Censorship from "summary" of Iron Curtain by Anne Applebaum
Censorship, as experienced in Eastern Europe during the years of communist rule, was not simply a matter of controlling what people read or watched. It was a comprehensive system designed to shape public opinion, control information, and manipulate the thoughts and beliefs of entire populations. The state took on the role of arbiter of truth, deciding what was acceptable for the public to know and suppressing anything that went against the official narrative. This extended to all forms of media, from newspapers and books to radio and television. Censorship was not just about removing objectionable content; it was about creating a new reality, one in which the regime was always right and its enemies were always wrong. This required a constant vigilance on the part of the stat...
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