I was reminded today of the lengths people in China have to go to avoid censorship. The parallel to that is the length censors in China have gone to stop these expressions. Liu Xiaobo's memory has been commemorated with emoji candles and an empty chair on the beach. They can't just put up his picture and say, "Sorry you are gone" or something like that. They have to do memorials in ways that are not likely to get a censor's attention until others have already seen it. It is hard for people in the U.S. to appreciate the intricacies of something so simple as a candle or chair because they are spoiled by a system that allows them to say almost anything in the name of free speech.
There are plenty of people in this country who will say, "I don't agree with you, but I defend your right to say what you did." Then, we have places like Berkeley where someone who does not agree with the faculty does not get to speak on campus. That is censorship of the worst kind -censorship by those who know better. Look at the rest of the world before you make a decision about who to allow to speak on campus. Liu Xiaobo was banned from speaking in China and put in jail to suppress his ideas. I wonder if Berkeley would have found a place for him to speak had he lived long enough?
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