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I've thought for decades that everybody would eventually come to their senses and realize that censorship in general is impossible to achieve, but they're still
by commandlinefan 3y ago
I've thought for decades that everybody would eventually come to their senses and realize that censorship in general is impossible to achieve, but they're still trying as hard as they ever were, and I've come to doubt that they'll ever give up on it.
- rnd0 3y agoYou have to shift your thinking to realize that their problem isn't with words or even knowledge itself; but with protecting their power or ideology. In short, fanatics and power mongers are always going to fanatic and power monger.
- rexpop 3y agoEveryone has thresholds behind which they store fanaticism. I am sure you would like to see cencored the location and combination to your home safe, your bank balance and passwords, etc. Why? Because distribution of this knowledge might potentially harm you.
- commandlinefan 3y agoThis (common) misconstrual of censorship is disingenuous. Scott Alexander proposed a better definition of censorship than "something somebody wants to keep secret": "something that somebody wants to share, and somebody else wants to consume, but a third party wants to suppress".
- lazyasciiart 3y agoSo if I think you’re a jerk and someone should steal your shit for lolz, so I want to share your address and safe combo, and someone else wants to have them to cash in, but you don’t want that to happen….
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- bambax 3y agoOh they will never give up. Every new generation comes with its horde of fresh censors. But, the fact that they're trying doesn't mean they will succeed. And old secrets very often become common knowledge later on.
- dragonwriter 3y ago> I've thought for decades that everybody would eventually come to their senses and realize that censorship in general is impossible to achieve, Its not, though, and if you think it is, than you don't understand what "censorship" is (a supply-side propaganda mechanism aimed at increasing the average cost of spreading disfavored ideas.) It's true that complete suppression of ideas (or behaviors) by censorship is generally impossible to achieve, but to mistake that for censorship being impossible to achieve is like saying "making money by work is impossible to achieve" when what you really mean "making enough money to purchase all the property in the world by work is impossible to achieve."