Censorship’s most powerful ally? Self-censorship.

The problem - or should I say power - of censorship is best seen not in of itself, but what happens after. Namely, self-censorship. That is the worst, when people begin to preemptively apply the censorship to themselves, which of course happens in China all the time. After having suffered generations of censorship it has become the norm. People have a closed and invisible barrier around their own tongues and minds.

A Chinese writer by the name of Murong Xuecun discussed this, quite bravely, in a NYTimes piece recently:

After the speech a student asked me if I planned to visit Chen Guangcheng [a human rights lawyer deemed a dissident by the Chinese government]. I had never met him but I have felt an affinity for him for a long time: We both have legal backgrounds and I greatly admire his courage. I had talked about Chen on my blog but otherwise my support for him had been feeble. I felt ashamed that I did not respond one way or the other to the student’s question.

My calculations were simple: I don’t want my books banned; I don’t want my name on the government’s sensitive-word Internet filter; I don’t want my upcoming overseas trips jeopardized.

But most of all, I’m scared. I’m scared of being beat up, and I’m scared of losing my freedom. I live in a world in which freedom is scarce, and I treasure it a lot, even if that freedom is pathetically small.

We see this fear in China’s too small (comparative to its size) and too starved of resources NGO and community groups scene. Charity in China is a plant whose growth has been stunted due to draconian laws. Any activity that isn’t business or making-money related is treated as highly suspicious by the Chinese government. So in the process of killing political dissent they’ve killed China’s ‘community spirit’, which I’ve come to realise is incredibly important for any society.

Maybe you end up with horrific incidents like this.

Getting involved in a community group, or charity work, or activism, requires thinking of something bigger than your self and your small life. And in that act blows much needed fresh air into a society. It lifts people’s spirit. It gives them a reason to believe in our world, and our future. And, more often than not, I do actually believe it leads to meaningful change.

The key to beating this - to beating a system that ruthlessly murdered hundreds (thousands?) of ordinary citizens who once voiced dissent - is to always toe the line. The government here is famously good at keeping the grey area grey, always shifting the line of what is acceptable. And the danger is to always act with the attitude of: “safer is better than sorry”, which is when self-censorship kicks in and nothing changes.

The key is to always touch the (blurred) line without ever crossing it. At least not until you reach the day that it’s safe to.