[extropy-chat] intimidation of oligarchy vs. outright violence of dictatorship

[Ned Late]

Yes, this is the problem. Even in America, citizens with little 'pull' are reluctant to excessively criticize the powerful for fear of retaliation. After all, one is free to publically criticise a criminal, but that criminal is free to ask an underling to pour sugar in one's gas tank. This is something few talk about, it is a peril of oligarchy, as opposed to the guaranteed violence of a dictatorship. Here is an historical example of someone who paid a dear price for an expose: in the 1950s Victor Riesel had acid thrown in his face, blinding him, after his radio show went too far in exposing crime.

>Quite a few journalists have tried to give us that
>coverage. They tend to get arrested or shot by the
>same dictators for their efforts...


		
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
 Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20050106/074653b1/attachment.html>