A favorite tactic of dictators is to threaten the families of dissidents. You yourself might be brave and even willing to die for the cause, but are you willing to sacrifice your mom and dad or your children?
So, when the New York Times reporters wrote about leaks in the security system, the federal government did not immediately question federal employees to find the whistleblowers, which is what the feds usually do, but they went after the reporters. That is wrong on many levels. We have a free press. Well, we once had a free press.
And they did more. They went after a reporter’s mom and another relative. And it was the FBI that was sent to investigate. With guns on hips.
This is where we live now.
ERRATA. Last night I posted a blurb on an article about the decline of reading in the United States. I said the article was in the latest issue of Harpers. It was in the latest issue of The Atlantic.
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