole. Second, their idealism about democracy, needs to find a way to link up with, and resonate with the widespread dissatisfactions of ordinary Chinese. Remember that some 100,000 peaceful protests, each year, by working people and lower middle class people over arbitrary and insensitive government plans that ride roughshod over people's concerns and communities.
10
Many years ago we hosted 'Joseph' a Chinese high school student in an exchange program. A brilliant boy who had already mastered the English language, in part by going through an English dictionary each night, one word at a time. He was already studying physics at a college level.
While he stayed with us we watched the Jim Carey movie, The Truman Show. In the story, Truman is raised from birth in a bubble, by a television company. Brainwashed about leaving that bubble he lives on this island surrounded by actors who he believes are his friends and family. His whole life is carefully choreographed and filmed; he is the unwitting star of a television soap. The world's most popular soap.
Halfway through the movie Truman witnesses an artificial light fall from the sky (the huge dome that surrounds the island). The production team immediately issues a news bulletin about an airplane losing a headlight. It is the first of clues for the unwitting Truman.
Back in China, Joseph's best friend was a big Jim Carrey fan, had seen all of his movies. Joseph wondered out loud why they had never seen The Truman Show. Or even heard of it. Suddenly I could see the lightbulb go off over his head. Of course, the Truman Show would never be allowed in China. It would hit too close to home.
Occasionally I would get an email from Joseph. Our joke was, have you been hit with any lights from the sky? I wonder where he is now.
Courage is fear met with determination. These are the new Josephs.
52
I appreciate your understanding of the huge human rights issues in China (which I suffered from), and I myself firmly support free speech and democratization of the Chinese political system. Just to clarify a fact that unlike more “sensitive” films such as The Blue Kite or Still Life, The Truman Show was not banned in China. I recalled that I watched this film on Bilibili (a prominent Chinese streaming platform) with comments in China without VPN last year. Maybe it’s because The Truman Show is translated into “Truman’s world” (literal meaning) in Chinese so they couldn’t recognize it. Still, who knows if the Chinese government want to ban the film in the near future.
12
@Bill Cullen, Author Say what you will about government, they do know how to prevent misinformation.
1
The Chinese communists fear nothing more than a youth movement challenging their rule. The Communists themselves were co-founded by youth educated in the West overthrowing the Kuomintang nationalists. That’s why they committed mass murder at Tiananmen in 1989 and terrorized the Hong Kong students recently. I wish the students interviewed here all the best.
13
Found posters referring to the protest around a college campus recently. It's interesting to read about the context.
12
Chinese authoritarianism will eventually implode and dissolve (like the USSR) if we’re relentlessly aggressive in denying them technologies, a place in the global community, and real containment of any kind of aspirations outside of domestic democratization, declaring a national congress for individual freedoms and rights to be erected in stone while the Mao statues are torn down.
8
@Jon Banning
Delusions. America can’t run itself but still thinks it can steer the world.
3
@Tristram Shandy Just that guy, apparently. He blames us for China's dictatorship.
@Tristram Shandy. Absolutely we can steer the world, it’s happening right now. If China and other countries had citizens with broad constitutional freedoms, including free speech, journalism I think you’d be more than than inundated, regardless of your desire to know, exactly what China’s doing including the incredibly dirty details.
America is just transparent about it’s ugliness, we embrace discovery and seek truth above all else. I’m proud of that.,it’s an honor to be a part of this huge mess that is American democracy.
8
Very encouraging to see this movement beginning and picking up speed. I do indeed view Xi Jinping‘s China and rheir mad zeal for techno dictatorship as the single biggest threat in the world today, because it is powered by advanced AI and increasingly cheap surveillance technologies, which are slowly descending on us like a silent net and will constrict us more and more even here in the west if we don’t start pushing back very strongly
14
In 1963, I had the good fortune to attend a special university lecture by Edgar Snow, author of "Red Star Over China" (1937), where he summarized his views on China since the 1930s.
He said China’s early repulsion of the Japanese after the invasion of Manchuria, gave hope that the country’s focus on agricultural development would lead to a more prosperous society. Despite the embrace of communism, he thought a better society was emerging, and he said he was saddened that his enthusiasm for China had caused widespread false accusations during the post-WWII McCarthy Hearings that he was a communist.
However, he said the increased totalitarianism since the Korean War of the 1950’s gave doubts that some sense of democratic government could prevail.
So, when the Cultural Revolution began in 1966, Snow must have been chagrined that all of the progress since the 1930’s was being eroded by rising totalitarianism. And sadly, that trend is being accelerated today by Xi Jinping.
