The story

Censorship is a word of many meanings. In its broadest sense it refers to suppression of information, ideas, or artistic expression by anyone, whether government officials, church authorities, private pressure groups, or speakers, writers, and artists themselves.

These restraints have the effect of limiting the diversity that would otherwise be available in the marketplace of ideas and so may be considered censorship in its broadest sense. There are almost as many justifications offered for the suppression of communication but the root is always the same. It is a fear that the expression, if not curtailed, will do harm to individuals in its audience, or to society as a whole.

For example the so-called obscene material is attacked because of a fear that it will corrupt personal morality or perhaps even lead to deviant sexual acts. School textbooks and library materials are sought to be purged by groups who fear that they may inculcate subversive values in children. Information concerning national security is controlled by government, with particular severity in wartime, for fear that its revelation may aid an enemy. In the judicial system, pretrial publicity about a crime may jeopardize a fair trial. Publication of personal information by police (such as the names of victims) or by the press (such as one's sexual preferences) may seriously intrude on one's right to privacy. The fear of such consequences, real or imagined, is what drives the censorial impulse.

 But for me an important aspect is the one in respect to mental censorship. For me the freedom of speech and of thought is valuable, without it I cannot imagine living. In the end I am pretty lucky of living in a society where I am allowed to express my feelings and my ideas without the fear of being oppressed. What about you? What does the word censorship bring into your mind?

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