Historically, orthodoxy has been the norm in all societies. One view - that of the ruler – has been quite sufficient, thank you. Nevertheless, dissent always sneaks in. Over thousands of years, rulers have known two basic solutions: the gentle one, banishment (exile! Siberia!) or the simple one, "off with their heads!" Miraculously, after all the barbarities of the twentieth century, dissent finally started gaining broader acceptance. Democratic systems became the new norm, and dissent was the proof that democracy was real. Even in authoritarian societies diversity snuck in: Stealthily at first, by word of mouth, people began to disagree. Soon there was copying and tape recordings going around. Dissent became an organized activity. The fall of totalitarian governments in the former Soviet Union and ex-Yugoslavia, and the democratization of East European countries accelerated the trend.
Still, reactions to dissent were not far behind. Today Hungary is returning to censorship, the first European country to do so after the cold war. Beyond such bureaucratic solutions, there is, of course, the alternative of terror. Free thought and dissent can be stopped by spreading fear. A bloody example is good pedagogy – kill a few and watch how terror spreads. Western democracies look in horror as Muslims willingly take their own lives to kill even other Muslims who have chosen a slightly different persuasion.
Yet all Western democrats are confounded as they find the same issue at their own doorstep, where they have to confront people of a different conviction in their own societies, in their own neighborhoods. And too often they utterly fail their own test. If Western democrats can, they opt for the comfort of seeing and hearing only their own views – whether in Europe or the US, whether on the political left or right. Media have gradually become streamlined ("designer media") to fit this basic preference - they curtail dissent. We are close to the situation today where what is said by people or media of a different persuasion than our own does not count for us, we don't even have to know about it.
Fortunately election campaigns still exist in countries where real democracy survives, to force us to think about alternatives, but the most comfy solution is always to do what we’ve done before. So – as a New Year’s commitment - shake loose: start reading something you expect to disagree with every day! (Lukashenko - that means you, too, please!)
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