| Everyone advocating for suppressing others always believes they hold the ethical high ground. Sometimes they do. The problem is when they don't, those tools of suppression work just as well. USSR: "[We call for] painless but full liquidation of the monasteries, as chief centers of the influence of the churchmen, as nurseries of parasitism, as powerful screws in the exploiting machine of the old ruling classes." USA: "We will not knowingly employ a Communist ... In pursuing this policy, we are not going to be swayed by hysteria or intimidation from any source. We are frank to recognize that such a policy involves danger and risks. There is the danger of hurting innocent people. There is the risk of creating an atmosphere of fear. Creative work at its best cannot be carried on in an atmosphere of fear. We will guard against this danger, this risk, this fear." "... We request Congress to enact legislation to assist American industry to rid itself of subversive, disloyal elements." China: "Although the bourgeoisie has been overthrown, it is still trying to use the old ideas, culture, customs, and habits of the exploiting classes to corrupt the masses, capture their minds, and stage a comeback." "[Our]
objective
is
to
struggle
against
and
crush
those
persons
in
authority
who are
taking
the
capitalist
road,
to
criticize
and
repudiate
the
reactionary
bourgeois
academic
“authorities”
and
the
ideology
of
the
bourgeoisie
and
all
other exploiting
classes" |