My name is Daniel. I was an English teacher in Seoul, South Korea, and am now a writer who has

published three books including South Korea: Our Story by Daniel Nardini.

                            One thing I should explain about myself; I have been a writer for 25 years. I

started as a journalist and commentator back in 1994 during the Bill Clinton presidency, and had gone

through the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. During those three presidencies, the

U.S. government had made and changed laws from time to time, but NEVER did they censor the press.

This is important because had the U.S. government done so, I would have been one of the first to be

affected and probably found myself in prison or threatened. Probably the closest this might have 

happened to me was during the Bush era, but no the U.S. government did not come for me. I had 

(and still have) absolute freedom to voice my opposition no matter who was president. However, one

thing I learned was that there are many Americans who seem to feel that the U.S. government is "out to get

them" and that former President Obama was ready to grab their guns, tax them to death, confiscate their

homes, and put people in prison for their opinions. Some of the people I talked to really believed that

the government was coming after them. They talked about the government going into their homes and

taking their guns. Having worked with the press, I have heard of no credible cases of the government

ever doing this. I have never seen any cases like this while working as a journalist, and I have seen

no person or people ever arrested or put into prison for expressing their opinion. I tried to keep from

getting into arguments with people who were paranoid about the government coming after them. Some

even believed that I was a government agent for denying what they saw as the "truth." That they 

also talked to people with such extreme, right wing views did not help me convince them that the

U.S. government was NOT going to come after them. Too many right wing people believed that

former President Obama was trying to create a left wing dictatorship, that he was trying to take

away everyone's guns, that he was about to implement socialism, and that he was trying to make

everyone either atheists or Muslims (note: atheists and Islam do not go together). Since Donald

Trump has become president, now I am hearing from left wing people that we are now living 

under fascism and that all racial and ethnic minorities will either be put into concentration camps

or be exterminated. Whatever I may think of Trump, these things have not taken place. True, Trump

does not like the press, but as president he is limited to what he can do about it. So far I am safe.

But fear and paranoia---among both the right and left and among ordinary people---seems to be

alive and well.