Explaining why censorship is an absolute cancer onto society: A THREAD

The best way to combat “bad speech” is “better speech”

In other words, allow for the free exchange of ideas (be they true or false, good or bad), from all perspectives, and allow the work of good arguments to function naturally as they do best.

In this way, the individual discernment of the people remain the ultimate arbiters of truth, and remain uninfluenced by any biased third party interpretations (be it the state or media).

This is how a healthy Democratic Republic operates most efficiently - and what our founders intended when they wrote and ratified the First Amendment (freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right to peacefully assemble).

The access to free & uncensored information is the bedrock of any free society.

The ability to have Individual interpretations of a source is the first line of defense against false or misleading information. The idea is, in the end, the better argument will always prevail - & in doing so, this is how you find “truth”.

This is why censorship is so incredibly destructive to a free society.

Adamantly discrediting a claim, Whilst simultaneously censoring and removing the source of that claim, establishes a system without check and balance -One where the state/ media is the ultimate arbiter of truth, rather than that responsibility being allocated to the people.

“But independent fact checkers said it was false” - who established that independent fact checkers are the ultimate arbiters of truth? What are their qualifications? Were they elected by the people to discern information on behalf of the people?

Human beings are innately flawed and biased - so for any one group of people to have a monopoly over the access of information, without the input of the people, establishes a system absent of transparency and balances.

If something is inherently true, then the counter arguments do not need to be removed/censored, only addressed and debated.

However, If a statement/ claim falls victim to censorship, then the current narrative becomes less about the truth and more about an agenda. This is because censorship is the inherent enemy of truth, and the foundation of all propaganda

A society that relies on the state/ media to be the arbiter of truth is not a society of free thinkers, but one of slaves and subjects.

A free society can only endure if it’s people remain the ultimate arbiters of truth - anything less, is a gateway to propaganda, and the death of a free society.