9
"Out of sight. Out of mind."
Maybe the CCP doesn't know that is an insult?
1
May the light of freedom and human dignity shine upon my fellow Chinese people and the land of China.
21
To our Chinese brothers and sisters, keep your faith and hope in truth. You, our friends, must pull your country back from the police state of dystopian betrayals. Demand privacy, demand liberty, demand free speech, and demand your individual persons. Humanity wants and needs a great Chinese People. The youth are always the hope, be brave and resolute.
32
This party congress meeting in all probability marks a high-water mark for China.
3
The greatest weapon of the CCP against youthful rebellion is political apathy. Ask most Chinese what they think of any issue that touches on politics and ideology and the response is almost always that they don't care. This apathy is born of the relentless tedium and repetition of sitting through politics and ideology classes from junior middle school to postgraduate school. It is also a default position to shield oneself from the scrutiny of class monitors and it relies on the Chinese propensity for being nosy, as nearly all of my Chinese students, close colleagues and friends in China readily acknowledge over my decade of teaching there. It is also based in learned helplessness from rarely being empowered in an authoritarian society and from not wanting to be have one's youthful aspirations dashed. And it is reinforced by a deeply rooted fatalistic view of life by most and the tradition of eating bitterness. Xi Jinping and his regime henchmen have only succeeded in milking these collective mindsets and perceptions for all they can.
23
Chinese youth should aspire to a Democracy different than ours, but one where lying about elections is only permitted if a grand jury finds the argument has merit. That would eliminate Democracy's vulnerable fragility. A newly created Democracy should limit politicians' free speech to making only accurate statements and restore the fairness doctrine that made media present both the Republican and Democratic stance on policy. A new Democracy would include critical thinking in the K-12 curriculum, educate the youth on how the media misleads us into outrage to capture our attention and show us more ads. In other words, a Democracy with fixes to problems that currently make our Democracy so fragile.
6
Do you recall what was happening, just before Covid emerged in China? Do you recall what happened shortly after Covid emerged in China?
Before Covid, there were nearly daily protests in Hong Kong. Once Covid was explained to the Chinese public, they were happy to stop protesting to flatten the curve.
Now, there are regular, large scale lock downs in China. I think the CCP is trying to stay ahead of these protesters.
13
These "beginner dissenters" can be cautiously optimistic. It is really questionable whether Xi's setting China (back?) on a path towards isolationism and, probably worse, a path where energy and dynamism might be sucked out of the country's system and economy, is sustainable and can survive.
2
I wish these people the best of luck and safety. They are embarking on a Herculean task where they are risking their very lives. The more President Xi tightens the screws in his country the more you will read about stories like this. President Xi fears the will of his people, fears their voices being heard. And the more he tightens the screws it shows his fear is growing. For now he is winning, but I believe in the long term he will lose. China’s people today are smart, sophisticated and worldly. They will not sit quietly forever while their country is turned into another North Korea. President Xi knows this but it will still not stop him in his quest for complete control and power. And it is the recipe for a great conflict down the road.
26
I think China is already another North Korea and like many others have exploited Covid to tighten their authoritarian control
8
These people will disappear.
Xi Jinping is in full control of CCP and China.
During the CCP politburo spectacle yesterday, former Chinese president Hu Jintao was suddenly escorted out publicly. He was the President before Xi Jinping took over and has disagreed with Xi on some matters. Chinese media said that Hu was escorted off due to health issues, but immediately after the public spectacle, any reference to Hu on Chinese social media was deleted, and Hu’s name is disappearing from official Chinese websites.
15
When I was in school in Japan, the Chinese students I befriended told me when they vote, they know it doesn’t matter. They know elections are fixed and they just select a random name. I doubt anything will change their system minus a revolution.
8
The dissatisfaction is genuine, but it is not political in nature. The memes of democracy and freedom have no attraction to PRC citizens.
The current dissatisfaction is economic. Jobs are difficult to obtain and of questionable value, requiring 996 working hours (9am to 9pm, 6 days a week) with many private employers behind in salary payments.
Young citizens blame ZeroCovid policy and CPC failures to regulate/subsidize industries effectively.
The stealth communication is made necessary by tight media controls.
The CPC's near universal support is predicated on its ability to provide increasingly superior quality of life to citizens.
Like in the U.S. in the 1980s, youth are observing their parents' lives were better than their own.
5
Fear and obedience is how government education raises each new generation.
3
"courage takes practice."
