Edmonton Sun | 18Jun2009 | Orest Slepokura
Letters
http://www.edmontonsun.com/comment/letters/2009/06/18/9834841-sun.html

Thought Police

Re: "Thank the Thought Police for this idea," Mindelle Jacobs, Edmonton Sun, June17, 2009.

One of the perverse side-effects of trying to silence and punish offensive speech is the free publicity and the platform it gives the accused. Some end up as household names, their accusers serving as their de facto publicists. Over time, as these cases drag on, the accused may often more credibly spin the narrative with themselves as martyrs to the cause of free speech. And again, the rest of us, who in fact fund these largely futile exercises, are left wondering whether all the time and expense, and also the reopening of old wounds, has led to any enlargement of our moral resources.

Orest Slepokura

(You're right it's typically about private agendas.)