My Basic Views on Free Speech and Censorship Censorship is the use or threat of power to suppress ideas.
Ideas are as essential to the spirit as is food to the body.
Freedom of thought and expression are inalienable rights. People are easily persuaded to support censorship of the ideas they find threatening to themselves, to their loved ones, or to the groups with whom they identify. If you've never wanted to censor, chances are you don't care very deeply about anything. Because those who already have power can most effectively suppress ideas, the usual effect of censorship is the protection of elites and maintenance of power imbalances. Censorship benefits the powerful, not the powerless.