There seems to be a commonly held belief of those who are our leaders, whether in government, corporations, or of orthodox society, that those who dissent from the prevailing view of the age, are somehow a danger to the community, at large. In other words, all those who protest, in one form or another, are therefore directly targeted as enemies of the state, or as an undesired agency that should be monitored, infiltrated, and eventually neutralized to the best of the ability of those who do not see dissent as any legitimate right, whatsoever.
It isn’t so much that dissent is always feared, though it often is, rather it has a lot to do with the status quo not wanting to budge an inch because that status quo is quite satisfied with the way things are. Yet, just because one segment of society is satisfied, does not justify that other segments of that same society, should not have a fair opportunity to have their say. Still, we find that dissenting voices are often marginalized, ignored, or suppressed.
The great contradiction that countries such as the United States have in the suppression of dissent, is that within its own Constitution, is ingrained the right to free speech and to free assembly, but it seems that the powers that be, aren’t interested in those rights being freely expressed, whatsoever. Indeed, the attitude of our governance today seems to be consistent with what the attitude was of the British Empire, of which, those who were the colonists of this land and did not have an effective voice within that British government, determined that through their dissent of words and actions, they would thus fight for their right to independence.
This would presuppose that America has forgotten its very roots, and while it celebrates its revolution with fireworks and parades on Independence Day, each year, it doesn’t seem to understand that this government is supposed to be of, for, and by the people, with those same people being entitled to having a fair voice, as part and parcel of having freedom, and that these rights are the people’s rights per their Constitution.
In consideration, that not everyone thinks the same, and further to the point, it is better for society to embrace the diversity of free-thinking individuals – we find that governments and the powerful entities that are aligned with that government, don’t seem to care so much for dissent, of which, that dissent often represents the exposure of an inconvenient truth, exposed by those that disagree with the prevailing orthodoxy, which is seemingly perceived by powerful personages as not being good for business, and in consideration that the business of America is business, this is a seminal reason why those that dissent are typically seen as entities which are not welcomed.
The fact of the matter is that our Constitutional rights are only as good as they can be executed within the society that we are members of, and those that are on the side of suppressing dissent, are the very same, that are themselves, not in conformance with that Constitution, and thereby are in betrayal of our right to freely express ourselves, so done via dissent.