one of the most important features of censorship media structures is that the censors also don't know

oh sure they know what to censor, but not why

and without that why, they don't know what they should censor, if anything

and eventually, they don't learn something they need

they might start out knowing why they're censoring, but the thing is, the censorship changes the system it's a part of, so that what information they might have used otherwise to know what to censor isn't learned by them

the gist of this argument is similar to the function of price systems in economies

prices of things reflect very important information that people, both sellers and buyers, use to regulate their use of resources, tending to lead to better outcomes for everyone involved

if you destroy the price system, you lose what information it would provide to you

at first the central planners might know about how much of something is needed, but the information that comes with changes they don't get, resulting in poor use of resources

the poor use of resources by economies that destroy the function of price signals has real world consequences

this is only a vivid example of what destruction destroying price signals lead to - a similar kind of immoderation occurs in censorship regimes https://psmag.com/social-justice/the-senseless-environment-crime-of-the-20th-century-russia-whaling-67774

what we lose in a censorship regime is knowledge about what others know and believe

this is poisonous to a democracy, which depends fundamentally about the masses having good information about what each other believes and knows

if your rulers stop you from voicing your concerns and opinions, you might not realize how many there are with your same concerns and opinions, so you cannot work together to interests you hold in common

this should be, very obviously, inimical to democracy

essentially all censorship is undemocratic

the free flow of information is required for democracy to work well

if they are hampering that flow of information, it is because they don't *want* you to work together - because you might work together *against them*

any and all censorship as such should be recognized as a straight political attack on who they believe their enemies to be and who poises a threat to the security of their rule

there is no other reason they use it, and other reasons given are to fool the gullible and craven