Nation Profile
THOUGHT LEADERS
Preparing to Stand for Truth in a Time of Lies Embracing suffering to protect the truth is the secret to resisting totalitarianism
T
he key to resilience in the face of persecution is the willingness to suffer,” says Rod Dreher, “not just to bear it stoically, but to find a way to transform it and purify it into something good.” In this episode of “American Thought Leaders,” host Jan Jekielek speaks about soft totalitarianism, “wokeness,” and ways to resist both with Rod Dreher, author of “Live Not By Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents.” JAN JEKIELEK: I’ve been
reading “Live Not by Lies.” I think there are a lot of people who would wonder what you’re talking about.
sounds crazy to Americans to think our liberal democracies could be turning totalitarian. But whenever I travel to conferences, if I meet someone who has immi52 I N S I G H T Feb. 25–March 3, 2022
Rod Dreher, author and editor. SAMIRA BOUAOU/THE EPOCH TIMES
ROD DREHER: Well, it
grated to America from a communist country, I ask them, “Do the things you’re seeing today, such as cancel culture and wokeness, remind you of what you left behind?” Every one of them says yes. And if you talk to them long enough, they get really angry that Americans don’t take these issues seriously. And now we’re seeing the expansion of this wokeness. It has to do with identity politics, critical race theory, gender theory, all of these things. It has conquered universities, the media, sports, law, medicine, big business, even the military and the CIA. The government doesn’t have to get involved to enforce wokeness, when you have all the other institutions doing it. The people who grew up under communism know that when you live in a society where people are afraid to say what they think for fear of losing
