[Vision2020] Disturbing trends

[Tim Lohrmann]

Tom,
  I wasn't talking about McCarthyism. Insofar as
McCarthy was acting as a government agent with
official powers, his activities were state action and
the effect amounted to the official repression of the
rights of others. 
   I was only making the point that the activities of
private individuals in boycotting or chastising other
private individuals with whom they disagree is not
censorship or repression at all. 
    I would point out in response to one of your
points however, that the KGB has released files
showing that Communist Party operatives and
sympathizers were in fact working directly for Soviet
intelligence. And that nuclear secrets were in fact
funneled to the Soviets by the Rosenbergs and others. 


    That said, the McCarthy commitee clearly ran amok
in labeling people and destroying careers. And, as I
mentioned above, since these actions were undertaken
by an official governmental body, they do amount to
official repression. One of their effects was least
the chilling of free debate. 
    
     This is quite a different case than deciding not
to attend a movie because of disagreement with its
star's politics. 
   TL
   TL 
 
--- Tom Hansen <thansen@moscow.com> wrote:
> Mr. Lohrman -
> 
> McCarthyism had more to do with paranoia than it did
> free speech.  In the
> early 1950s the Soviet Union had just developed the
> bomb.  Prior to that
> American considered the SOviet Union to be almost a
> backward country (third
> world almost).
> 
> Americans were thinking:
> 
> 1)  How could such a backward country develop an
> atomic bomb?
> 
> 2)  There must be some "traitors" among us that gave
> them the technology to
> devlop the bomb.
> 
> Enter Senator Joe McCarthy.  What better way to get
> headlines as a "true"
> American than to divulge names of local Communists
> and Communist
> sympathizers.  If anybody said or did anything that
> could be interpreted to
> be "un-American" in any way was labeled a Communist
> or Communist
> sympathizer.  This "interpretation" was not a result
> of what was considered
> to "violations" of free speech, but a result of mass
> paranoia, much like the
> internment of Japanese-Americans at the beginning of
> WW2.
> 
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: vision2020-admin@moscow.com
> [mailto:vision2020-admin@moscow.com]On
> > Behalf Of Bob Hoffmann
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2003 10:37 AM
> > To: vision2020@moscow.com
> > Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Disturbing trends
> >
> >
> > At 10:06 AM 4/16/2003 -0700, Tim Lohrmann wrote:
> > >Joe,
> > >    Exactly. The truth is that everyone,
> especially those in the public
> > > spotlight, have always "paid a price" for what
> they say and do.
> > >    That's not censorship. The government isn't
> involved at all.
> >
> > Censorship doesn't always include the government. 
> This is not as
> > simple as
> > an issue of boycotting someone because of a bumper
> sticker.  Remember the
> > blacklisting of actors in the 1950's?  Witch
> hunts, are you now
> > or have you
> > ever been a member of the Communist Party, have
> you ever met a Communist,
> > do you wear red underpants?  Destroyed careers,
> destroyed families, and,
> > let's not forget, a totally oppressive atmosphere
> across the
> > country.  This
> > was just one small part of McCarthysim.  At a time
> when people
> > are talking
> > about renaming anything "French," boycotting the
> products of a number of
> > countries, and punishing people in our country for
> their beliefs,
> > this is a
> > complex that needs to be examined in its broadest
> scope, not simply a
> > matter of "so-and-so's show got cancelled."
> >
> > And while individuals are free to withhold their
> dollars from whatever
> > business or product, institutions are not so free
> in our country.
> >  Any one
> > of us can decide that we don't like "a certain
> ethnic group" so we won't
> > patronize their businesses.  When our institutions
> start
> > discriminating on
> > the basis of one's political views, how is that
> much different from
> > discriminating on the basis of race, religion,
> gender, etc.?  Again, as
> > individuals, we have some latitude to do so. 
> Institutions have less
> > "freedom" in this matter.  Decades of civil rights
> activism have
> > made it so.
> >
> > Food for thought....
> >
> > Bob Hoffmann
> > 820 S. Logan St.
> > Moscow, ID  83843
> >
> > Tel: 208 883-0642
> >
> >
>
_____________________________________________________
> >  List services made available by First Step
> Internet,
> >  serving the communities of the Palouse since
> 1994.
> >                http://www.fsr.net
> >           mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com
> >
>
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////
> >
> 
>
_____________________________________________________
>  List services made available by First Step
> Internet, 
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. 
>  
>                http://www.fsr.net                   
>    
>           mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com
>
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