Today’s Brief Thought

by Phyllis Chesler

Playwright Peter Weiss, of Marat/Sade fame had this to say about the “righteously” oppressed taking their revenge. The words belong to the Marquis de Sade as he views the future of revolution.

“Now I see where

this revolution is leading

To the withering of the individual

man

and a slow merging into

uniformity…

in a state

which has no contact with

individuals

but which is impregnable.”

Weiss may be talking about the French Revolution or, more likely, the Soviet Communist disaster. However, Russian friend assures me that millions of Russians still love Stalin.

Methinks what Weiss is saying could describe the dreadful arc of what we now call “Cancel Culture” and the tyranny of online engine sites. I have just been told that I must post a “disclaimer” on some/all of my pieces to indicate that my views are mine alone. And, I cannot boost many of my articles to obtain a larger readership if my subject is Islamic gender and religious apartheid, Israel, or the transgender issue.

As Weiss said: Conformity, uniformity, and the “withering of the individual.”

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3 Responses

  1. A sad state of affairs. When you can’t publish about subjects where you are expert. Or about which our comments to the blogs disappear within minutes. When I was younger, we dismissed the silly craven Germans and Russians. But we are now almost like them.

  2. The dumbing down of critical thinking, the ability to agree to disagree and distinguish between hate speech and free civil exchange is what has polarized and split this country and much of the world into warring factions that threaten the planet and our species. Rethinking is in order as we try to celebrate Earth Day

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