Remember the old times, before 2000? Wherever you went then, people would freely give their opinion, disagree openly around a cup of coffee in a cafe in Paris or a pint in a pub in London and you could still be good friends. And I am not talking about Latin countries or even Ireland where you would see the same but on steroid.
Then people were radicalized, for or against anti-terror restrictions, for or against illegal foreigners, for or against woke and DEI policies. for or against vaccines, for or against wars, wherever they were taking place and nothing was the same anymore.
Suddenly, you had to be careful about what you said or what you posted unconsciously online. There would be repercussions. Up to and including losing your job for a trifling post. We do not have, yet, brown shirt people walking in the streets but they are already trolling the Internet, policing "wrong-think" as if they had read "1984" as an instruction manual.
The propaganda level, especially in Western Europe is such that for those old enough, it reminds of the not-so-good old days of the Soviet Union. Non-stop vilification of the "enemy" external and especially internal, the famous 5th column.
Worse, the polarization has also reached science where likewise you cannot speak freely about any contentious subject. Virologists can't speak about virus if it contradicts the government's official position, Climate scientists understand that if they do not pick up data carefully, funding will dry up faster than snow on a hot Summer day, etc, etc...
The war on free speech is relentless. Fortunately, the younger generations were born with this background noise and for the large majority, understand intuitively what should and shouldn't be said. AI should have an easy job policing the few recalcitrants. As for the heretics, well, didn't they invite their fate on themselves?
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