From Homo Sovetikus...

Ted Baker, a very wise man, left a comment on my post about Alexander Solzhenitsyn that "a totalitarian regime can imprison or kill a man, but an idea cannot easily be silenced". I answered in somewhat lightweight manner, but could not get it off my chest.

Of course I agree with Ted that no matter how hard the regime tries, it is impossible to kill the ideas.  It is not just that he was not fooled, that he did not succumb, - and this was incredibly difficult not to succumb to the regime, - but the truly amazing was that the stronger the regime tried to silence him, the stronger he opposed to being silenced. In a country that used to be on the knees and raising your head could cost you your head, he stood up unbelievably tall and never bended, never bowed, never traded for perks and benefits. He was nothing and the regime was everything. Nobody could even think about doing it and not being crushed. He did.

It was more than standing up to the regime, it was standing up against his country, and his countrymen. They hated him without knowing him. Because they were told to. 

"I have not read Alexander Solzhenitsyn, but I despise him", that was at the meetings across the country in large and small cities, towns and villages. It was in all newspapers, TV, radio, it was everywhere. Workers were saying it at their meetings, movie stars were saying this from the rostrums, teachers and scientists were saying on TV and radio. Those who did not want to, had to do it. Those notorious letters of indignation signed by the famous musicians, artists, kosmonauts. Published in newspapers day in day out...

10 years later many people still thought that he was a traitor and he was bought for few American dollars.

Imagine the pressure of 300,000,000 people hating your guts. For what? For standing up for them? Those who did not know better hated him because they sincerely believed the propaganda machine. Now there was a choice, a very tough choice, and very few followed him, and can you blame people for not being as strong as Jesus, and ready to sacrifice everything? Not metaphorically, literally?

By standing up he showed us that we were on our knees. We did not know it until we saw him standing, and so we started the difficult process of transitioning from Homo Sovetikus to Homo sapiens. Yes, you can't kill the idea, but you need the messenger to voice it. You need the voice to be heard. Solzhenitsyn's voice.

   Jon Zolsky, your Daytona Beach connection
   www.BeautifulFlorida.com