1. I'm a firm believer that censorship doesn't work, that hashtags don't work, that narratives can't change reality. The evidence of their failures are littered along the side of the history highway. Thrown out by generation after generation during the road trip of life.
2. But like the magical pull of a socialist Utopia, people continue to try to make it work. You see, maybe, that censorship didn't work, this censorship is different or that wasn't a really good narrative, this narrative will be better.
3. The people that believe in narratives and censorship tend to also believe in socialism🙄🙄 go figure,🙄🙄 but it's not required. The reason both Socialism and censorship continue to be such a pull is mostly because the reasons they fail are the unseen reasons.
4. As Bastiat famously said " It often happens, that the sweeter the first fruit a habit is, the more bitter the consequences. Take, for example, debauchery, idleness, and prodigality. ....
5. ....When, therefore, a man, absorbed in the effect that is seen, has NOT YET LEARNED TO DISCERN THOSE THAT ARE NOT SEEN, he gives way to fatal habits, not only by inclination, but by calculation. This explains the fatally grievous condition of mankind."
6. This principle can be observed not just in economic matters but in all matters dealing with mankind's actions. It's the same concept that was placed in the Hippocratic oath "first do no harm".
7. If you want to see the principle used in modern times take Rumsefield's quote "there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns.
8. The first taste of the fruit of censorship is very sweet. It shuts up your opposition; ends the debate. You ""win" that round. Same goes for the first taste of narratives or when a hashtag takes off. The seen effect is great. You control the conversation. You shape the debate.
9. However, the unseen effects of censorship and narratives are not noticed. The debate you shut down you did not win. You changed no minds. That narrative/big lie you built didn't change reality and when reality reasserts it, you lose trust& loyalists as they get redpilled
10. Those you shut down with censorship now get more powerful as the redpilled ones turn to them for facts and opinions. The more you censor, the more narratives/big lies you create, the more bitter the consequences when the truth gets out.
11. Since the truth is reality. The truth will always get out. You can't stop the truth. There aren't two truths nor two realities. You can spin facts how you want. You can have different POVs on the same fact but that doesn't change the underlying fact.
12. Bastiat also explained there are two major ways to learn the effects that are not seen. One is by way of experience. This is why most societies respect their elders. They have seen the consequences of the unseen effects and know how to avoid some of them.
13. Experience is a harsh Mistress. It's teachings are often accompanied by massive pain. Have you touched a hot stove lately? Have you seen Venezuela lately? Do you see the ratings of the cable stations that pushed the Russian hoax lately?
14. The second way is with education. We can stand on the shoulders of not just our elders but our ancestors as we learn through education the bitter consequences. We can also learn how to use critical thinking processes(note this is not common core) on how to avoid the unseen.
15. Those that are addicted to the habit of censorship and big lies propose more drugs to keep their high going. They dream up things like safe spaces, political correctness, common core, algorithms, shadow banning, rigged internet searches, firewalls, society scoring.
16. Each new drug gives them a new high but soon the effects of their habit are blunted and depressed as the liver of reality cleanses the system from the big lies.
17. The drugs needed to continue their high of censorship/narratives ultimately become so powerful that those using them totally become divorced from reality. This causes sooner or later an overdose to occur. Require the body politic to reject the censorship for it's survival.
18. This rejection could take the shape of many things like an election of an outsider, a revolt, a full revolution, an outside invasion. If the rejection is very late in the cycle it could cause a total system/society collapse.
19. In a world of 7+billion or even a country of 330+million, where the people talk to each other about their daily lives &experiences, it's impossible for a few to see all the unseen interactions/thoughts & defend from the new reality all those new thoughts/interactions create.
20. Thus, for the same reasons that socialism fails long term(every single time it's attempted), censorship and the big lie/narrative building fails long term (every single time it's attempted). You can't stop the signal. The signal will always get out.
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