[jaguar]

The fundamental difference is that a government can be overthrown. Revolution, war. Self-censorship is decentralised, it is the responsibility of each individual, so in order to affect change, everyone would have to want to change. And just as one elephant (however predatory) is easier to destroy than 10 million widely dispersed ants, a dictatorship, however vile, can be felled with more ease than a self-governed self-indoctrinated proletariat.

Ah, finally.