Freedom of Silence: De Tocqueville Was Right

Free to speak, but not to dissent,
Lest the ravages of popular ire draw.
Loathsome revenge by hurled epithet;
Grinds thinkers to cud in its maw.

Once a majority is irrevocably pronounced
A formidable belt cinches tight about thought.
The orator is welcome in that sphere to announce,
But beyond those borders misery is wrought.

Perpetually this mass adores its opinion
And, though no legal condemnations apply,
No voice dares rise in opposition.
No protester is tempted to try.

And the thinker, so abused, withdraws to silence,
As if in remorse for having spoken truth.
Even great geniuses are brought to compliance;
Cast aside for intellectuals illiberal and obtuse.

Chains and executioners are coarse, indeed,
Tools of tyrants formerly refined.
This new despotism is of a different breed;
It is a dictatorship of one’s very mind.

No spark of brilliance can long exist
When freedom of discourse is so condemned.
And, in this shining beacon of the West
There exists no such freedom, my friend.