9
When I lived in China in the 2000s I was told the people werent ready for democracy because there were too many uneducated farmers. Now the reason according to Xi is that democracy is too chaotic. Maybe chaos is the result of different people having different goals and finding meaning from life in different ways not the one goal of wanting a country to be powerful.
3
Only the Chinese people can create change. Sometimes dictatorship is beneficial for society, to forcefully push forward (like Singapore and South Korea). But then once a level of comfort and stability is reached, people should live their lives. I am aghast at the brainwashed Chinese nationals I meet outside of mainland. But these youth make me hopeful.
Jiā yóu!
14
It's not surprising that people in China are becoming frustrated by the prospect of having a cotton-tipped wooden stick shoved up their nose or down their throat every day for the foreseeable future to prevent the spread of an infection much of the rest of the world has been able to mitigate through mRNA vaccines.
5
Just like the seeds that the US sowed in HK, these will be put out. The US readers may rejoice in hearing this. The Chinese are anticipating another beautiful sight of January 6.
If you have not lived and worked in China you may not see why Hu was kicked out of the meeting. Chinese don’t care at all about right or wrong but very much dislike it when they are caught, and others know. Chinese say to not cause others to lose Face but that’s exactly what they do to others. In my engineering company, my Chinese boss publicly humiliates people. Hu was invited only for the purpose of making him lose Face and to give Face to Xi Jin Pin
13
Individual movement is tracked in Chinese cities. Facial recognition technology is everywhere. Everyone must show their personal phone’s QR code to go on public transit, to enter businesses and stores and schools, to enter their own apartment complexes.
Western Twitter and Google are banned. Chinese social media is tracked.
Xi Jinping is in total control now.
26
As an anti-government person, I am against both the U.S and the Chinese governments. But the reason has nothing to do with their forms of government. Instead, it is the fact that the purpose of government is corruption. Thus, bringing democracy to China would have no effect on corruption. In fact, at least in theory, a dictator could be less corrupt than political leaders in a democracy. This is because politicians in a democracy are beholden to special interest groups.
As a result, the Chinese activists promoting democracy are badly misinformed. Democracy is at least, if not more, corrupt than its obverse. True, in the U.S. we have so-called “free speech.” But that is only because such speech is impotent when expressed by those without political power. And giving political power to the masses is also not a solution. This is because the masses will be just as corrupt, asking for handouts and opposing merit-based policies that follow natural law.
4
@politicallyincorrect The fact that you can reply like how you did while Bridge man is detained speaks volume about you have no idea about living in China where you could not even type 'Bridge man" or "Tank man" in your online search!! If the Bridge man's banner is impotent, why the censorship? While enjoying our free speech, we spit and tell citizens in China about impotency? It does seem that you will change to PoliticallyCorrect if you live in China.
6
@politicallyincorrect So, no proposed solutions from you, then, eh? Just lazy complaints, the hallmark of immaturity? This stuff is complex and difficult. “Merit based policies that follow ‘natural law’” are fine for a small subset of people. But when they don’t work for the majority, you will then resort to either ignoring or repressing the rest, and become what you claim to despise. Do the work - it’s hard and relentless, but the only way.
3
It seems political indoctrination in schools works pretty well in a one-party state like China. The shapers of US education policy can use it as a reference point for what can’t—and shouldn’t—work in a politically pluralistic society.
But what the US does instead clearly isn’t working. We’ve become so afraid of politics entering education (a result of decades of bad actors using education as a political football) that we don’t even teach civics anymore. What a mistake!
Now we have Americans who don’t much care whether they live in a democracy. Again, they lack reference points—because their education failed them.
If US education ever did a good job of preparing people for the responsibilities and habits of citizenship in a democratic society, it certainly doesn’t now.
But how can the conversation change when politicians seem only capable of thinking in terms of hot-button issues like gender-neutral bathrooms, evolution and prayer on the football field.
The “teachable moments” are fraught with self-censorship and litigiousness and the rhetoric is turned up to eleven. Where are the grownups?
7
@Charles You don't raise wise grownups via government schools.
@David
So I’m a product of public schools…and yet somehow despite my indolence and imbecility I somehow managed to get a Senior Reactor Operator license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in addition to a BS and MS in Engineering.
But maybe you prefer the ‘stable geniuses’ that come from prep schools and the Ivy League [shrug].
2
That’s silly. Generous of smart, curious, and even rebellious Americans went to and still go to public schools.
Thank you, NYT, for this article of hope. May more of these brave young Chinese be encouraged to act.
40
Tough situation. The totalitarian state intends to enforce conformity by any means necessary. It’s not just some bureaucrats but the whole society that exerts the pressure to conform. Xi is trying to use that pressure to achieve the uniformity that ends differences between individuals and produces the harmony of all of all doing as they are told according to authority of the Communist Party leadership. Young people who want freedom are going to suffer.
