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The idea of “thoughtcrimes” implies that your internal thoughts leak out into the world so that others know what you may truly think internally. These internal thoughts may be problematic since they may involve cultural or religious taboos, be hurtful towards those close to you, or even illegal if publicly expressed.
The public expression of internal thoughts may include what you explicitly say, what you imply by your choice of words, or even what you fail to say. It may go beyond explicit, implied, or omission of speech and may involve the accompanying tone of voice, facial expression, body expression, cadence of speech, and emotional affect.
The problem becomes when your conscious mind becomes the external thought police of your internal thoughts.
This becomes especially problematic because that thought police also can control further thoughts and have direct control over your emotions as it acts like police to monitor you in general and detect specific instances to take you to court, where it also acts as judge and jury to proclaim your guilt, and prison warden to keep you in a prison of your own mind.
I will consider here why you are not responsible for your thoughts and what it implies for social contexts.