Read on Twitter
I think that a lot of people, during a time of crisis, when they feel scared, have a negative emotional response to someone questioning the dominant narrative — they get a feeling as though the questioner is backstabbing their society. I've seen a lot of this on twitter recently.
Here's a one small example. I don't mean to pick on this person and I don't want anyone else to pick on this person either, but I've seen a lot of tweets *like* this, where the person seems to feel moral anger against someone for putting forward a different narrative.
I believe the opposite: that dissent is part of the nervous system of society, and it is necessary for society to see, learn, and adapt. Silencing dissent is like paralyzing part of your brain.
That's why the society living under the PRC was so slow to respond to the crisis at first—their nervous system was partially paralyzed by pervasive fear of offending the powerful. This was overcome by courageous individuals like Dr. Li Wenliang who spoke out… and paid a price.
I'm concerned about the recent trend of tech overlords like Google, Twitter, and Medium censoring what they call "misinformation". https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1239650597906898947 https://medium.com/six-four-six-nine/evidence-over-hysteria-covid-19-1b767def5894 https://twitter.com/safety/unsafe_link_warning?unsafe_link=https://www.zerohedge.com/health/covid-19-evidence-over-hysteria
Censorship is paralysis of our society's nervous system, and even a little bit of it erodes our defenses against it getting worse and worse. These actions by the tech overlords move us a little closer to the PRC model of information control. It's a mistake, and it's dangerous.
Let's all remember that we're all in this together, and dissent is not betrayal. Dissent is part of how we protect and serve each other.
Remember what Dr. Li Wenliang said before he gave his life serving his community: “I think a healthy society should not have just one voice.” https://twitter.com/zooko/status/1244038969571995648 ៚
