Oddbean

When you got banned from Twitter, it didn't achieve anything. Musk buying it is the only thing that changed it, for better or worse. Countless people got banned from Facebook and it meant nothing. Just another voice that can no longer be heard. People will never spontaneously rise up against anything, that is a myth. We change little by little, by discussing and sharing ideas. Eventually small changes lead to big things. All totalitarian regimes are obsessed with controlling access to information. It's information that is the real danger, they would love nothing more than to have people stand up for what they believe in. It saves them having to find them.

I didn’t get banned from Twitter. A mob of angry psychos came after me. And many people told me they appreciated the way I stood my ground and didn’t let it shut me up. But I fundamentally disagree with your premise which is that they are strong, and we are weak. That we need to hide because they’ll get us, and if we show ourselves we’re doomed. No. If I’m a totalitarian regime I want everyone thinking like that. I want them too scared to stand up. The last thing I want is every citizen to avail himself of his free speech rights and tell me to fuck off. Then they have a problem. It is not they who are powerful and hunting me. I’m am the predator and they should be terrified of the reckoning for what they have done the last three years to our basic liberties and to our institutions. I will see to it they are prosecuted to the extent I can. I just need to persuade frightened people to come along. And I will. One at a time if I have to.

People never stand up against totalitarian regimes, those regimes rot from the inside and eventually fall to coups. Most coups are dressed as revolutions, but they aren't. They never are. There is no power in the unorganized masses. The sheep could all band together and trample the dog but they never do. They never will. If you want to go after those in power, you need to orchestrate power of your own. Presumably your vote matters, so what better way to influence that vote than changing people's minds. You can't do that if you get de-platformed and fired over it.