The government can make you silence yourself — out of fear. Deepak Sethi, iStock/Getty Images Plus
When most people think of how governments stifle free speech, they think of censorship. That’s when a government directly blocks or suppresses speech. In the past, the federal government has censored speech in various ways. It has tried to block news outlets from publishing certain stories. It has punished political dissenters. It has banned sales of “obscene” books.
Today, however, the federal government rarely tries to censor speech so crudely. It has less blatant but very effective ways to suppress dissent. The current actions of the Trump administration show how government can silence speakers without censoring them.
My quarter century of research and writing about First Amendment rights has explored the varied tools that governments use to smother free expression. Among the present administration’s chosen tools are making institutions stop or change their advocacy to…
Source link : https://usa365.info/3-ways-the-government-can-silence-opinions-it-disagrees-with-without-using-censorship/
Author : USA365
Publish date : 2025-06-02 16:38:00
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