John Robson: We May Laugh at Totalitarian Rhetoric and Ideology, but the Pronouncements of the ‘Woke’ Are No Less Ridiculous

John Robson: We May Laugh at Totalitarian Rhetoric and Ideology, but the Pronouncements of the ‘Woke’ Are No Less Ridiculous
A pro-democracy activist (C) from HK Alliance holds a placard of missing citizen journalist Fang Bin, as she protests outside the Chinese liaison office in Hong Kong on Feb. 19, 2020. Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images
John Robson
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Commentary
It’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry at the news that the Chinese communist authorities might release COVID whistleblower Fang Bin after three years in jail for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” It’s a classic unfree-society story in that we don’t really know whether they’ll release him, where he’s been, what his sentence was or anything else except that their conduct was as appalling as their rhetoric was absurd. But we who live in free societies could learn an important lesson from the stilted way totalitarians justify their cancellation of unwelcome opinions and their holders.
John Robson
John Robson
Author
John Robson is a documentary filmmaker, National Post columnist, senior fellow at the Aristotle Foundation, contributing editor to the Dorchester Review, and executive director of the Climate Discussion Nexus. His most recent documentary is “The Environment: A True Story.”
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