.............................................................................................Rule of the Oxymoron
Autocrats for Freedom Calling for a Rethinking of Liberty
Caveat: The Cape Cod Times would NOT publish the following counter-essay. The Times is, after all, a highly biased Gannett-corporate media organization, certainly not a free-press entity. Harold, however, briefly responded... or sort of (see email exchange after the counter-essay).
Unsurprisingly, Cape Cod Times columnist Brent Harold’s “Government, liberty and our founding paradox” is really nothing but a Democrat-Party establishment screed. Harold pokes at Trump, but doesn’t have the guts to poke at current president Biden. He pokes at January 6th, but fails egregiously to evoke the summer BLM/Antifa riots of great destruction. He concludes, “It would seem that, given the last four years and the sort of liberty exhibited on Jan.6, that paradox is an idea in dire need of a renaissance of understanding.”
Now, that’s a good one: “a renaissance of understanding”! Of course, that implies “understanding” (and conforming to!) the way how Harold and his Democrat Party “understand,” including increased restrictions on freedom, increased Big Tech censorship of ideas he and his party do not like, increased government watchdogs, increased imposition of cultural-race theory and consequent anti-white racism and word policing, increased absence of real vigorous debate, increased taxation without representation, and on and on.
Might Harold perchance actually be unaware that Biden is now president? Could he really be unaware of the ills Biden has already caused, including the killing of 10,000 jobs, continuation of Obama’s babies in cages (uh, “shelters” now), opening the southern border to mass migration during a pandemic of epic proportions, etc.? Harold’s party wants to kill freedom of speech, certainly not promote it. Its campaign against “misinformation” is itself “misinformation.”
Cuis custodies ipsos custodes? had written Juvenal several thousand years ago. Who will watch the Democrat-Party watchers, the misinformation police? In essence, who are going to be the judges of what is a lie and what is not a lie, what is “misinformation” and what is not “misinformation”? That is the crux, the one Harold and his Cape Cod Times seem utterly incapable of comprehending!
Those who never test the waters of democracy ought not to be writing about freedom and democracy! Did Harold ever go against the grain in support of freedom of speech at any of the colleges and universities employing him, including Stanford University, Brown University, Trinity College, Wesleyan University, University of Hartford, and the New School for Social Research? Of course not. And yet those institutions do NOT have good records regarding freedom of speech! Examine them on the website of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education!
As for me, I stood up and tested the waters wherever I taught, including at Fitchburg State University, Grambling State University, Bennett College, and American Public University. Of course, I never got tenure. Of course, the intellectually corrupt academics always managed to boot me out of their fiefdoms. Rather truth than the easy life!
The waters of democracy in academe are extremely murky! The waters on Cape Cod, where Harold and I both dwell, are also extremely murky! Does Harold give a damn? No. Does he give a damn that Sturgis Library permanently banned me w/o warning or due process for the crime of freedom of expression? No. Does he give a damn that not one library on Cape Cod will subscribe to the 501c3 nonprofit literary journal that I publish? No. Does he give a damn that his Cape Cod Times refuses to publish any criticism of its editor and would never publish this counter-op-ed? No. Does he give a damn that Mid-Cape Cultural Council refuses to respond to my requests for funding? No. Does he give a damn that the Cape Cod Museum of Art refuses to respond to my art proposals? No. Does he give a damn that Provincetown Arts refuses to publish any criticism of Provincetown arts and that the Provincetown Banner, which fed him for a while, refused to publish my criticism of the Fine Arts Work Center of Provincetown? No. Does he give a damn that the Cultural Center of Cape Cod boasts “inclusion and diversity,” yet absolutely refuses to include my voice, my art, and my writing? No. And I could go on and on.
