Whenever you hear yourself or someone else say, “This conversation is over!” “We’re done here!” or just a flat “No means no!” and the speaker is in a position to enforce that declaration, they’re using the voice of power. Whenever we resort to blocking, censoring, or exiling people or their dangerous ideas, we’re exercising the voice of power. There’s undeniable satisfaction in these moves, of course, as well as immediate benefits from shutting down an unproductive conflict with a ruling in your favor, but there are also downsides.
