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Nah... anyone can tell a story about why their pet cause is what justifies censoring the outgroup. I hold that the reasons for post-9/11 censorship are just as frivolous, but it's reach was nowhere near what is happening now.
There is also the hypocrisy angle, which fuels a hot burning rage deep inside of me, but I learned no one cares about hypocrisy anymore, so I keep a lid on it. The implication of these "conservatives were just as censorious when they had power arguments", is that the specific people here, protesting censorship would use it themselves given the chance. That would have been very compelling, if it wasn't for the fact, that I was vehemently against post-9/11 censorship, and am now being called a rightwinger for not changing my mind, now when the shoe is on the other foot!
I'm not saying 9/11 justified the censorship. I'm saying there is a qualitative difference between a unified nation suppressing dissent after a massive loss of life and one party in a fractured system being able to casually exert that same suppression for nigh whatever reason they want.
Feels like kicking the can down the road: anyone can come up with a reason why there is a qualitative difference between when we do it, and when they do it.
This is true. Yet, unless you're going to declare everything is always the same and there is no moral nuance, you must acknowledge that sometimes there really are qualitative differences between things.
Does that mean my example necessarily is correct? No, of course not. But nor can the mere potential of it being incorrect be used to assume it is.
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