Censorship

It doesn't take overt acts of Censorship to silence a people. Look at our media today, when someone says something against the President's policies, plans, or actions, it isn't because that someone has an opinion, or a reason behind their words, it is because they are "racist".
Once you start calling every detractor a Racist, it isn't long before you start pushing the "Hate Crimes" legislation and having people arrested and charged with hate crimes for simply having a different opinion than those in charge.

Great Britain has a different tack on this, whenever someone has a different opinion than the "status quo" you simply call it "libel", then you get them under the laws that protect people from libel, and you silence them that way.

Don't believe me? Look at South Africa some years ago. They had THOUSANDS of people in prison as "political prisoners" because they had the audacity to have a different opinion than that of the ruling government. How did they get them? They started calling any protest, even the peaceful ones, "illegal gatherings" or "illegal demonstrations", and they would arrest as many as possible, let the bulk go free, without charges, and keep the leaders in prison for being the "instigators"...this was to set the example - speak out against the government, get arrested and held for as long as we see fit.

Sometimes it is called treason, sometimes sedition...but any way you crack it, it is just another way to censor the critics, to limit Free Speech and to scare people into submission.

Cracking the Spine of Libel