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America’s Powerful Intellectual Class Finds ‘Joy in Making Us Obey and Be Compliant,’ Warns Scholar

The so-called experts ‘infantilizes’ the American public through deciding what gets to be seen and what’s censored

America’s Powerful Intellectual Class Finds ‘Joy in Making Us Obey and Be Compliant,’ Warns Scholar
Logos of U.S. online news and social networking service Twitter displayed on computers' screens on Nov. 20, 2017. Loic Venance/AFP/Getty Images
Jan Jekielek
Jan Jekielek
Senior Editor
&
Naveen Athrappully
Naveen Athrappully
Reporter
5/15/2023|Updated: 5/15/2023
0:00

America’s intellectual class has been given so much power by the public that their misuse of such power is threatening the fundamental freedom of speech in the country, says scholar and author Tom Harrington.

“It’s absolutely remarkable how easily we’ve gone from free speech to asking, ‘How can I make my way around the censorship that’s here?’” Harrington said in a recent interview with Jan Jekielek on “American Thought Leaders” that premiered on May 11. “Sometimes, there’s this idea that reality just is. That’s partially true but in the cultural realm, there’s always someone developing it and distributing it who has more access to power.
Jan Jekielek is a senior editor with The Epoch Times, host of the show “American Thought Leaders.” Jan’s career has spanned academia, international human rights work, and now for almost two decades, media. He has interviewed nearly a thousand thought leaders on camera, and specializes in long-form discussions challenging the grand narratives of our time. He’s also an award-winning documentary filmmaker, producing “The Unseen Crisis,” “DeSantis: Florida vs. Lockdowns,” and “Finding Manny.”
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