This is a writing blog, not a blog on the China Worldcon, but I’ve been getting a bump in readership from the Worldcon articles, I’ve been talking about intimidation of China critics with vague claims of “racism,” and I just came upon a new outrage. Emerson College is apparently in the pocket of the Chinese government. It derecognized a chapter of Turning Point USA, a student organization. The organization had distributed stickers with the text “China kinda … sus.” That’s gamer slang for “suspicious.”

Emerson president William Gilligan, who seems like a typical academic tinpot dictator, has smeared the Turning Point chapter with a claim of “anti-China hate.” “Hate” is a wonderfully flexible word; in this case, it means criticism of an authoritarian state. If Gilligan is consistent (which I don’t expect he is), then he ought to regard kneeling during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” as “anti-America hate.” Or maybe he just likes concentration camps.

In an atmosphere like this, it would be understandable if any Emerson students who are SF fans are afraid to criticize the Chengdu Worldcon. Their first priority is to graduate without having school officials make trouble for them. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) wrote to Gilligan:

Emerson’s treatment of TPUSA is deeply shameful for an institution of higher education that claims to uphold free expression. Your administration’s own statements about the group have chilled faculty and staff who may otherwise have been interested in advising the organization, even if they do not support its views. This callous indifference to the rights of TPUSA’s members renders Emerson’s promises of freedom of expression fleeting at best, leaving a stain on a school whose motto pledges to honor “Expression Necessary to Evolution.”

Is Emerson operating under some kind of pressure from China? Who knows? When the NBA knuckles under, it wouldn’t be too surprising if the Chinese government can bring pressure to bear on small American colleges.

We can close our eyes to what the Chinese government has done to the Uyghurs, to dissidents, indeed to all of its people, because someone growls that it’s “hate” to care. Or we can recognize and denounce the outrages that a powerful clique has performed upon many millions of humans.