In all states where the leaders prioritize control, prosperity does decline. Xi will undo most of the gains achieved since the 1980’s. The people will be afraid to make choices and act accordingly as they were under Mao.
8
I continue to be amazed at how few Chinese are really rising up to authoritarianism. Kind of like the lust for authoritarianism in the US. They got it, and we want it. Better the devil you know.
9
Maybe hope for the future.
Maybe.
China, Russia and Iran axis dissidents lack the power to transform their dictatorships. Meanwhile, free speaking dissidents here argue that America is worse.
16
Jailing political opponents. China and Russia leaders do see common ground, dictator to dictator.
UN should refer to any country’s leader ruling for over 10 years, “Emperor.” This will make it clear to the dictator’s people what their leader has become.
6
As a Chinese, encouraged by this man, I protested by spreading the posters at my uni. It was the first time in my life to take action to show my anger. Although I still feel unsafe and scared, I want to say “you are not alone” to every Chinese who has similar feelings as me.
128
This is courageous, the Chinese central intelligence ministry has its tendrils everywhere (they even have young sleeper agents in many university campuses with large Chinese student populations) and will absolutely take revenge on people usually by threatening family members. It’s truly brave for Chinese citizens to dissent from the CCP.
13
@Dora I applaud your courage. Keep fighting! The revolution against Qing dynasty started by one person Dr. Sun Yet Xien and it found echoes. Someone has to do it.
7
Zero Covid is a perplexing and not helpful long term policy to any country hoping to flourish in a world where Covid-19 exists and isn’t going away.
9
I'm both frightened and hopeful for these kids. I wish more of us in this country knew what they know about living in a fascist state.
17
If this is true, why are we allowing TikTok to collect data on U.S. citizens?
23
TikTok claims they have separate US datacenters which is likely true just for load handling purposes but there is no law preventing them from exporting data to their Chinese datacenters. It’s absolutely concerning especially since Chinese law requires all companies over certain size to have a CCP intelligence/secret police liaison on staff at all times who is allowed full access to all customer and corporate data at any time. Smaller companies also have to turn over data upon request at all times but they usually aren’t international so not really a concern for Americans.
4
XI's power is driven by profit.
Until we are willing to stop stuffing our Walmart shopping carts full of Chinese made products, he will continue to crush beacons of democracy under his tank treads.
11
Even with relatively free expression, we still have a large fraction of Americans who could be said to be similarly brainwashed. They presume without question that unfettered capitalism is the best system even as they lament jobs moving overseas and price gouging by corporations. They disdain "socialism" even though they like receiving free public schools, VA benefits, or Social Security.
Imagine how much harder it would be to persuade them to think otherwise if any criticism of the government risked a jail term. Then consider how many people in red America are already afraid to put up a yard sign for Democratic candidates.
21
@Jomo. Communism was lethal globally. Socialism is a winner in a select few countries with rich natural resources, homogeneous smallish populations. Capitalism is the best way forward for the most amount of people. Hopefully we’ll be able to recognize when it’s desperately needing maintenance.
1
I am extremely proud of the Chinese students supporting the bridge man Peng Life and speak up against the dictatorship in China!
We shall meet in a place without darkness.
29
It’s funny how all the comments complaining about “biased” coverage follow the same pattern of language. It’s amazing how wide-ranging the CCP propaganda machine is. As if we don’t have hundreds of examples throughout history showing how an authoritarian dictatorship evolves and eventually crumbles. There used to be hope for China, but with Xi’s latest moves (consolidation of power, elevation of loyalists, purging even minor opponents), CCP is following that exact path toward destruction. It’s only a matter of time. Xi can’t help himself though. All narcissistic power hungry men are the same.
79
Hi. Real person here. Without a doubt, the coverage of China by the Times is largely negative. Certainly though, there do seem to be folks that appear to be propagandists. I'm an American who has lived in China the last five years btw, and make a lot of efforts to read broadly about China. The best source for news and relatively balanced editorials is The China Project. I highly recommend.
5
Bridge Man has already acquired a robust public following countrywide. How far the authorities, local and national, go in trying to stamp out this already existing political problem is not a simple question.
It's absurd to consider this event as the beginning of Mr. Xi's downfall, but if the government takes that direction, it will only get worse, because the reaction will be more closely studied than the banner.
