Harry G. Hutchison – Against the pulsating scenes of Shanghai police pummeling COVID-19 protesters in China, Iranian mullahs cracking down on Tehran’s demonstrators, and the World Economic Forum’s supporting digital passports allowing governments to control the movement of people, the forces of authoritarian control are clearly on the march.
Nor is this problem limited to East Asia or the Middle East. This issue directly implicates the West.
Arising out of our cultural elites’ disdain for the concerns and values of the common folk, the West’s increasing capitulation to authoritarianism may be more subtle but no less pernicious than China’s coercive lockdowns featuring stormtroopers welding apartment doors shut.