WEBVTT - CLASSIC: The Future of Censorship 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:04.000 Welcome back, fellow conspiracy realist. We've dug through the vaults 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:08.760 and we are declassifying one of our classic episodes, The 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:12.400 Future of Censorship? What should people be allowed to say? 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:13.240 Online? 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:14.480 Who Buddy? 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:15.880 Who Doggies? 0:00:16.560 --> 0:00:20.760 November twenty eighteen feels like another lifetime ago. 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:22.600 That was it kind of was. 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:26.680 We were asking the right questions and we hope that 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:30.600 you find some of the exploration here, folks as prescient 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:34.240 as we did, or better or worse? 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:38.120 Yeah? Who gets to control what you say and think? 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:39.640 Is it a group? 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:40.080 Right? 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:43.720 Is it a company? Is it just an individual? Air? 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:44.440 Yeah? 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:46.120 Yeah? Or somebody commenting? 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:46.600 Right? 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:49.159 Is someone in a comment section? Do they control what 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:51.040 you get to say or not? It's so weird, man, 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:52.279 let's jump into it. 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:57.160 From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:01.560 riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:03.600 learn this stuff they don't want you to know. 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:18.839 Welcome back to the show. My name is Matt. 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:21.080 They call me Ben, and we are joined with our 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:25.560 super producer Paul Mission Control Decat most importantly, you are you. 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:29.200 You are here, and that makes this stuff they don't 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:30.080 want you to know. 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:32.039 This is an. 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:34.320 Episode though was surprised we hadn't done before. 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:36.039 I'm gonna go ahead and stop you there. We can't 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:39.160 continue on that line. Okay, We're gonna have to stop 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:40.920 going down that line. So let's just move on with 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:41.440 something else. 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:44.280 Okay, understood. 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:46.960 Well, then let's let's jump to the second point and 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:48.200 get this out of the way first. 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:49.920 Very very very. 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:52.080 I'm sorry that one is also just oh man, we 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:55.400 can't go there either. I'm sorry. They're just telling me. 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:56.880 I've got them in my ear and they're telling me 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:57.280 we can't. 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:00.280 Okay, well, let me phrase this in a different way way. 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:03.360 Let's get this out of the way first. Very very 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:06.920 few countries you will visit in the modern day are 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:08.919 completely free from censorship. 0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:10.560 Okay, we'll let that one stand. 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:12.720 Okay, all right, is that vague enough? 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:17.680 It's still, no kidding, a vast improvement over the days 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:23.040 of past civilizations. Though we talk about censorship where we 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:26.600 talk around it so often. In our show, Matt earlier, 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:32.120 you and I dove into a very dark taiale of 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:36.760 current concentration camps and the vast amounts of censorship that 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:39.320 the Chinese government is applying to the weaker communities. 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:43.440 Absolutely, we did Unfortunately we had to We talked about 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:45.480 that because it's real and it's something that needs to 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:48.760 be shared at least. But in this case we're just 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:53.040 we're talking about thought control. Really, that's what this is, 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:53.919 this whole subject. 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:59.040 Yeah, ultimately this is an episode on thought control. How 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:01.440 does it work, What if anything, can you do to 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:04.760 prevent it? And how is it evolving in the modern day. 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:07.440 We're talking about censorship, and the first thing that we 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:12.200 have to explore when we talk about censorship, this word 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:14.760 that we all hear thrown around so often, is how 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:18.600 it is defined. What do we mean when we say censorship. 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:23.200 Generally it's the suppression or in many cases, the complete 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:30.520 prohibition of books, art, films, news, speech itself, works of 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:34.440 art that depict certain things, all of these things that 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:38.120 could be considered, for one reason or another, obscene to 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:43.320 a ruling group, something that's seen as politically unacceptable or 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:46.840 in some way a threat to the status quo, or 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:49.400 like anything basically having to do with the people who 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:49.800 are in. 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:53.640 Power, right or a threat to security, or sure a 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:58.000 threat to social, spiritual, cultural norms. And right now there 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:03.040 are several broad category worries of what we call censorship 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:08.600 The first one, historically speaking, is moral censorship, and right now, 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:12.520 this is one of the most universally accepted forms of 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:16.560 censoring things, especially regarding stuff that most of the world 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:19.400 can get on board with, like the censorship of certain 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:21.600 types of illegal pornography. 