5
As a Chinese student studying in the US, I witnessed Chinese students change from political apathy to caring about social issues. As soon as the day banners hung on Beijing's SiTong bridge, I saw banners accessing my campus supporting the pro-democracy actions. I am touched by this brave behavior and decided to join. I hope we can keep the momentum and not be defeated by the current difficulties.
We shall meet in a place with no darkness!
A Chinese student studying in the US
149
Zero COVID is the new Cultural Revolution. I am so proud of the lone protest in Beijing - it took courage and creativity!
China has a history of authoritarian governing for thousands of years. It will take time to become free and democratic. But I see hope in this!
Thank you NYT and reporter Li Yuan.
33
The women of China will get inspiration from the women of Iran. I hope the white-suburban-women around me get inspiration from these groups and vote for the party and people who have our best interests, Democrats.
35
So many of us are hoping for that, but I’m not optimistic. Americans have lost their way—even the ones presumably fighting the good fight.
3
China has been under authoritarianism at least 2500 years, with Confucius as the pretext. The further toughening up of the Chinese people during Covid is preparing them for the austerity of war, in the way Americans were toughened up for WW2 by the Great Depression. I lived in China Korea Japan 19 years.
21
I had forgotten about the early influence of Confucianism. It makes sense that it primed Chinese society to always be vulnerable to authoritarianism and dictatorship. I hope it can slowly be undone. His ideas were useful for ancient Chinese society but are an absolutely terrible influence now.
3
I’m not sure if the writer is optimistic or pessimistic about the future of the quietly rebellious young Chinese. On the other hand I’m very sure that contributions of their timid protests to the course of the mainland china are minimal or close to nothing. The Chinese Communist Party is a copolymer of incredibly effective suppression means and ideas.
11
Quote: "Out of her 30-plus undergraduate classmates back in Beijing, she could talk about politics to only one of them. The others either showed no interest or disapproved of her critical views of the government." I am wondering which of the two groups is the bigger problem. I mean how can you be disinterested in something that affects you so directly?
5
@Thomas
I don't think people are disinterested - they want to actively avoid getting into trouble by not commenting or contributing. Fear of consequences maybe is a better description.
18
@Thomas Just heard a great NPR story on this topic. Many of the young Chinese interviewed were unhappy with the political system, but completely disengaged. Most said something like "I can't affect it in any way, so why would I pay attention to it and cause myself stress? I just want a happy life."
Essentially, they feel there's no hope for change, and are focused on their own personal comfort at the expense of their human rights. Only when the loss of those rights starts affecting their comfort will China have a problem on its hands. Considering its changing demographics and economic challenges...that time might be sooner rather than later.
8
I know her fear and frustration. The Republicans want to build an authoritarian system like that of XI Jinping. I am dismayed and disgusted over potential Republican voters? How can they be so carefree with our democracy? How can they be so uncaring about women's rights to her own body and life? How can they fall for Republican racism and xenophobia? In addition the Republicans have no solutions for the world wide inflation. They will make matters worse by shutting down government and tax cuts for the rich. And they want to take away our social security and medicare. Wake up voters.
99
@Chris Ah. A little late with that comment. Everyone knows Covid is in remission in the US, and that wearing it in hospitals/dentists/certain businesses and at your own leisure is standard practice. Late 2022 isn't late 2020 or even 2021.
1
@Chris You are delusional if you believe all that.
3
@R
It's not totally clear to me what you're talking about, but it seems like what you're saying is "quasi-authoritarianism was justified in 2020 and 2021, and we owe our freedom to it in 2022."
This, to me, is utter nonsense.
1
One can only hope that China will “zero covid” itself into economic obscurity.
25
@Danny Cordray "One can only hope that China will “zero covid” itself into economic obscurity."
That's wishful thinking. China has too many people, that are too educated, with too much technological capacity for that to ever happen. It will be an economic powerhouse regardless of what happens.
6
@Sarah Fescue China's "technological capacity" is 100% derived from or straight-up stolen from the west. You know, the messy countries that allow dissent and entrepreneurship without fear of jail or "disappearing."
It's far from a certainty that China can keep up any sort of technological advance as it paints itself into an authoritarian corner.
7
@ Danny Corday. First of all why would you wish anybody into economic obscurity? Especially China, where most of your household goods come from. This mindset reflects the growing isolationism in some population in this country, should I say since 2016 election? It would be much smarter for Americans to learn from others’ success and failures instead of piñata them constantly?
4
Suppression of dissent and loss of free expression leads only to a weak culture. Ideas must flow readily in a society for them to be discussed and sifted.
71
@ThomasJeffries What do you mean by 'weak culture?' As if ideas are freely discussed in the 'free' USA.
1