(Also posted this on /r/KotakuInAction subreddit)
> Once upon the time, there used to be a scientist called Gamus Developus. He did a bit of this and a bit of that, but his main interest was astronomy. He would spend a lot of time looking through his telescope and making charts of the star sky.
> One day, Gamus noticed something. He noticed a certain pattern involving planetary and Sun movement. He studied that pattern, then did a lot of calculations and after a lot of hard work, came to a shocking conclusion - it's not that the Sun and other planets are revolving around Earth, but actually, all the planets, including Earth, are revolving around Sun.
> He had to publish these findings because of their high importance so of course he did.
> Socialis Justis Variores was a High Inquisitoress of the Holy Church. Because of that, it was her job to make sure no heresies appear and if they do, to stamp them out by any means necessary. The town where Gamus lived was within her jurisdiction.
> When Gamus published his findings, Socialis took a look at them and didn't like them, for they were heresy because they contradicted the Holy Teachings that said the Sun and other planets revolved around the Sun. Doing what was her duty, she immediately ordered Gamus' arrest under the charge of heresy.
> When the two of them faced each other for the first time, in court, Socialis gave Gamus a choice - either peacefully abandon your findings, your heresy, and walk away free and with untarnished reputation or have them repressed by us by force and be branded a heretic or something even worse.
> Gamus was a scientist. If he was branded a heretic, it would ruin his entire life, not to mention his career, and he most certainly didn't like the sound of that "something even worse," so he recanted his "heresy" and burned his notebooks himself. It pained him deeply and still left a minor stain on his record, so to say, but at least he could still continue with both his life and his job.
> Cue 30 years later. Gamus Developus' son, Gamus Developus II (let's call him Junior) was a scientist himself. However, where his father's primary interest was astronomy, Junior's passion was biology.
> One day, Junior was studying an animal life on some remote island group when he himself noticed some sort of pattern in animal "kinds." He did some intense research and came to a shocking revelation himself - modern animals actually evolved from earlier animals.
> He had to publish these findings because of their high importance… so of course he didn't. Why?
> The Holy Teachings say the Goddess created each and every animal "kind" "by hand", not that the animals evolved. Junior was not stupid. He very well knew this might get him in trouble with the Holy Church, just like his father's findings got him in trouble. He didn't want any troubles himself so he knew there was only one thing to do in his position.
> He preemptively burned the notebooks where he noted his progress in this research.
> Gamus Gatorus, not related with any of Gamus Developus', of course, was a historian and a chronicler. It was his job to, obviously, study history that already happened and record what's happening right now.
> Somehow, Gatorus found out about what Junior did. He came out and publicly accused the Holy Church of censoring the scientists in order to make their findings fit the Holy Teachings. Of course, Socialis quickly arrived for a… talk.
> Socialis: "We didn't do nothing. We're not here to take away your science. It was Developus' own decision to withdraw his findings, for some reason."
> Gatorus: "He had to rely on self-censorship, because, if he didn't, you'd threaten to excommunicate him and label him a heretic, which would ruin his life. You [the Holy Church] forced him, through fear, to rely on self-censorship."
> Socialis: "No, Gatorus, self-censorship is not real. Like I already said, it was his own decision."
> She then proceeded to label Gatorus a devil worshiper and literally worse than Ladof Do'Hisller, the Empreror of the Third Drow Empire.
Moral of the story: you don't need to actively work on "taking away your X" - you only need to create an atmosphere of fear where the creators of X will do it for you via self-censorship, which also gives you a convenient excuse to say "we didn't do nothing."