Finally, what I liked about Trump (oh my, am I a white supremacist Nazi islamophobic misogynist homophobe now?) is that he really did expose the mega-bias corruption of the media, including Harold’s Cape Cod Times. That in itself made Trump’s tenure worthwhile. Trump also exposed the utter lack of accountability of government bureaucrats, including the likes of Hillary Clinton and Biden himself, who became a multimillionaire… serving the public for the Democrat Party, of course. As for me, I am not a blind partisan like Harold. I am not a blind-Trump supporter. I am a real freedom of speech advocate, not a hack partisan advocating for fake freedom. I am not a hypocrite with voice like Harold; I am a truth-teller with no voice… and I’d have it no other way. In 2016, I sent Harold a criticism of one of his columns. He actually responded, though in typical kill the messenger non-response fashion: “maybe if you were less inclined to insult you would find yourself getting more of the kind of attention you want. Just a thought.” A thought… or rather classic absence of thought. In essence, criticize Harold and his ilk is to “insult” and be an attention seeker. No thought, no cogent counterarguments necessary at all from them. Babies in cages? How about columnists in cribs?
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From: Brent Harold <kinnacum@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, May 2, 2016 12:41 PM
To: George Slone
Subject: Re: Not for the Thin-Skinned: A Rejected Letter to the Editor of the Cape Cod Times
maybe if you were less inclined to insult you would find yourself getting more of the kind of attention you want. Just a thought.
From: George Slone <todslone@hotmail.com>
Sent: Monday, May 2, 2016 1:41 PM
To: Brent Harold
Subject: Re: Not for the Thin-Skinned: A Rejected Letter to the Editor of the Cape Cod Times
To Brent Harold,
Well, sadly, I can't say your brief response was at all original. Its utter lack of originality did, however, make me LOL. For that, I thank you. How easy it is for you to accept when the guy next door, whose opinions or manner of expressing them you dislike, has his civil liberties revoked and is not permitted to express a counterpoint of view. Sadly, your thinly-veiled ad hominem non-response has become so very common today amongst the nation’s so-called intellectuals, especially on the left. You failed to counter via reason and fact just one point made in my letter. How to understand a professor (or journalist, for that matter) who has attained that lofty status without even possessing a critical, independent mind... and spine?
Sincerely,
G. Tod Slone
From: George Slone <todslone@hotmail.com>
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2021 10:00 AM
To: kinnacum@gmail.com <kinnacum@gmail.com>; letters@capecodonline.com <letters@capecodonline.com>; Driscoll, Kathi <kdriscoll@capecodonline.com>; abrennan@capecodonline.com <abrennan@capecodonline.com>
Subject: Brent Harold satirized in a new P. Maudit cartoon
To Brent Harold et al,
Mind-boggling how you and the media in general are so blind to the extremely low esteem the public has for you. One major problem is the media's general refusal to publish counter op-eds, those that counter the media narrative. Anyhow, please do publish the cartoon in Cape Cod Times and let me know of your decision. Thank you for your attention!
Au plaisir,
G. Tod Slone, PhD (universite de Nantes, FR) aka P. Maudit,
Founding Editor (1998)
The American Dissident, a 501c3 Nonprofit Journal of Literature, Democracy, and Dissidence
wwwtheamericandissidentorg.blogspot.com
217 Commerce Rd.
Barnstable, MA 02630
From: George Slone
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2021 10:35 AM
To: info@brentharold.com <info@brentharold.com>; kinnacum@gmail.com <kinnacum@gmail.com>; letters@capecodonline.com <letters@capecodonline.com>
Cc: Driscoll, Kathi <kdriscoll@capecodonline.com>; abrennan@capecodonline.com <abrennan@capecodonline.com>;
Subject: A counter op-ed with real teeth...
To Brent Harold, Cape Cod Times columnist:
You seem to be a major hypocrite, writing about freedom of all things. Well, such hypocrisy tends to be the focus of my cartooning, so I shall get to sketching a cartoon on you later today. Your response to my 2016 letter (see it and my letter below) was puerile in its manifestation of spinelessness and kill-the-messenger absence of cogent counter-argument:
“maybe if you were less inclined to insult you would find yourself getting more of the kind of attention you want. Just a thought.”
Some thought! In essence, to criticize Brent Harold is a synonym for “insult,” and he who dares criticize Brent Harold is an attention seeker. And you have a PhD? Wow!
In any event, below is my counter op-ed to your op-ed in today’s Cape Cod Times. Will you request the latter to publish it, in the name of diversity of opinions and inclusion, as well as freedom? Of course not! After all, you are a lover of freedom.
