Distressed observers find it difficult to call for help, especially when isolated or demonized for doing so More than before COVID and 9-11, public concerns garner ad hominum accusations that the people sharing distress must be silenced or demeaned as if conspiracy theorists. Voicing public worries can be banned from media by several means, some of which are not obvious even to the person whose words are censored. Elected officials ignore constituent phone calls, letters of concern and calls for inquiry. Some government's preferred 'community guidelines' for commercial media prevent the public from seeing data, and the expression of unwanted truths. Broadcasters, scientists and even doctors are required by their unions to focus on only one official narrative even if it is irrational, lacks evidence and causes measurable harm. Judicial concerns are silenced with the suspension of due process in the courts, constitutional, human and civil rights and freedoms. Legal regimes are built on temporary measures, wtihout relief. Selective shadow-banning on Web index engines, social media and news channels allows people to publish what they want without realizing that their publication can no longer be seen or found by others. Global brands and governments use emergency protocols to monopolize sponsored media, dictate messaging and dominate public perceptions while setting policies that control the winning terms for valuable financial instruments and derrivatives in public markets. In principle, problems can be expected when social balances are swayed towards autocracy. There are practical challenges for civilians and media makers, especially when those we entrust with power prevent people from sensing changes in the limitations placed on us. Professionals committed to working dutifully within standard protocols can remain unaware of the extent to which they have been compelled to comply with new rules by others from outside their profession. Those others can include elected representatives, unelected executives, leaders of international government organizations and public institutions, or even dominant forces in the global economics of commercial brands, and public-private partnerships.