Thankful for Free Speech

With mounting evidence that "1984" has been averted, we give thanks for free speech, to the Substack platform, and to our readers.

I recently re-read George Orwell’s masterpiece, 1984 for the first time since my senior year of high school in 1989. Back then, I didn’t fully grasp the terrifying world that Orwell portrayed in his dystopian novel. Now, after living through the last five years, I understand the malevolent, tyrannical, hateful spirit that animated “the Party” in 1984.

Tyranny does not emerge suddenly, but initially advances slowly and almost imperceptibly, like a noose that tightens a millimeter each day, or a pot of water containing a frog whose temperature slowly rises. In its latter stages its advance accelerates, with more radical measures taken to restrict basic liberties. However, these shocks are followed by interludes in which the tyrant is inactive so that the people will relax, put down their guards, and grow accustomed to their new restrictions. In this way, the loss of liberty is normalized.

More so than the force of arms, free speech is what enables a people to remain free. As Orwell understood, if you cannot speak freely, you cannot communicate what you are seeing with others. After a certain period of being deprived of the ability to speak, the victim will ultimately cease being able to think.

Though I cannot be sure, I suspect that if Kamala Harris had been elected president, the Censorship-Industrial Complex would have experienced another Great Leap Forward in its power to control the people and to render them thoughtless and therefore powerless. Perhaps it is no exaggeration to state that We the People just averted a disaster that would have led inexorably to a dystopian world akin to that portrayed in 1984.

The tyrannical enterprise of whatever oligarchy stands behind Kamala Harris is most clearly expressed their own puppet’s inability to speak in a coherent way. The titular leader these tyrants chose as their marionette literally makes no sense, as she revealed in her bizarre recent video address to her confused supporters.

It seems to me that we must consider the possibility that total disaster was just averted, and for this we should be extremely grateful.

I (along with Dr. Peter McCullough and Nicolas Hulscher) are thankful for retaining our right to speak, especially on the Substack platform, which has proven to be the one forum in the entire American media landscape that has remained entirely free.

I am grateful to Dr. McCullough for welcoming me to join him in this adventure of a lifetime that began during our first recorded interview in May 2021—an interview that was banned by YouTube three hours after I posted it on my channel.

We have come such a long way since those dark days 3.5 years ago, when he was being systematically stripped of his job, his professorships, his editorships, and maligned in the mainstream media. Observing him endure these insults with quiet stoicism—never complaining and never losing his sense of humor—has been an inspiration. His splendid stiff upper lip has consistently reminded me of the Kipling poem “IF.”

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken,

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

The last years have been the most trying and taxing, but also the most rewarding in my career as a freelance investigative author.

Finally, I would like to give special thanks for my dedicated readers, including my critical readers who point out to me when I am in error, partly in error, or merely overlooking something. It has been a great privilege and honor for me to have you—without a doubt the most informed and sophisticated audience in the country—as my readership.

Happy Thanksgiving!