Au plaisir,
G. Tod Slone, former anti-establishment university professor and current anti-establishment poet, writer, cartoonist, and editor
G. Tod Slone, PhD (universite de Nantes, FR) aka P. Maudit,
Founding Editor (1998)
The American Dissident, a 501c3 Nonprofit Journal of Literature, Democracy, and Dissidence
wwwtheamericandissidentorg.blogspot.com
217 Commerce Rd.
From: George Slone <todslone@hotmail.com>
Sent: Monday, May 2, 2016 11:19 AM
To: kinnacum@gmail.com; info@brentharold.com
Cc: ppronovost@capecodonline.com; sturgislibrary@comcast.net
Subject: Not for the Thin-Skinned: A Rejected Letter to the Editor of the Cape Cod Times
To Brent Harold, Former English Professor, Cape Cod Times columnista:
Well, I read through your “Another View” column, “Does Inequality Foster Terrorism?” How amazing that you managed to slip in the term “climate change,” while never even mentioning the term Islam or Muslim, as in Muslim terrorists.
Now, if the Cape Cod Times was not run by such an amazingly thin-skinned editor, Paul Pronovost, whose mantra is Thou Shalt Not Criticize Journalists, it might be apt to publish a real “Another View,” as opposed to the “Same Old PC View.” Hypocrites at the helm! What else is new, eh? My article would be titled: “Does PC-Indoctrination Foster Blindness to Islamic Terrorism?” Now, I am left wondering if you’ve gotten this far in reading this counterpoint response to your article… or do you simply and immediately knee-jerk close the door a la Pronovost to any point of view critical of yours?
In any case, you naively (i.e., indoctrinatedly) ask, “Is there a link between human misery and terrorism?” Yes, poor poverty-stricken Saudi aristocrat Bin Laden! And how about the other poverty-stricken Saudi aristocrats who apparently funded 9/11? Didn’t you notice that in the news lately? Or are you simply awe-stricken by the lovely photo of Obama bowing down to Saudi billionaire dictators? Hmm.
You note that those waging the “war on terrorism” tend to believe terrorists “are ‘mad men’ with a perverse penchant for torturing who ‘hate freedom’ or ‘hate pleasure’.” Well, Islam is the opposite of freedom. Why don’t you know that? Are you not educated? Islam means SUBMISSION, not religion of peace, though Obama would rather We, the People believe in the lie! Why don’t you know that? Are you not sufficienty independent-minded to wonder about Islam’s less-than-perfect PC-image? Why the fear to name the culprit??? Is it the same fear that enabled you to float through life as an obedient never questioning and never challenging the diverse hands feeding you as English professor?
You continue, noting that the supposition of those waging the “war on terrorism” regarding terrorists ought to be replaced with “they hate being the wretched of the earth, they hate the economic systems and governments which produce inequality.” Yes, how nice to live in a little dacha in Wellfleet (and another in Puerto Rico) discussing with other Wellfleet dachitics about income inequality! Ah, but Islamic terrorists do hate inequality. They love equality as long as under Sharia law, well, with the minor exception for women and homosexuals and kuffars and apostates and slaves and rare dissident thinkers!
Your poverty argument belongs in an obligatory freshman-orientation English course called Multiculti-Diversity 101 aka Horseshit 101. What you really want is censorship, ostracizing, and blacklisting of those not of the PC-ilk. What you really want is life in Cuba or the former USSR, as long as you are one of the privileged with a dacha, you know, like Bernie, the guy you praise. How to live a life of luxury while simultaneously decrying income inequality!
You are like Lucy Loomis, the library director who permanently banned me without due process from taxpayer-funded Sturgis Library in Barnstable, thus assuring the denial of my very civil rights on Cape Cod, for I am no longer permitted to attend any cultural or political events held at my neighborhood library. My crime was a SPEECH CRIME, written in an open letter to the library directors of the Clams Library System of Cape Cod—devoid of threats or even PC-prohibited vocabulary—denouncing librarian hypocrisy with regards written library policy, in particular, that “libraries should provide materials and information presenting ALL points of view.” My point of view has been permanently banned. Do you care? Nope! Got guts? Of course you don't! I thus rest my case…
[No response received]
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