I don't think this is always the case, and that's exactly my point.
> "those who do the silencing usually end up silencing their own critics"
I'm not even sure that this usually happens. It is certainly the case that when that happens, it is very memorable. But that's probably just a "selective attention bias" applied to History, that is, because the other cases are unremarkable.
I see your point, and still I don’t think it’s a good idea. We don’t give power like that to expertise for the same reason the commander-in-chief of the armed forces is a civilian.
We do give this power very narrowly and very successfully to many individuals in their official capacity, in different contexts. Judges, professors, administrative committees, employers in certain situations, heck, at the moment, any company with a platform can apply this power essentially arbitrarily and at will (which I'd argue is not great).
> "those who do the silencing usually end up silencing their own critics"
I'm not even sure that this usually happens. It is certainly the case that when that happens, it is very memorable. But that's probably just a "selective attention bias" applied to History, that is, because the other cases are unremarkable.