The more they push, the more obvious it becomes, they’re not in control, they’re losing it. Each new clampdown reveals their fragility, not strength. People are quietly routing around the system. Bitcoiners, cypherpunks, and builders are taking the sly roundabout way, laying the rails for a future where the old structures are obsolete. “When technology is mobile, and transactions occur in cyberspace, even the most oppressive government will be forced to compete like a business.” — The Sovereign Individual They’re playing catch-up. We’re building what’s next. The task now is helping others see the exit. The door is already open, they just need to be able to see it and walk through.

This nails it, thank you. Censorship isn’t a glitch, it’s a feature of the collapsing simulation. Legacy systems now survive by suppressing signal, but they can’t simulate truth forever. We aren’t resisting their world. We’re building the next one. They will ultimately make themselves irrelevant.

Beautifully put. The digital panopticon has reach, but no soul. It sees everything, yet understands nothing. That’s where the parallel systems win, they keep the light of truth alive. Others will flock there as they begin to see the hollow walls rising around them. We build the new world in the shell of the old. The sly, roundabout way is how we navigate these times, Plan, prepare, and build for what comes next. Because this current age runs on borrowed time, it no longer has the means to settle its debts.

You’re right, Laser. The Great Firewall is the new Western template. Covid was the dress rehearsal. Emergency powers morphed into persistent infrastructure. Surveillance, speech throttling, and narrative control became policy, not precaution. What was once unthinkable is now default. I’m not sure how the general population will deal with this. Some have wised up, but others still hold the same conditioning and will sadly still comply. History shows us that emergency powers are rarely rolled back. After 9/11, the Patriot Act normalised mass surveillance. What was sold as protection became permanent infrastructure. Covid extended that architecture. Tools designed for a health crisis, tracking apps, speech controls, digital passes, now underpin the legal censorship framework. These tools may not be fully active yet, but the rails remain intact and will likely be developed further. History also shows how the public reacts. At first, fear makes people comply. Later, inertia keeps them quiet. By the time the danger is obvious, the apparatus is entrenched. A few resist, some adapt, but most retreat into silence, hoping not to be noticed. Today, that silence is compliance, and compliance is exactly what the system is built to expect.

