Throughout, we will embrace the idea that that force should not be brought to bear to make it impossible for someone to express an opinion. This much, one should expect and traditionally, it has been expected of our citizenry here in the US, as a matter of custom. But that it still was. But, another idea that has also been traditionally accepted, is that each of us has the right to associate or disassociate ourselves from others on any basis that we see fit, to the degree we see fit. But, when the public is stirred up over a questionable cause, and people begin to condition their friendships (and sometimes even business or professional relationships) on open support for that cause, the results can be highly coercive.

The advent of a politically active and fad driven mass media has turned this from an occasional irritant, to an oppressive reality that has gained just notoriety for penetrating almost every recess of our society, though some subcultures have been hit harder than others, which have proved more resistant.

Of course, this is not the only type of censorship that has become customary, of late. It is not simply a matter of people individually electing to ostracise those who dissent, but also one of those same people then pressuring others to do likewise, and, at times, attempting to bring the force of official sanction, criminal activity, or both to bear, as they harass people into silence. Some might say that this second form far outshadows the first. But to say this, is to miss a key point. It is the realistic fear that one will be the next to be outcast, if one doesn't take part in an attempt to silence unpopular speech or suppress unpopular writings that often pushes people to join in on what they should know is wrong. Forget the hope that one of them may speak out against the wrong. It is severely unlikely, in many cases, that a particular individual will be able to find the courage to not speak loudly on behalf of the wrong done.

To say that active censorship is more of a threat than passive censorship, then, is like saying that the flowers of a tree are more necessary for it to bear fruit, than its roots. But it is the presence of the latter, that gives life to the former, and makes it the presence that it is.

The objective here, as we discuss one particular subculture, will not be to discuss how to motivate the masses, but to examine our own actions, as individuals and members of small groups, within the Pagan community (specifically, that of Chicago), and ask ourselves to what extent our actions help promote the coercive effect of Political Correctness, and to what extent we can modify our actions, in order to undermine it.

Let us enter.