The Insidious Victory of Self-Censorship
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As I mentioned in my previous article on truth, we have departed the information age, and wandered into an age of suppression and censorship. I have lost track of the number of doctors, journalists, and organizations that have been cancelled and censored over the last several years. These have included frontline physicians treating COVID patients, investigative news organizations such as Project Veritas, and natural health advocates like Sayer Ji, founder of GreenMedInfo.com. Perhaps the biggest story in recent times was when Twitter and Facebook (including Instagram), banned the former President of the United States from his social media accounts “indefinitely”.
Censorship is not new. It has long been used to silence dissent. To control an official narrative. To hide truth and to muzzle those who would dare speak out. While I’ve never served in the military, I know enough to know that a powerful strategy of war is to cut off your enemy’s lines of communication. Without means to communicate, there can be no meaningful resistance.
Writing for The Epoch Times in March 2021, journalist Petr Svab identifies a phenomenon that seems to be spreading throughout the country—self-censorship:
While many Americans worry about ever-increasing censorship, those responsible for it have managed to amplify its effects by creating a climate of self-censorship.
Due to the psychological mechanisms of self-censorship, a single account blocked, a single video deleted, or a book banned can result in a broad chilling of speech. Important policy debates don’t occur, news story ideas aren’t pitched to editors, and books aren’t accepted for publishing, or written to begin with.
In some cases, it appears the censors employ the psychological tricks on purpose, achieving maximum suppression with minimal responsibility. These methods aren’t new—in fact, they have long been employed by totalitarian regimes.
The principle of self-censorship is that people, just to be on the safe side, refrain from saying even things that aren’t outright banned by some applicable rules.
I have had several conversations with friends, family, and patients where they have expressed fears of potential backlash for sharing how they “really feel” about the way things have been going in our country lately. I have several physician colleagues who have stopped speaking out, for fear of losing their jobs. I know I am not alone in feeling like we are in the midst of a psychological war. Many of us feel beaten down, many of us feel like we have lost our voice. This pandemic has been devastating on so many fronts. It has created a population that is afraid of its own shadow. This is the general narrative we have been conditioned to accept during this pandemic:
The virus jumped species from a bat into a human. It is a naturally-occuring virus and was not created in a lab.
We must isolate and quarantine ourselves from other humans in order to survive. We must work from home, and our children cannot attend school in person.
We must mask our mouths and noses to prevent the spread of this virus. This includes persons who are otherwise healthy. (And our children!)
The only way we will “return to normal” is if we reach herd immunity to this virus.
There are no effective, inexpensive, and safe medical interventions which will stop the virus; the only way we can reach herd immunity is through mass vaccination.
The COVID vaccinations have been rigorously tested, and are safe to administer to all persons who “qualify”, including pregnant and nursing women, persons who have already recovered from COVID, and children as young as 12 years old.
Adverse reactions to these vaccines are extremely rare. In fact, these reactions probably aren’t related to the vaccine at all. They are unfortunate coincidences.
Any report, opinion, or evidence which strays from this general narrative is “fact checked”, deleted, mocked, vilified, and ultimately silenced.
Tired of the censorship, last year I downloaded my past data and closed my Twitter account. It wasn’t an easy decision. I had opened that account way back in 2008, when Twitter was fresh and new and a fun place to be. Now Twitter is a cesspool of hate and propaganda. A few weeks ago, I tried bringing up my old profile, and was surprised to see that Twitter is telling visitors to my old page that I had been suspended for “violating the Twitter Rules”. I was never suspended—I closed my account voluntarily. I’m not sure what they gain by telling people I was suspended.
I encourage you to think for yourself. Speak up. Speak out. Don’t let them silence you. Question anyone and everyone who says that “science is settled.” Read the books that are banned. Study history. Turn off the news. Stop censoring yourself. You’d be surprised how many other people agree with you.
You can find me speaking my mind at Gab.com/abnd. Gab is a user-supported social network that champions free speech.
