Censorship Does Not Reduce Violence

In his book Intellectuals and Society, Thomas Sowell describes intellectuals as people whose end products are ideas.

Thus, an engineer is not considered an intellectual because he is judged by the quality of the bridge he produces. His ideas, no matter how great they are on paper, are never the end product of his work. On the other hand, an intellectual, whose ideas can be used to social-engineer society will never be held responsible for his actions. Because they operate from outside the system, intellectuals are emboldened to come up with radical and sometimes tyrannical ideas. Their bad work can never catch up with them.

Recently, one of the ideas promoted by western intelligentsia is that censorship is not only a moral good, but it can also be used to stop violence. In other words, if only China had censored more, then the Tiananmen Square massacre would never have happened. If only the Romans had censored more, then the Spartacus revolt would never have happened.

Now, I do not have a doctor in a lab coat to provide me with studies. But from my own "lived experience", I don't think avoiding to talk about an issue will get that issue resolved. If my fiancée is upset with me, (whether she is justified or not, right or wrong,) a failure to engage with her and address her grievances, and telling her to shut up instead, will not create a healthy relationship in the long run.

In fact, when I was in 6th grade, our civic class teacher told us the reason why we had free speech to begin with. He explained that in a free society, various groups of people with different interests will eventually form. These people, from different walks of life, will have different interests at heart and sometimes those interests will be in direct opposition. However, they are all citizens of the state and demand to be represented. As such, allowing them to air their concerns and having people try to negotiate a middle ground whenever possible will avoid further conflicts down the road.

Because, most of the time, violence happens when people have no common ground. When they look at their neighbour as "the other". When they are desperate and feel that they cannot get what they need working from within the system and thus the system is corrupt.

Socialist talking heads on various social media often ask their opponent to show a study to back up their claims. As such, I feel like asking one simple question myself:

Does anyone have a study to show that censorship keeps people safe and reduces violence?

Because it’s quite clear that the opposite effect is achieved. And as such, maybe it is time, for once, to have the intelligentsia held accountable, just like we would hold an engineer accountable if his bridge collapsed.

A Romanian persecuted for trying to put smiles on people's faces.

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