Books

Most information is not under new threat of disappearing like in a book burning, at least not by a concerted right wing effort. The censorship that removes information at the level of basic availability will continue to be corporate enclosure and censorship of academic work, like results that run contrary to business interests not getting published at all or by academic paper publishers that want $30/article. Both have already been here for decades. The latter is adddressable through systems like SciHub. The former is not addtessable except through overcoming a substantial ruling class profit seeking interest, which the people of the US are currently incapable of doing because they are too disorganized and politically miseducated. The answer to that, which is of course not easy, is to engage in political educwtion and to join and build an organization that challenges capitalism.

The forms of censorship that will increase, at least in a more overtly reactionary form, are purely in the political and social realm. It will be narratives used to justify policies and misinformation about the marginalized. The solution to this is the same, however: to join and build anticapitalist organizations and work on political education. Once you are in that space there is still plenty to deliberate about, but it is the essential first step. You cannot displace or oppose a false narrative without being able to draw attention to your own and to teach others correct narratives. And if you rely on ruling class formations to do it (like the Democratic Party) you will be faced with a different form of false narrative over which you do not have control and that will be wishy-washy. For example, Dem messaging narratives in support of abortion have a false premise that Dems actually fight for it at the federal level and often includes implicit transphobia. The net result of following their agenda there will be to sheepdog those who care about abortion access back into an ineffectual and relatively passive political engagement rather than building power to demand abortion access. To spread accurare information against false narratives is our task, and to tie this to robust leverage-building activity.

In other words, the primary form of censorship is in which narratives enter "discourse" and which do not. Who makes the decisions on that. What is the realm of mainstream speech and political work? What is the actual activity that can be engaged in that will challenge the sociopathic power status quo? Will anyone hear the answer(s) or will they be ignored for cynical PR firm-tested talking points, diverting focus and time and thought away from what is needed?

The best thing to do, as an individual, is to join an org and emphasize political education.