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:26.400 Absolutely, or the censorship of things like beheading videos, certain 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:28.440 forms of violence depicted. 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:31.400 Not everyone agrees on that one agreed. 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:34.240 Not everyone agrees is terrible, but true. 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:38.760 But it's generally generally something that's done. There are also 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:42.839 types of moral censorship just through social media right now, 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:46.840 just by enough people talking and pointing out things that 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:49.880 would be considered to be morally apprehensive. 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:50.680 You're absolutely right. 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:53.000 And we went to pornography first because it's a hot 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:55.120 button issue and it's banned in a lot of countries. 0:04:55.680 --> 0:05:00.600 But imagine that you are, say, traveling to certain Middle 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:06.080 Eastern countries, and in your possession you have the wrong 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:11.799 kind of Islamic text or the wrong kind of Judeo 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:16.720 Christian text, and additionally, you have something kind of lewde 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:21.520 like a playboy magazine, because that's apparently you're reading material 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:26.440 when you fly across the ocean, playboys and religious works. 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:31.800 To be fair, it was a vintage, vintage Playboy magazine, 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:34.799 and it had the old article in there's an interview 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:36.719 with Michael Jackson. So I thought it was worth it. 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:38.640 Okay, yeah, you thought it was worth it to play 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:41.920 the dangerous game of passing customs with the help of 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:46.800 Michael Jackson. In several of those countries, these works would 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:51.800 be confiscated and you may well be detained because the 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:55.599 possession or importation of these things is a violation of 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:58.600 the law, and being sovereign countries, they get to decide 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:03.600 what breaks the law. This stuff happens today, it's not 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:06.520 just on the internet, and it's been happening for a 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:10.840 long time. It goes hand in hand with its close cousin, 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:12.520 religious censorship. 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:17.800 Oh yes, religious censorship. It's really speaking of vintage. This 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:21.239 is the one that goes all the way back pretty much. 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:26.599 In this version of censorship, you're looking at pretty much 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:33.320 any material, book, speech, otherwise art again that is questionable 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:38.440 or seen as questionable by a religious group. Again where 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:40.920 if you go back far enough, the religion, the religious 0:06:40.920 --> 0:06:44.159 groups are the power, right, that's your government essentially in 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:46.560 a lot of places. And in this you're even going 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:50.560 to have limitations that are forced on less prevalent religions 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.520 by the ruling religion in a land. Let's say a 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:57.279 good example as the Catholic Church, which we'll see a 0:06:57.279 --> 0:06:59.880 little further on in this episode. 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:03.240 And I wouldn't even say questionable. I would say objectionable 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:08.520 because this this kind of stuff reaches its heyday in 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:12.400 places where there is no descent or times and places 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:15.760 where there's no free speech. And as you said, man, 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:19.160 it's the dominant religion forcing limitations on less prevalent ones. 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:23.320 But it could also be a less dominant religion just 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:28.200 preventing its adherents from reading anything outside of the community's 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:29.120 approved scripts. 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:30.560 Sure like cult like behaviors. 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:33.160 Yeah, that happens all the time with cults because they 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:34.880 don't want to They don't want your mind to be 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:38.280 polluted by worldly things or words that are not the 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:46.920 words of the great leaders, divine understanding, postulations, postulations, revelations, 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:48.800 they would say, regurgitations. 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:52.080 Quite so, some of. 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:53.760 Their opponents would say, you know what, some of the 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:57.200 cult leaders would say that too, because they're just speaking 0:07:57.320 --> 0:07:59.960 for the trees or the space gods or whatever. 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:01.320 They're a conduit. 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:04.960 They're a conduit. Yes, they're the conduit. There are two 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:11.080 other types of closely related censorship that have I don't know, 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:13.240 maybe some merit, that's the thing. A lot of these 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:17.360 have some kind of merit. There's military censorship, which is 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:21.440 just keeping its opsack, you know, it's keeping military intelligence 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:26.200 and tactics confidential and away from specifically the enemy. This 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:30.160 only becomes problematic when the native civilian population is considered 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:34.560 the enemy, which happens all the time historically speaking absolutely. 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:37.720 And then of course you've got the cousin to that one. 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:39.920 They're all just distant cousins in a way. Some of 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:43.160 them may be a little even closer related. But the 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:48.600 act of political censorship, and this is important again, like 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:53.160 military censorship, sometimes governments have to keep things quiet or 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:57.199 secret so that a other countries and leaders don't know 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:02.120 what they're doing, which is even closer related to military 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:06.320 censorship than I'm letting on. That's like the I don't know, 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:09.360 the twin brother twin sister kind of deal, because a 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:12.160 lot of times the politics and the military are that 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:17.480 closely related. Sorry I'm going along here, but it's also 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:22.560 really important for countries and politicians and governments to keep 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:26.800 things from their own people to prevent them from overthrowing 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:28.280 the throne. 