From Orwell to Algorithm: The New Face of British Censorship There is a growing sense among many in the UK, and across the broader West, that something is seriously wrong. Some fear that the concern is overblown or misdirected. Others sense, deep down, that what they are witnessing is not a passing political trend but a systemic shift. As an observer, drawing from history, political theory, and emerging technology, I can tell you plainly: this does not feel like hysteria. It is a rational response to a creeping danger. What is unfolding in the UK is not about safety. It is about narrative control, and it is following a well-worn pattern seen throughout history whenever regimes lose legitimacy. The historical pattern is clear When institutions begin to fail, their first instinct is rarely to relinquish power or self-correct. Instead, they reach for control. In the late Soviet Union, truth itself became a threat to state authority. In 1930s Germany, speech was criminalised for its capacity to disturb national unity. In the McCarthy-era United States, accusation and guilt by association replaced judicial due process. After 9/11, the West launched a new era of surveillance and control, using the threat of terrorism to justify dragnet data collection, indefinite detention, and permanent emergency laws. Two decades later, COVID-19 introduced another layer: behavioural monitoring, speech suppression, and digital compliance infrastructure. What were once temporary measures have now been normalised. The state learned that fear could override freedom if wrapped in the language of protection. Now in Britain, we see that same logic re-emerging. But it is wrapped not in iron or blood, but in platitudes about kindness, safety, and protecting children. Authoritarianism rarely advertises itself as such. It arrives wearing a smile and asking for your ID. The UK’s institutional decay is now visible The state cannot fix the NHS. It cannot balance a budget, manage basic infrastructure, or offer young people a future. Yet somehow it can assemble a censorship unit in days. It can pressure social media companies into suppressing speech, enforce speech-based community protection orders without a trial, and fast-track online safety regulations that criminalise discomfort. This is not the behaviour of a confident government. It is the reflex of a system in decline, one that sees dissent as a threat to its survival. When power becomes more focused on self-preservation than service, truth becomes dangerous. The 3 F’s: China’s digital authoritarian playbook now adopted in Britain As put it, China has pioneered the method of digital statecraft through the 3 F’s: • Fear – through laws designed to deter speech, like those that criminalise subjective terms such as “harm,” “distress,” or “hostile atmosphere” • Friction – through deliberately frustrating tech infrastructure, such as age gates, content throttling, algorithmic suppression, and shadow-bans • Flooding – through overwhelming the digital space with safe, state-approved messaging, influencers, fact-checkers, and promoted content “Freedom of speech, not reach” is the modern digital regime’s sleight of hand. You are not silenced. You are simply unheard. You are not punished. You are de-ranked. You are not censored. You are simply “non-prioritised.” The Chinese Communist Party refined this system. The UK is now copying its interface. Technology is the multiplier In the past, censorship required manpower. It took officers, files, and informants. Now, with algorithmic filtering, AI detection, and behavioural profiling, censorship can be deployed silently, invisibly, and globally. You do not need to be jailed. You only need to be throttled, shadowbanned, or quietly made invisible. Your reach is cut. Your message dies on arrival. You will never know who saw it or why it disappeared. The infrastructure being built under the guise of online safety mirrors what was predicted decades ago in books like The Sovereign Individual. As governments lose control of money and narrative, they will turn increasingly to digital surveillance and pre-crime speech regulation. This is no longer theory. It is being implemented in real time. This is not a freak-out. It is an awakening For years, those who spoke out about this trajectory were labelled paranoid, extreme, or conspiratorial. But that smear is losing its grip. Even those who once mocked now admit, quietly or openly, that something is not right. That institutions they once trusted no longer serve the public, and that the rules now shift according to political convenience. This is not overreaction. It is overdue recognition. It is the awareness that the principles we assumed were permanent, free speech, due process, bodily autonomy, are being rewritten quietly and without consent. There is still a window The good news, if it can be called that, is this: we are still early. The machinery of control is being constructed, but it is not yet complete. There is still time to build parallel systems, to reassert sovereignty over our thoughts, our money, and our speech. Tools like Bitcoin, Nostr, encryption, and decentralised publishing are no longer niche technologies. They are lifeboats. You will not vote your way out of this. But you can opt out, build around it, and refuse to comply with a system that demands obedience over truth. To those who feel alone or uncertain, know this: your instincts are correct. This is not about protection. It is about control. And in times like these, telling the truth is not only a moral act, it is an act of resistance.

Lockstep… https://primal.net/e/

Your right on target there 🎯 “Freedom of speech, not reach” is the velvet curtain of a technocratic regime. Orwell gave us the warning. China gave us the model. The UK just copied the interface.

It’s reasonable to assume something’s coming, and they’re trying to get ahead of it. This looks like narrative lockdown in anticipation of the next coordinated wave. Be alert to lockstep. What starts in the UK rarely stays in the UK. Tools like Nostr won’t just be helpful, they’ll soon be necessary.

At what point do we in the UK just admit… ‘We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto?’ The UK is threatening to block Wikipedia under the guise of “Online Safety”. Truth is now dangerous. Anonymous contribution? A threat. Free knowledge? A problem. We’re drifting into authoritarianism — just without the competence. The UK is starting to echo the late-stage Soviet Union in more ways than people realise: – State-approved narratives – Media silence on dissent – Rising censorship – Institutional decay – Economic mismanagement – Surveillance expansion – Punishment of thoughtcrime – Democracy in name only No gulags, no bread queues, but we live in a different era. The control is digital now, and the collapse will be too. SOS 🛟 🆘 Thank god for Bitcoin and Nostr

The UK is providing free advertising for Nostr right now 🤣 No ID. No gatekeepers. No censorship labels. Just pure signal. If you haven’t onboarded someone yet, now’s the time. Their clampdown is our catalyst. Post freely. Build quietly. Spread relentlessly.