How Free Speech Is Suppressed — And Why The Outcome Is Beautiful
Dear Hivers,
As humans, our greatest gift is the ability to think. Thinking stimulates our mind. It makes us move in a certain direction — and in such moments you begin to imagine not just you but also the world around you.
In fact, as we dive into the idea of free speech, we begin to witness something terrorising. We begin to see the world differently. It feels like stepping into an uncharted territory. Like we are aimlessly sailing on a paper boat — uncertain of our own movements.
You see, suppression of free speech is nothing new. Take public platforms, college campus, within companies, and the Internet. The fight with free speech exists even today.
Perhaps Guo Feixiong was someone who closely witnessed this.
Even though he was a popular lawyer, the Chinese government decided to handcuff him — and put him behind the bars for a crime he never committed.
To make it worse?
Guo was beaten on multiple occasions. Tortured in custody. Was deprived of sleep. And succumbed to multiple electric shocks. Thousands of people protested, cried, and wanted him back.
His only crime?
He supported free speech. And the government hated it.
Guo was campaigning against corruption. He held banners asking the officials to reveal their hidden assets. As I write this, Guo has been jailed for six years now (since 2015) and lost all these years for promoting free speech.
What really is happening here?
Truth is always bitter. And it goes without saying that free speech is helping us get closer to the truth.
In fact, going back to our greatest gift – the ability to think – is exactly what free speech is all about. It helps us express our opinions. We can clearly distinguish between the good and the bad. And as we do it often, the truth becomes crystal clear.
By thinking, in fact, we bring out new thoughts and ideas into the world — and we challenge the existing ones. It feels like shattering existing beliefs to form a new one.
Without free speech - we couldn’t even begin to tackle existing beliefs. Take poverty for example. If we continue the way things are, we will never see any change. Poverty, in reality, exists because of the hierarchical society.
Only through free speech inviting new ideas can we fight this battle.
The suppression of this free speech, like what Guo faced, is also driving us towards something new:
Even suppression of free speech is beautiful. In fact, many clinical psychiatrists will tell you:
Bottle up emotions as a child – and you will bring them out as an adult.
This is exactly what we are witnessing right now. All the free speech suppressed is uniting us for a better world.
Just think about it:
The suppression of speech puts the ideas underground and then adds fuel to the fire because these ideas never disappear. Suppressed ideas build up over the number of years.
That is why a local problem snowballs into a much larger issue — visible across countries. And then a solution is found.
Such gravitational pull of free speech is leading us towards innovation.
If you think about it, the gravitational pull is making us do more. Blockchain emerged out of this suppression. It is innovation fighting the traditional system. Bitcoin is the store of value and a form of new currency emerging solely through the mess hidden within the financial system.
Not just that.
We also have unbiased platforms emerging to continue the spirit of free speech – like 
On several levels, this also means that people can freely express opinion without having to fear the government or censorship rules. It will have its own battles – and we will reinvent the wheel once again because free speech – the ability to think new ideas – is our birth right.
And possibly our greatest gift.
Cheers,
Sid
PS: I thoroughly enjoyed writing this post.The research was endless as I discovered the deep issues around this subject. The story of Guo and his journey is both fascinating and heartbreaking.
In fact, we see that people latch onto existing beliefs, walk with lack of social intelligence, and the battle forever for their inherent rights. For me, personally, the idea is to grow and continue free speech without stirring up violence.
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