Talk:Suppression of dissent

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[edit] Merge proposal

This article is more a personal essay drawing from a single flawed (marginally reliable) source and less an encyclopedic article. It contains far more opinion and spin than verifiable fact. I suggest merging the salvagable bits of this article with Censorship, since that is really what the topic at hand is once the spin has been stripped away. FeloniousMonk 05:18, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

• I support a merge. You're too generous, this doesn't even qualify as an essay. Odd nature 22:26, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

• I have serious objections to including the mass media as a source of censorship. Only governments carry the power to censor. In the United States, the First Amendment gives media the right to say what they want. The paragraph on Self-Censorship is biased and should be stricken immediately from this article. Llacara 11:35, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

• Well what do you call it when the mass media decides not to publish certain facts or opinions? Sounds like censorship to me. Censorship can basically be divided into 4 main branches. Political, being government censorship. Religious, by religious groups or organisations which consider a work to be blasphemous or unholy. Moral, censorship by a variety of groups for a variety of reasons but mainly based upon the assertion that the thing in question is morally indescent. And finally corporate censorship, a relatively new form of censorship but with the nature of capitalism its inevitable it would emerge. Basically its the suppression of information by payouts and coverups by corporations to avoid the damage of their corporate image.

It would appear to me that this article is generally in concern with political censorship and therefore if merged with anything should be merged with the political censorship article. --Lanklan 09:59, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

Comment: I thought it was the most ironic thing (and quite fitting) to search "Censorship" and, first thing, find a proposal to merge it with Supression of dissent. It made me laugh. SeanMD80^{talk | contribs} 23:03, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Comment: Much of the 'Academia' section appears to be copied from the Peer review article. Alfons Åberg 17:30, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

While censorship is a component of Suppression of dissent, it isn't the same. If people were arrested for there political beliefs, that would be a form of suppression of dissent, but at the same time, it can't be classified as censorship. There should be more built on this topic and time permitting, as many Wikipedia articles, there will be; but merging isn't a good idea. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nuzzle (talk • contribs) 07:27, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

I agree that it is a bad idea to merge, even though this article is weak and underdeveloped. Suppression of dissent includes many government activities, censorship is a minor one. Surveillance of citizens, kidnapping, torture, and execution being the most severe. This is a serious problem in some Latin American countries, Muslim countries, and China. It prevents people from publicly identifying with their expressed views. Thus I am not censored, because I am able to speak in this forum, but my dissent is suppressed because I cannot identify myself with my speech out of fear of increased government surveillance of my person that may result. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 156.56.229.179 (talk) 15:50, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

I oppose merging the two articles. Censorship is but one aspect of suppression of dissent and, while related, the two concepts are not synonymous. Citing the problems that may exist with this article is not a reasonable argument for merger. These problems can be solved through careful editing. --Loonymonkey (talk) 00:49, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

• Oppose. Censorship is one of many means to suppress the dissent.Biophys (talk) 02:55, 2 January 2008 (UTC)