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:32.560 Right, Yeah, to prevent rebellion. And that's so similar to 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:39.360 religious censorship too, right. The last one, which is the 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:44.400 rising star in the world of censorship is corporate censorship 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:48.360 is increasingly common in these our modern days. This is 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:53.240 the process through which editors of a corporate media outlet 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:56.920 would intervene, So anything from The New York Times to 0:09:56.960 --> 0:10:00.720 our very own podcast would intervene to disrupt publishing of 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:04.120 information that makes a business or a business partner a 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:09.040 chrony look bad and then also suppress any alternative views or, 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:13.560 in the case of open advertisement, any alternative offers from 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:17.200 reaching the public sphere. So, just to pick an example 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:21.800 out of the ether, this would be something where let's 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:26.320 say NBC doesn't allow eight commercials for ABC shows to 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:29.240 be on their networks. But it could also be something 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:32.920 like Walmart moves to town and buys up all the 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:35.800 newspaper space so that the mom and pop story can't 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:38.640 buy a supplement to put in the Sunday paper. 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:41.120 That's not very nice, no, but. 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:44.600 It is censorship. And all of these forms of censorship 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:48.480 are currently extant. They exist today. 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:48.960 In the world. 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:52.400 Likely some version of this kind of stuff exists in 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:55.760 your own country, even if maybe like in the case 0:10:55.760 --> 0:11:00.200 of religious censorship, your own country doesn't condone it. I 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:02.920 can almost guarantee you that if you have a military, 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:07.560 your government may not completely control aspects of it, and 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:10.080 that need to know basis is its own form of 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:12.040 self enforcing censorship. 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:14.559 Absolutely, And even if you believe that you live in 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:18.320 a country that doesn't have some kind of censorship over 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:21.840 its people, where we unfortunately have to inform you that 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:22.800 you're probably wrong. 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:27.160 Right, Oh yeah, oh my, you're so wrong. Yeah, unfortunately, 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.840 especially here, guys. Yeah, it's here in the US where 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:34.120 we record this podcast, in this episode of this podcast, 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:37.120 And that leads us to ask, so, how long have 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:40.760 these practices been around? This is not stuff that we 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:44.240 just figured out as a species. Censorship is ancient. It 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:49.319 has followed human civilization throughout history like a sinister shadow, 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:53.760 just one step behind, sometimes looming larger than other times, 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:57.760 but always at every moment with us. And we'll get 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:01.040 to the crazy stuff pretty quickly. In this episode, we 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:06.120 want to explore where censorship came from. The modern word 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:08.760 we use today comes from Roman civilization. 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:09.840 There was an. 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:14.559 Actual dude, there was actual person, an actual political position 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:17.800 called a censor, and they ruled certain areas of Roman 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:22.079 policy with absolute power. When we say we mean absolute power, 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:25.800 we mean the other leaders could not contest or not 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:29.000 change their findings. And then when they were done serving 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:32.160 their time, a new censor could not change the findings 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:33.240 of the previous. 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:33.800 One at all. 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:36.880 No, Oh my gosh, it's just your word is law, 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:38.360 and that's all there is to it. 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:40.839 This is now what civilization can and can't do. 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:45.280 In these certain aspects of the law. The censor was 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:49.240 responsible for maintaining the census, not a big surprise there, 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:56.160 supervising public morality, and then overseeing some aspects of government finance. 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:58.360 So the most important part. 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:03.440 For our purposes today is there charged to supervise public morality. 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:07.040 This was something called the regimen morum. And it's key 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:12.600 here because the censors at first would punish or shame 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:16.360 people as individuals, both for activities in their private lives 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:20.200 that could be anything very serious from being quote overly 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:24.640 cruel to slaves or quote acting in theaters. You could 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:27.959 get in trouble for that as seen as dishonorable. 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.280 Acting in a theater mm hmm, and spoke. 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:33.560 Poorly to your character you could also get people in 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:37.280 trouble for their public behaviors, perjury, taking a bribe, or 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:41.080 keeping a good horse in bad condition, not taking good care. 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:41.439 Of your horse. 