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Censorship of Thought and How to Avoid It

October 5, 2020

Society

censorship, control, social media, society, thought, writing

Not all limitations in expression are censorship. Think of an academic essay where – except quoting others for specific purposes – you can’t say “lol” or “whazzup”. But censorship is all about limitations in writing and expressing. Censorship of thought, in particular, is an especially insidious process – and the ultimate goal of censorship.

Censorship of thought essentially refers to self-censorship – I will use the terms interchangeably in this post. A system or process that manages to censor thought has been so effective in “plain vanilla” censorship, that people – having become conditioned – no longer bother writing or expressing what they think would be anyway censored.

Therefore, censorship – like using euphemisms, which are also a form of censorship – is ultimately about thought control. Moreover, exactly like euphemisms, self-censorship is achieved with subtlety, sophistication, and ambiguity.

That’s precisely what makes it so dangerous. Like unintended misinformation, self-censorship can creep into your writing without even your noticing it.

censorship of thought
Censorship is about raising a wall and teaching someone to stand before it.
Self-censorship is about teaching someone to stand there even when the wall is removed
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How Euphemisms Work: Thoughts on…Thought Control

April 26, 2019

Society

control, euphemisms, idiocy, language, society, thought

A quick definition of a euphemism is “a phrase or word used as an ameliorating substitute for an unpleasant or offensive word”. Some people might say “senior citizens” instead of “old people” (or, heaven forbid, “old farts”). But how euphemisms work is a more complex issue, with elaborate psychological underpinnings.

“Euphemism” is a Greek word, literally meaning “good speech”. It was used in the Koine Greek (also known as Alexandrian Dialect, roughly between 300 BCE – 300 CE). Its modern meaning came much later.

Euphemisms can be very obvious, as in the senior-citizen example above. But they can also be extremely subtle, which is what makes them interesting. So, let’s take a look at how euphemisms work. But before that, a funny story about euphemisms. It involves mice. Lots of them.

how euphemisms work
Cute mice, aren’t they? Except if you don’t like mice. Then they’re not mice. They’re…
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Digital Dehumanization: the Dark Side of the Internet

January 15, 2019

Society

control, dehumanization, internet, psychology, responsibility, social media

The term digital dehumanization might sound obscure. It surely sounds bad, and referring to the dark side of the internet makes it worse. But what do we mean by digital dehumanization, and what does the internet have to do with it?

The term dehumanization refers to the process of depriving a person or a group of persons the qualities of being human. Take a look at my article on zombies and dehumanization. I wrote back then:

The thoroughly disturbing aspect in all this is the concept of Dehumanization. If you’re interested, read Jonathan Glover’s Humanity: A Moral History of the 20th Century to see how it works. Basically, you convince a group of people – normal, everyday people like you and me – that another group of people are not really humans. Then, it becomes far easier to convince the first group to turn on the second. This is how the Holocaust happened, this is how Hiroshima happened, this is how My Lai, Bosnia, and Rwanda happened.

Let’s begin to unpack the process of digital dehumanization – a dehumanization process occurring digitally, on the internet – with a little hypothetical scenario. It will perhaps set up the tone for today’s article.

digital dehumanization
Digital dehumanization is about not seeing the person behind the mask of the internet
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