Hundred Flowers Campaign: How This Relates To Us Today
The Hundred Flowers Campaign was a period from 1956 to 1957 in which China under Mao Zedong encouraged people to express openly their opinions of the communist regime. Mao told the people “let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend”, in which his stated intention was to signal to the intellectuals of the country to offer different and competing ideologies/opinions on the issues of the day. Basically, for a diversity of views on governing and solutions to public policy. Or so the people thought.
After this brief period of “liberalization” of thought and speech, an ideological crackdown occurred from 1957 to 1959 upon those who criticized the regime. Citizen critics were rounded up in waves by the hundreds of thousands, and they were publicly criticized, publicly shamed, and then condemned to prison camps for re-education through labor, and even executed. Many historians believe that this was a premeditated act to identify, persecute, and silence critics of the regime. And as planned, the consequence of the Hundred Flowers Campaign (besides killing off dissenters) was that it discouraged future dissent and it made intellectuals reluctant to criticize Mao and his Communist Party in the future.
How is this relevant today in the “land of the free” in which freedom of speech and thought is enshrined in the First Amendment? Unfortunately, free speech and thought are under assault by an unholy alliance consisting of:
- government
- big tech
- media (which includes entertainment such as Hollywood and athletic organizations)
- academia
- corporations/banks
- domestic terrorists (such as BLM and Antifa)
- China
As recently as 2019, we had a sense of security as it relates to free speech and thought (despite it having been undermined for decades). But today in 2021, that sense of security has all but vanished, although most people have not yet realized it. So we should at minimum be aware that if we are to express criticism of the government, immigration, domestic terrorists, wokeness, trans, etc…. (as did the Chinese citizens in 1956 and 1957 for the issues of their day), then there may be consequences. And much like with Mao, today big tech has the means, the will, and underhandedness for a premeditated act to identify, persecute, and silence critics of the woke regime. They can snitch on us and initiate a crackdown upon us by figuratively rounding us up, publicly shaming us, forced re-education “camps” (ex., Critical Race Theory), and by us losing our sources of income. By doing so, this will discourage future dissent since people would be reluctant to criticize those in power.
So today, whether you post opinions online, or express an opinion in University, or at your job site, be cognizant that some of our enemies are creating a mirage by encouraging free expression to entrap you by you letting your guard down and expressing your true thoughts. And we have witnessed the punishment given to those crossing this woke tyranny. Don’t believe me?
Remind me, who controls the world wide web? Who manufactured your smart phone? How about your computer? And tell me, are they your ally or your enemy?
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