This self-censorship that suffocates
us more and more
I am not a fan of transparency at all costs. Far from there. I find it natural that everyone has a secret garden, a mental space that belongs to him. The life always exposed is a diminished life.
Likewise, it seems to me to go without saying that one does not feel obliged to say in public everything that one says with those close to them.
I do not blame anyone for having a filter, especially when we know that today, the slightest comment that clashes with the dominant ideology can generate a lively controversy that will undermine their reputation and perhaps jeopardize their professional life.
Self-censorship
Whoever does not repeat the fashionable slogans risks big. So we are silent, we chat superficially, we dodge what could be controversial.
But a nuance is in order. If I understand that we do not say everything we think, it seems stranger to say in public the exact opposite of what we think in private, as if we now had to repress our convictions and give pledges to the guardians of official morality.
Unfortunately, this is happening more and more often. Think about your lunches and dinners, what you allow yourself to say there, and then what you would dare to say in public.
Whether it is immigration, racism, sex change in children, relationships between men and women, health measures, subjects deemed too sensitive to be talked about freely are multiplying.
Democracy
Because I am associated with positions that our media elites consider "controversial", many, in different circles, write to me or come to speak to me to explain to me that they now operate under permanent self-censorship. They deeply feel that freedom of expression is diminishing.
But the more we self-censor, the more we suffocate.
And it is democracy that suffers.
Likewise, it seems to me to go without saying that one does not feel obliged to say in public everything that one says with those close to them.
I do not blame anyone for having a filter, especially when we know that today, the slightest comment that clashes with the dominant ideology can generate a lively controversy that will undermine their reputation and perhaps jeopardize their professional life.
Self-censorship
Whoever does not repeat the fashionable slogans risks big. So we are silent, we chat superficially, we dodge what could be controversial.
But a nuance is in order. If I understand that we do not say everything we think, it seems stranger to say in public the exact opposite of what we think in private, as if we now had to repress our convictions and give pledges to the guardians of official morality.
Unfortunately, this is happening more and more often. Think about your lunches and dinners, what you allow yourself to say there, and then what you would dare to say in public.
Whether it is immigration, racism, sex change in children, relationships between men and women, health measures, subjects deemed too sensitive to be talked about freely are multiplying.
Democracy
Because I am associated with positions that our media elites consider "controversial", many, in different circles, write to me or come to speak to me to explain to me that they now operate under permanent self-censorship. They deeply feel that freedom of expression is diminishing.
But the more we self-censor, the more we suffocate.
And it is democracy that suffers.
Mathieu Bock-Côté
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