People tend to focus on private and public censorship particularly when it comes to the first amendment. That doesn’t even matter if you create an environment where dissent or differing opinion isn’t allowed in the first place.
An oppressive government doesn’t need to censor everyone. They censor themselves. They don’t need to deploy agents to harass people. Your fellow citizens will harass you for them.
If you tend to be a person who agrees with majority opinions without creating your own then you will likely self-censor yourself.
Censorship starts first in the mind way before it even gets to the point of being expressed where others can see it.
https://www.liberties.eu/en/stories/self-censorship/43569
People tend to focus on private and public censorship particularly when it comes to the first amendment. That doesn’t even matter if you create an environment where dissent or differing opinion isn’t allowed in the first place.
An oppressive government doesn’t need to censor everyone. They censor themselves. They don’t need to deploy agents to harass people. Your fellow citizens will harass you for them.
Ok that’s a good point. You see the conforming chorus but you don’t see that every member is censoring himself.