In America, a Thousand Little Castros: For SJWs, systematic oppression of dissent is a feature, not a bug, by Andrew Cline.
Totalitarianism employs three primary methods of silencing dissenters: convert them, marginalize them, or eliminate them.
Think communism, fascism, and Islam.
As a general rule, the Left refrains from denouncing its own. Movement solidarity is a hallmark of leftism. But this does not fully explain why so many self-proclaimed champions of justice and human rights have ignored, dismissed, or explained away the corruption and murderous oppression of Fidel Castro and other socialist dictators. Something darker is at work.
For many romantic leftists, socialism is a glorious utopia that one day will magically separate itself from the strong men who somehow always manage to clamber to the top of the People’s Ladder. If only the enlightened thinkers on the Harvard Bookstore’s e-mail list could be put in charge!
Others are not so naïve. They understand that socialism is systematic oppression — but they see this as a feature, not a bug. To them …socialism offers a system in which the social and political orders are overturned and the leftists at long last can be on top. With the levers of power finally in their grasp, the redistribution — and the retribution — can begin.
If this seems a little far-fetched, grab a Donald Trump sign and go loiter in the quad of your nearest lefty college campus for an hour. Or play “Sweet Home Alabama” in a Brooklyn supermarket.
Castro forced every Cuban to face this daily choice: comply or be punished. This is precisely the choice America’s would-be totalitarian leftists dream of imposing upon as many Americans as possible.
In Cuba, as in socialist regimes everywhere, the entirety of life is politicized. Castro erased the line between public and private. He initially banned The Beatles and jazz because they encouraged the wrong kind of thinking. …
Likewise, America’s totalitarian Left attempts to reshape American life by politicizing everything. It uses boycotts to pressure companies to comply with political demands. It shames public and private figures who express “incorrect” opinions. It demands the firing or public humiliation of any prominent person who strays from orthodoxy. It tells us what TV shows we should watch, which musicians we should listen to, what jokes we should find funny, what food to eat, where to live, how to dress, how to speak, and how to think. …
The totalitarian Left supports speech codes, hate-crimes prosecutions for political opponents, and a rewriting of the First Amendment to allow government to suppress political speech uttered by opponents of the government.
The totalitarian Left has spent decades cultivating a thousand little Castros throughout the United States. They have attained significant authority on college campuses, which they have labored to convert into their own little island prisons. God help us if their angry, busy hands ever grasp control of the machinery of state.
And Australia is ten years behind. Maybe less, with the Internet.
