RE: Book Review: "The 14th Dalai Lama" by Sun Hongnian, Zhang Yongpan & Li Sheng
It really is very difficult for someone (like me) who has never lived under such a system of government @patriareminisci, to imagine ...
What I say is true because I said that it's true, and to prove it's true I ask 'why would I say it if it wasn't true?' So you know it must be true, and I'll prove that it's true by insisting solemnly that it is true, ergo it must be true because if it wasn't true than I would be wrong, and that can't be true," is the basic format of the entire book.
... either the mindset of the author of such a book. Or of anyone reading it ... That said, these words really stood out to me, as a crystal clear illustration of how they think.
Here in America, it could be argued we have begun to see "our version" of this for some time now. A "script" appears to have been given to "the faithful," who dutifully go out and trumpet whatever it is they have been told to say. Whether true or not is irrelevant ...
Actually it is worse than that. The "strategy" would appear to be that if "we" just say it often enough and loud enough, "we" will make it the truth ...
God help us all to not be fooled ... Thanks for writing another great post!
You're right when you say there's begun to be some hints of that in America, I suppose, but I would say (and would assert that most Americans would agree if they lived here for a while) that America's microscopic dose of that mentality is many, many orders of magnitude lower than what is considered normal here. Here, defying "the prevailing view" is not just rude, it's not just a crime... it's heresy. Questioning the word of the Party State is in their minds what a Luciferian Altar in the middle of Canterbury Cathedral would be in the mind of an Episcopalian.
I find it hard to believe that America will reach that point. Not because there's no authorities that want it, but simply because Americans are, by our very nature, too rebellious and disobedient to comply with this level of Thought-policing. We couldn't do it even if we somehow wanted to.
That's not to say we don't need to be vigilant, but we are not in as much danger as many people think.
Yes @patriareminisci, of this ...
... I have no doubt. As far as I am aware of Chinese history, there is no equivalent period of their history where anything like what our liberty means to us has ever applied ...
But ...
... you are apparently far more confident of this than I am. I would have said what we routinely witness today was not possible, when younger. As an older man, I will say today that obviously I was wrong.
"We've come a long way baby!" And not in the right direction ...