Hmmmm, I was thinking about self censorship recently. Like the various repression tactics that exist in democratic and non-democratic regimes.. the different flavors of self censorship. You make great points and this is well written - almost poetic.
Mar 12, 2022·edited Mar 12, 2022Liked by Zineb Riboua
This is a thought-provoking piece. I don’t think self-censorship is that mysterious. Human beings, from tender age, are raised to “behave”, avoid “displeasing” others, not to argue, not to speak up. It’s a social construct. The desire to please is a virus passed on from childhood. That being said, conformism is like the “mayonnaise” that’s supposed to hold people together to ensure its perennity. We become "declawed" civilized beasts in the process. It takes a lot of guts to break free from the “conformity” mentality to withstand social pressure; first, it requires being AWARE of it and the guts to defy a ginormous conditioned entity. One needs to be so grounded and deeply rooted like an Argan tree to withstand storms. It is a conscious process.
There is the sense of belonging; people crave to belong to a clique or community. They want to be in tune in a “social symphony”. People retune themselves and their beliefs to whatever mainstream ideas become acceptable.
I have seen the manifestations of “morality of variable geometry” among people who stood against something and then defended it ferociously. In light of recent events, I remember people who told me “we do business, not politics” when I was speaking up about the atrocities of the Isr*eli regime against Palestinians but later saw the same people ramble on and on about standing with Ukraine. I also reminisce over a conversation I had with a friend years ago about a certain racist Isr*eli pianist that I used to admire but despised after realizing what a despicable racist he is; that friend told me one should dissociate the artist from the person, but denounced artists who were Russian just a week ago. The fear of being excluded exceeds the desire to be righteous these days. I feel a certain bitterness about that.
Apart from the conformism, there is the notion of survival that you talked about. We are given the illusion of “freedom” that there are no repercussions but oppression in our modern times can be very subtle but also brazen when the stakes are high. Retaliation comes in different forms.
P.S. my profile picture shows a man with many swords brandished against him. Usually a symbol of "unpopular opinion" in the Twittosphere :D
Hmmmm, I was thinking about self censorship recently. Like the various repression tactics that exist in democratic and non-democratic regimes.. the different flavors of self censorship. You make great points and this is well written - almost poetic.
This is a thought-provoking piece. I don’t think self-censorship is that mysterious. Human beings, from tender age, are raised to “behave”, avoid “displeasing” others, not to argue, not to speak up. It’s a social construct. The desire to please is a virus passed on from childhood. That being said, conformism is like the “mayonnaise” that’s supposed to hold people together to ensure its perennity. We become "declawed" civilized beasts in the process. It takes a lot of guts to break free from the “conformity” mentality to withstand social pressure; first, it requires being AWARE of it and the guts to defy a ginormous conditioned entity. One needs to be so grounded and deeply rooted like an Argan tree to withstand storms. It is a conscious process.
There is the sense of belonging; people crave to belong to a clique or community. They want to be in tune in a “social symphony”. People retune themselves and their beliefs to whatever mainstream ideas become acceptable.
I have seen the manifestations of “morality of variable geometry” among people who stood against something and then defended it ferociously. In light of recent events, I remember people who told me “we do business, not politics” when I was speaking up about the atrocities of the Isr*eli regime against Palestinians but later saw the same people ramble on and on about standing with Ukraine. I also reminisce over a conversation I had with a friend years ago about a certain racist Isr*eli pianist that I used to admire but despised after realizing what a despicable racist he is; that friend told me one should dissociate the artist from the person, but denounced artists who were Russian just a week ago. The fear of being excluded exceeds the desire to be righteous these days. I feel a certain bitterness about that.
Apart from the conformism, there is the notion of survival that you talked about. We are given the illusion of “freedom” that there are no repercussions but oppression in our modern times can be very subtle but also brazen when the stakes are high. Retaliation comes in different forms.
P.S. my profile picture shows a man with many swords brandished against him. Usually a symbol of "unpopular opinion" in the Twittosphere :D
Love this piece, very relatable, but what is the solution?