Many people believe in the appropriateness of having some reasonable form of censorship, which will cut down therefore significantly on hateful, spiteful, and damaging expressed beliefs that are perceived as not being of value or of benefit to the people. In other words, there are those people who believe in censorship as a tool to stifle the voices of things that they not only don’t want to hear but don’t believe that the person expressing such a view has the right to express.
Unfortunately, that sort of mindset is like putty in the hands of the elite that often represents the hidden power that runs the governance of countries all over the world, because those that are the power brokers of societies are typically big proponents of censorship, sold under the aegis that censorship is necessary in order to have a more caring and a more inclusive society; whereas, the real reason for censorship is to crush dissent, and to thereby control the narrative in a way and form that will be beneficial for those that control those levers of power. After all, when censorship is permitted or seen as necessary, this allows those who are in positions of great influence to silence those voices that they consider to be a nuisance, with the hope that things not said, are in tune with things not thought.
While it might well be nice if we all just got along, it really isn’t healthy for any society, when we think and act in the same manner, which signifies that conformity is thus held in the highest regard; whereas, diversity would thereby be considered to be something abnormal and deserving of being suppressed. This would signify that with censorship being embraced, that freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the freedom of assembly wouldn’t be of any effect, because when all of speech is in conformance with the orthodoxy of the day, that isn’t freedom, but rather that is obedience, which is at odds with freedom.
So too, for necessary change to occur, there needs to be an avenue for dissent, which means there need to be forums in which people can express their opinions and viewpoints, and when that is effectively silenced, then what is occurring, is that a small elite of well-positioned personages are determining what the people should or should not be believing in, which is a construct which is anathema to freedom.
To be free is to be uncensored, subject only to sensible laws that circumscribe free speech, only from the perspective that those who cross the line into imminent violent anarchy or obscenity beyond the pale, are subject to laws that address these issues. However, what should not be censored should be opinions and viewpoints, right or wrong, which is the prerogative of having free speech, and for all those that insist upon “safe spaces” or the like, as a fundamental need of society, they need to understand that censorship is not becoming of any free-thinking individual, nation, or the governance of such, because each of us is equally entitled to having our say.