How to silence talk of getting silenced

If one is not allowed to say, 'I am not being allowed to speak,' that would certainly be the most profound version of curtailing one's free speech. But here's the beauty of this conundrum. If such a prohibition is truly effective, then the complaint - that one is being muzzled - will never be heard. In other words, a good censor will ensure that his or her censorship never comes to light. In astrophysics, the point where gravity is so strong that even light fails to escape is termed 'singularity'. In communications strategy, enforced incommunicado also requires such singularities. The problem with people, however, is a bit trickier than it is with stellar matter: they have agency. Even the most dutiful or irreverent soul has to decide to either hold one's tongue or proceed with what he or she intends to say. Intimidation and rewards are the stick and carrot available to the muzzler.

'To forbid is forbidden,' was a powerful slogan that did the rounds as graffiti during the 1968 Paris students' protests against the ancien regime. Catchy though it was, the internal paradox of the cri de guerre did it in. Shutting down communication that says that communication is being shut down has a better chance of survival - and by survival one means never coming to light. Unless, a chink is found that can bring the whole edifice of hyper-control down.