A Forum for Vigorous Debate, Cornerstone of Democracy
***********************************************************************************************************************************A FORUM FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND VIGOROUS DEBATE, CORNERSTONES OF DEMOCRACY[For the journal--guidelines, focus, etc.--go to www.theamericandissident.org. If you have questions, please contact me at todslone@hotmail.com. Comments are NOT moderated (i.e., CENSORED)!]Encouraged censorship and self-censorship seem to have become popular in America today. Those who censor others, not just self, tend to favor the term "moderate," as opposed to "censor" and "moderation" to "censorship." But that doesn't change what they do. They still act as Little Caesars or Big Brother protectors of the thin-skinned. Democracy, however, demands a tough populace, not so easily offended. On this blog, and to buck the trend of censorship, banning, and ostracizing, comments are NEVER "moderated." Rarely (almost NEVER) do the targets of these blog entries respond in an effort to defend themselves with cogent counter-argumentation. This blog is testimony to how little academics, poets, critics, newspaper editors, cartoonists, political hacks, cultural council apparatchiks, librarians et al appreciate VIGOROUS DEBATE, cornerstone of democracy. Clearly, far too many of them could likely prosper just fine in places like communist China and Cuba or Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Russia, not to mention Sweden, England, and Austria.
ISSUE #47 PUBLISHED MAY 2024. NOW SEEKING SUBMISSIONS FOR ISSUE #48.
More P. Maudit cartoons (and essays) at Global Free Press: http://www.globalfreepress.org
Above is the front cover for the
latest American Dissident, issue #23. It features Harvard University, which recently
placed civility on a higher level than democracy (i.e., vigorous debate, freedom
of speech and freedom of expression). Depicted
are Thomas Dingman, Dean of Freshman, Sue Brown, Ph.D., Resident Dean, Katie
Steele, Director for Freshman Programming, Brandon Edwards, Assistant to Dean
of Freshmen and Freshman Programs Assistant leading flagellant students of
the new freshman class in a recitation of the pledge:
“I shall act with
integrity, respect, and industry, and to sustain a community characterized by
inclusiveness and civility. The exercise of kindness holds a place on a par
with intellectual attainment.”
Sadly,one former
student, Ralph Waldo Emerson, is imprisoned in a pillory and reciting a
different pledge: “Go upright and vital, and speak the rude truth in all ways.”
Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” used to be required reading by each new freshman
class at Harvard… that is, until multiculti happy-face dogmatists took over. Unsurprisingly, not one of the above persons contacted deigned to respond to my correspondance.
