Censorship

In order to survive as a social species, we all must practice a form of self-censorship. This can be as simple as never telling your boss what you really think, telling “white lies” to family to preserve the peace, or simply remaining quiet in the face of an obnoxious (or belligerent) fanatic. 

The typical “red line” to truly awful censorship is crossed when expressing an opinion becomes legally enforced. Can you be thrown in jail or worse for criticizing your boss, arguing with your wife, telling a neighbor he is wrong? In western civilization we try to retain as much “right to free speech” as possible.

This is in the possibly misguided belief that if all sides of an issue can be heard, the correct opinion will prevail. It’s almost as quaint as the idea that everyone no matter how ignorant or stupid should have an equal share in selecting a leader. Yet, for the most part, these two ridiculous propositions have often worked out. 

The problem has always been imagination. Although in the past limited by reality, opinion can now float free and unencumbered by hard checking. Upon a time, a person who said he could fly after eating a special food could prove it by jumping off a cliff before an audience. In the media age, no such luck.  We can no longer trust anything except what is right around us. And since we are sure of what we “know” we are certain the rest of the population would be better off if they never heard differently. 

Hard to figure out. We may need more cliffs