How to Respond To Propaganda

Part 4: The pledge — what we can do, specifically

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The following four-part series is my tribute to Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s 1974 essay, Live Not By Lies, based on what I am observing in the West. Here are links to the other parts: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

It is directly inspired by Solzhenitsyn’s form and format.

After his exile from Russia to the West, Alexander Solzhenitsyn warned of the dangers of staying silent in the face of shameless propaganda and, worse, agreeing to lies.

How will you respond to what you see happening around you?

From This Point Forward, We Will:

1. Only write, sign, and publish things that we believe to be true.
2. Only say things in public and in private that we believe to be true, and will resist speech being forced upon us by protestors, teachers, or the government.
3. Not say or create anything that is intended to, or is used to, support an idea we do not believe.
4. Not support that isolated examples of someone’s speech or thoughts can be used as an excuse to silence a person whose ideas challenge the orthodoxy.
5. Only support causes that we believe in our hearts are just and valid, and never…