We tend to think of censorship as a violation of the rights of the censored. And it is that, of course. But censorship creates other victims we give less consideration to: the millions who are denied the chance to hear the perspectives of those who are silenced.
In totalitarian societies, censors deny the public the opportunity to hear opinions that diverge from state orthodoxy. Suppressing dissent allows the government to exercise its power without constraint. Persuasion is no longer necessary; public opinion is shaped through government decree. Obedience follows.
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Americans watched our political leaders stoop to these despotic measures. The Department of Homeland Security, the CDC, and the FBI pressured and colluded with the big tech platforms to cleanse social media of anyone who dared to object to the directives of the state. Questioning the efficacy of lockdowns, vaccine mandates and public masking rules was every bit as heretical as doubting dialectical materialism was in Soviet Russia.