Censorship: Protection or Diversion?

I would imagine that censorship has been around since communication between humans began. Our frail egos can’t stand the thought of being wrong, so we often cut off information that would allow us to see a different perspective, and in doing so, we stunt our own growth.

While writing this, I wondered if ancient Egyptians argued over hieroglyphic carvings. It’s one thing to bust a stone tablet and re-carve a new stone, but there had to be consensus when carvings were on walls. Were the elite the only ones educated because of their status? Or was it because they could control the messages being recorded?

For those like me, who honestly thought Rosetta Stone was a person that created a learning system for languages, Rosetta is actually a location in Egypt. The stone from there helped scholars translate hieroglyphs in the 1800s. The language had been lost for centuries when those that knew it died out. The stone had similar text in three languages, so the comparisons helped in translations.

Written language becomes important in documenting history, and using the correct symbols is vital to the reader’s understanding. It’s also important in education and communication among those in the modern world. Ideas, thoughts, knowledge, and information are shared through papers, books, articles, news outlets, and, in more recent years, social media. People have been punished, ridiculed, exiled, and even killed, for sharing thoughts that did not conform to social norms. Governments have created propaganda to incite and justify genocide. Even more remarkable is, in spite of history showing how atrocities happen and are rooted in foundations of deception, government manipulation, and censorship, we are still faced with such crises today.

People want their information quickly and concisely, yet the lack of critical thinking, analysis, and open-mindedness, is literally propagating social unrest and even wars. We are allowing social media moguls to censor people because we are told those people are wrong. Who says these people are wrong? Why? Some say voices have to be shut down because they incite riots. Why isn’t anyone condemning those that would resort to violence without researching and thinking for themselves?

The issues are complicated, the layers are numerous, and yet communication is the foundation for learning, understanding, and growing. If we fail to seek truth through multiple sources, and if we react with violence and rage before educating ourselves, we fail each other. If information sources are blocked, banned, and eliminated before we have the opportunity to evaluate for ourselves, we are being manipulated.

Enjoy the podcast!

Originally aired Feb. 3, 2021