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:44.840 Okay, I can see why those would be looked down upon, 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:48.120 perhaps or at least frowned upon. All of those, actually, 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:53.800 especially the theater's one. And here's the other thing. The 0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:58.520 consequences from being censored can include anything from being expelled 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:01.160 from the Senate if you were serving in the Senate 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:04.920 at the time, or you could even be expelled from 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:09.280 the tribe, your tribe, which would be a major blow 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:11.000 to you and your family. 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:13.319 Social excommunication. Right. 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:19.440 Then, of course this could lead to death. Everybody dies, 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:22.400 or most people do. It's just the timing would probably 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:23.320 not be to your liking. 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:25.480 Yeah, it is crazy to think that you could be 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:27.040 censored to death. 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:28.320 Yeah. 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:32.520 And from this original duty, this one aspect of this 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:36.600 one to two person job, the Regiment Morham grew to 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:40.320 include the scrutiny of public speeches and performances and then 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:43.840 written work. And censorship was not seen as a bad, 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:47.840 authoritarian or heavy handed thing. It was seen as a benevolent, 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:53.040 just necessary, even noble way to maintain social order. 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:55.440 I think we got to just talk about this for 0:14:55.480 --> 0:15:00.160 a second, because I think it's a difficult stance, but 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:03.000 it has to be taken that it's something that you 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:06.440 said at the top Bend, that this type of censorship, 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:09.680 once we get to this place where it's looking at everything, 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:14.400 is kind of necessary to get enough people on the 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:18.720 same page to build an empire or build a massive civilization, 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:21.560 especially on the scale of the Roman Empire at the time. 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:23.760 Sure, but does necessarily make it good? 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:28.720 Absolutely not, right, absolutely not, But but in a way 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:32.800 I guess in a way it is good in the moment, right, 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:37.000 And it's good for both the status quo of the 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:39.640 people who are trying to create this new order or 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:42.360 whatever it's going to be, as well as for the 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:45.600 citizens to some extent, because it sounds like they are 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:50.840 or the attempt here is to alter people's behavior to 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:55.520 be more in line with suiting a larger civilization. 0:15:56.440 --> 0:16:00.120 Right And at the time, you know, these civilizations were 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:05.920 attempting to expand and enforce systematic inequality. 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:10.520 Yes, by engulfing other civilizations, smaller civilizations. 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:10.880 Right, right, And this. 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.920 One practice of a lot of ancient civilizations was a 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:20.960 very effective form of censorship restricting literacy to certain social classes. 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:24.880 Yeah, if you cannot write or read, then how are 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:26.000 you going to change anything? 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:26.480 Right? 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.640 The most famous case of censorship in ancient Rome dates 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:35.280 back to Socrates. He was sentenced to death and they 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:39.000 told him to ingest poison in three ninety nine BCE. 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:44.400 What was his crime, though, corruption of youth and the 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:47.840 acknowledgment of unorthodox divinities. 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:50.360 Now right, wrong parties, wrong gods, that's what that sounds like. 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:54.280 Maybe causing the children of well to do members of 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:56.520 society to ask too many tough questions. 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:58.680 I think that's exactly what his issue was. 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:00.840 We literally call it this democratic method. 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:05.199 Yeah, by listening to someone's argument, taking parts of what 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:08.679 they say into your argument, and then coming up with 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:10.400 a consensus. 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:14.840 Interesting interestingly enough, Yes, I like you brought that interestingly enough. 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:21.240 In the Republic, Socrates student Plato argues for censorship. 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:24.119 Yeah. Well, in Plato and a few other of his 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:27.680 contemporaries are the only ways we actually know anything about Socrates, 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:30.440 because that's true. His life actually wasn't written down a 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:32.480 whole bunch by him, At least not a lot was 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:34.680 recorded by him in the moment. 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:35.560 So did he exist? 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:39.400 Story for another day, but it is safe to assume 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:42.359 if we first assume they was real, it's also safe 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:44.560 to assume he was not the first person to be 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:48.000 punished in this way. And boy oh boy, speaking of 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:51.919 setting a precedent, the Romans sure did. We'll see how 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:56.480 this plays out in their descendant civilizations. Shortly after this. 0:17:56.800 --> 0:18:00.840 We should also mention censorship was common in ancient China 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:04.560 is very old and two twenty one BCE, an entire 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:08.159 library was burned down in the Kingdom, and their first 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:12.679 official law regarding censorship, surprise they were for it was 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:15.239 introduced in three hundred CE. 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:18.840 But we mentioned Europe, right, so let's just go right there. 