Sadly, Censorship Has Always Been With Us
I might as well to start with antiquity. In the year 399 B.C., the famous Greek philosopher Socrates stood before a jury to defend himself against accusations that he refused to recognize the official state religion and to corrupt youth (there were also political issues involved.)
After deliberation, the majority of the jury found him guilty and condemned him to death. Rather than face his executioner, he decided to swallow a Hemlock extract and so committed suicide. Yet, he never recanted.
Looking at the Renaissance period, there was Martin Luther who in 1517 posted his 95 Theses on a church door, denouncing the Catholic Church and particularly the habit of selling indulgences. These would absolve the bearer of all future sins.
Worse yet, Luther taught that people don’t need the church and receive salvation through prayers. The reaction of Pope Leo X was quick. and in 1520 he excommunicated Luther. Furthermore, the German Emperor, on behalf of the pope, declared Luther an outlaw (somebody who could be killed on sight.)
Luckily, Luther had good friends who did hide him. Luther never recanted but kept on spreading reformation through his teachings and by writing pamphlets.
Then there was Galileo, born 1584, a noted astronomer defending himself in front of a pope and the Catholic Inquisition for writing that the sun, rather the earth, is the center of our known universe. This contradicted all church teaching.
He was asked to recant, or be burned at the stake as a heretic. He recanted to save his life, but later on when times became more liberal he kept on teaching and publishing his books.
Let’s jump to Word War I, when in 1917 the U.S. joined the war. German-phobia spread across the land.
In 1940, the U.S. was divided between a section wanting to join the war in Europe, and an equally vocal number who wanted peace. The Chicago Tribune, the largest newspaper in the Midwest, owned by Robert Rutherford "Colonel" McCormick, was the most vocal proponent for peace. This did not sit well with Wall Street bankers who consider any war a source of profit.
In order to stop the Tribune, the bankers decided to use blackmail. They contacted all the big department stores in Chicago and told them to either stop placing advertising in the Tribune or else withdraw all bank loans and credits which the stores needed to buy their wares.
Facing financial pressures, McCormick had to change his editorial policy. However, he stayed a conservative and refused to endorse Roosevelt for president.
Another proven way to close down radical newspapers was to force paper mills to refuse selling the publishers printing paper. When the internet came about, people naively believed they could now express themselves freely. It was wishful thinking.
No government, regardless of which country it is can allow the unlimited disbursement of ideas which may later turn out the be against official government policies. Thus news needs to be filtered out to meet the objectives of the state.
We now have social media which turned out to be very popular. This problem with state control or censorship was tricky because of the First Amendment of our Constitution. However, some clever bureaucrat had a bright idea to get around this dilemma. Why not coerce companies such as Facebook to censor themselves.
This turned out to be a good idea. Pretty soon, newspapers and TV started a drumbeat of Facebook having published stories about child abuse, white supremacy activities, stories detrimental to the then-governing party, and most of all there was lots of “Fake News.”
This catch-all accusation spread like wildfire, since it could be used without any backup facts.
The next step was to get Congress involved, and dutifully “hearings” were called, among lots of hand-wringing by congressmen. There was even a talk about splitting up Facebook.
Soon, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg got the message and quickly assembled a “truth squad” whose job it was to filter all messages before they were published.
Pretty soon other social media such as Twitter followed suit. Mission accomplished. Now all the government had to do is tell the censors what is politically correct and what is not.
Dr. Hans Baumann, a former Corporate Vice President and founder of his company, is a well known inventor, economist, and author having published books on scientific, economic, and historical subjects.
https://www.newsmax.com/hansbaumann/censorship/2022/10/31/id/1094203/
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