Okay, so let's talk about censorship a little more in depth. Censorship is not just shutting something down in an absolute way or removing something by force. Those people intentionally trying to hinder Dave Rubin's message are not shutting him down, they are only making his message harder to concentrate on for the audience. But we both agree that it is a form of censorship.

Before I try to drive my point home I would like to prime the discussion by bringing up the difference between a law/rule and a principle. Lawyers are masters of law, and yet they are a career with one of the lowest scores in public trust. This is because lawyers are known for effectively upholding the law while proficiently violating the principles for why law exists in the first place.

The argument its just a click away from being visible and not completely removed is the lawyer technique. This is why principles are superior to rules, because you can work around rules but we can all catch when a principle is being violated.

So, now let's get back to Steem. See, its very easy to pick one sentence but really, censorship is a concept and a principle of violating or inhibiting someone's free expression. Intent to hinder someone's ideas or expressions in an effort to prevent or diminish the awareness of those ideas by a third party or audience is always a violation of the principle identifying the badness of censorship.

Let's try something different. We can ask ourselves questions about the downvote feature on Steem and the intentions and actions of those using it and see how it fits.

Question #1:
Is the downvote button a tool that empowers others "to put down by authority or force"?

Answer:
Indeed sir!

Question #2:
Is the intent of the downvoting user "to keep from public knowledge"?

Answer:
You better believe it!

Question #3:
Are downvoters trying to use their "Steem Power" to prohibit behavior, ideas or expressions with the downvote feature?

Answer:
Yes again!

Question #4:
Are downvoters seeking to "to inhibit the growth or development of" the message with their downvote?

Answer:
Indubitably!

In closing, when it walks like a duck, its a god damn duck...