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:22.120 Europe has a ton of civilizations descended in some way 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:26.040 from Roman culture, and this means it also has a long, laughable, 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:28.000 tragic history with censorship. 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:32.280 Yeah, and first to get hit here is free speech. 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:35.920 This is an idea that we hear a lot nowadays. 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:39.280 It implies the just the free expression of thoughts. That's 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:41.800 all it means, really, But this was a challenge to 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:45.240 the pre Christian rulers at the time, and you know, 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:50.000 it's it's a funny thing to have free thought and 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:53.400 then to express those thoughts to other people and then 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:56.440 have a group of like minded people all having free 0:18:56.440 --> 0:19:01.040 thoughts that don't exactly go along with the church. That's 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:03.760 very troublesome, at least to the guardians of at the 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:10.520 time Christianity. But it's you know, it becomes much more 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:13.520 troublesome when the church itself organizes to a point where 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:17.480 there's an official orthodox this is what is the church 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:18.560 and nothing. 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:21.840 Else, and there's dogmas exactly. Yeah, you're right, Matt. 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:26.080 And as more books were written and copied and even 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:32.440 more widely disseminated, the ideas that were perceived as subversive 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:36.560 and heretical were spread beyond the control of rulers. It 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:41.280 didn't matter now if you killed one heretic, if they 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:44.600 had written a pamphlet or a book and someone else 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:48.359 had copied it, then that person's ideas lived on and 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:52.320 they spread or metastasized, as their opponents will probably perceive 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:53.840 it across the land. 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:57.200 But it's important because at this time, when you say copied, 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:01.840 you mean actually written down in a blank paper or 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:05.080 a blank parchment, and written down exactly what was written 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:06.280 on the other one. 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:10.280 Right, And this this was an advantage over something like 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:14.640 a subversive oral tradition in terms of storytelling her songs, 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:18.000 because if you kill everyone who knows the song, it's fine, 0:20:18.320 --> 0:20:23.240 it won't get out. But you have to. Books don't 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:25.960 die as easily as people. You have to burn them. 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:28.280 You have to you have to find them. 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:28.680 Right. 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:31.720 A book can, even even if it won't be in 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:34.639 great condition, in the right environment. A book can just 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:39.159 sit somewhere for decades and decades. It needs no food, 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:43.600 it needs no cycle of sleep and wake. It's just 0:20:43.760 --> 0:20:45.040 there for someone to pick it up. 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:49.000 You can't coerce the book to not say it story anymore. 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:52.000 Right, you have to destroy or mutilate it. And as 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:56.240 a consequence of this, censorship became increasingly rigid. Punishments became 0:20:56.280 --> 0:20:59.960 increasingly severe. And then, of course, one of the life 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:04.720 last things that the establishment probably wanted to happen happened, 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:07.240 and the printing press was invented in Europe in the 0:21:07.280 --> 0:21:10.880 mid fifteenth century, and this increased the need for censorship. 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:13.840 Printing did help, you know what, Maybe I'm being unfair, 0:21:13.880 --> 0:21:17.399 because printing did help the Catholic mission at the time 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:21.480 to spread what it saw as a divine revelation. 0:21:21.680 --> 0:21:25.280 You can print bibles now but it also. 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:29.199 Aided the Protestant Reformation and people like Martin Luther who 0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:33.159 were considered heretics. So the printed book became this huge 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:38.119 religious battle ground, and it began a war that was 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:43.040 also fought through the medium of books. They started making 0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:46.200 books that would communicate censorship. 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:50.000 Oh yeah, like a book of prohibited books, or at 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:53.560 least a very long list of prohibited books. There was 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:56.040 a pope, a gentleman named Paul the Fourth, who ordered 0:21:56.040 --> 0:22:00.959 the first index of capital p prohibited books in fifteen 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:05.960 fifty nine, and then that an index, like an updated index, 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:10.760 was issued again twenty times by different different popes who succeeded, 0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:14.760 and then finally from fifteen fifty nine all the way 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:20.760 until nineteen forty eight, the final prohibited books list was issued. 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:24.000 Nineteen forty eight, that's not that long ago. 0:22:24.000 --> 0:22:26.919 But they kept that thing in practice. It was still 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:29.200 on the books for lack of a better phrase, until 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:32.280 nineteen sixty six, when it was finally abolished. 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:35.080 Yeah, so that's. 0:22:34.880 --> 0:22:36.960 A long time of prohibiting reading. 0:22:37.240 --> 0:22:44.600 And the Catholic Church was the first and final judge 0:22:44.640 --> 0:22:48.399 of which books emerged on this list, right, and books 0:22:48.440 --> 0:22:51.840 didn't usually get pulled off or forgiven, and the Inquisition 0:22:52.280 --> 0:22:56.199 helped enforce this ideology by banning and burning books when 0:22:56.200 --> 0:22:59.240 they were discovered, and in some cases burning the authors 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:03.080 along with the books. O. The most famous author that 0:23:03.119 --> 0:23:06.280 the Catholic Church band is, of course Galileo. That was 0:23:06.280 --> 0:23:07.800 in sixteen thirty. 0:23:07.480 --> 0:23:11.959 Three, because he was heretically letting people know about, you know, 0:23:12.200 --> 0:23:13.800 the solar system and the stars. 0:23:14.520 --> 0:23:16.720