Letters to the Editor
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I for one am tired of the walk-on-eggshells apologists --
afraid that exposing traitors such as O'Hanlon -- who has betrayed everything our country claims to stand for -- might call the cops because his feelings are hurt by the truth --
Steven Rockford --
". . . . Back [in the 1960s], going to college in The Bay Area, I thought only the reactionaries were concerned about being “picked up” for subversive thoughts. I’ve read nothing here that even comes close to what Governor Reagan considered the “dirty revolutionary hippie language” that prompted him to send the National Guard into Berkeley.
This “Wall” discussion would have been considered trivial literary discussion at that time. Why has our open intellectual discourse been tempered by such an Orwellian level of paranoia?"
It can only be that the "radicals" of today -- in word -- don't have the backbone that we had then to stand for our convictions. We didn't bomb, or commit any other crimes -- some of us were all along pacifists; but we certainly didn't clam up and whine about paranoid figments by means of which we intimidated ourselves.
We knew we were probably being watched. We waved at the cameras, and continued our speaking out and broad-daylight active protests. (But don't tell anyone this: We actually engaged in candlelight vigils/protests at -- GASP! -- night!)
"Has the concept of free speech been lost forever in this country?"
The concept is alive and well -- it is a constant topic of discussion. The courage to exercise the right is lacking, based as noted essentially on self-intimidation.