Editor:
I am grateful for Jean Damon’s excellent letter (Mailbox, Oct. 10) that answered Susan Lefever’s question regarding the censorship revelations (Mailbox, Oct. 3). My apologies to Susan for responding to the other letters and not hers.
It is important to realize that our local media also engaged in censorship in recent years. I experienced it myself from several different outlets and have talked to many local people who were also censored. When people who question or oppose government policies have their voices silenced, the public is given the false perception that most people accept or approve of those policies. Whatever the motivation of the media outlets, the effect is a distortion of reality. This distortion has profound impacts, psychologically, socially and politically. Since people are highly social, the appearance of mass support can weigh more heavily than the veracity of any given claim or merits of a policy.
Government instigated censorship is a sneaky and underhanded political tactic. It has a ripple effect throughout society. We’ve been told that it is meant to protect us from information that is wrong and ideas that are harmful. This is laughable, when you consider the throngs of products and practices that harm the public but continue because they make obscene profits for corporations and the political donor class.
A significant outcome of censorship is greater control over public discourse. Censorship is a hidden bid for control over what you think and what you do.
Amy Gustin, Ettersburg
This article appears in ‘Doing its Part’.