"... a contemporary American phenomenon, ...

[DarkPhenyx]

... is disturbing, deplorable, and truly dangerous. I'm referring to the growing reluctance of Americans to criticize, and their increasing tendency to condemn those who, in ever dwindling numbers, will still voice dissent, dissatisfaction, and criticism."

- J. Paul Getty, The Vanishing Americans, essay, 1964

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. When people are threatened with arrest

for using their First Amendment rights, and then are fired from their job, there is something very very wrong with this country.

[jeff30997]

2. In 40 years things have not change much isn't it.

:-(

[onebigbadwulf]

3. Wrong.

I have NEVER seen a growing reluctance for people to criticize Clinton, Gore, Moore, Dean, or Kerry.

This statement applies ONLY to the left wing speaking out against Republicans, their propanga, and their industrial-war complex. NOT the other way around.


EDIT: I'd also like to point out that the people weren't afraid to trash the right-wing before 9-11. People were just scared into a sheep mentality that they haven't been able to shake off.

[CanIgonow]

4. At the time J.Paul Getty wrote this article the US had started the

Vietnam War with a manufactured incident similar to the bombing of the WTC Towers( the Gulf of Tonkin "incident").As soon as the war fever caught on, it was unstoppable and one reason after another was proffered to justify that shameful war.In the aftermath of that war,another righwing icon, Jeanne Kilpatrick,coined the term Blame America First to describe those who questioned the morality of that war.She went on to fine tune this libel by claiming her antennas were sensitive enough to pick out the difference between totalitarian regimes (bad) and authoritarian regimes (good).

The pathological condition Getty describes is ingrained in our ysstem as we find sophists and opportunists like Kilpatrick in ever increasing numbers unleashed by a rising tide of money from rightwing sources.So expect more of the same until there is a stock market crash or something that dries up the money.Then you will find the same guys and gals wearing beads singing love songs and heading to Woodstock again.