Censorship can never be justified. Do you agree?

Censorship is the removal and withholding of information, which is considered objectionable, from the public. It usually done by government bodies, sometimes the mass media and even religious groups. The term “censorship” tends to give the impression that some secret is being withheld. Censorship is necessary in some circumstances while in others it is perceived as violating human rights, especially in that of freedom of speech. Although I do not agree that censorship can never be justified, I think there are some cases in which censorship in not justifiable.

Firstly, I will present the situation in which censorship can be justified. Moral censorship refers to the censoring of materials deemed to be morally incorrect. For example, pornography is usually censored under this rationale. Pornography can cause harm to women by degrading their social standing. Since its contents can be found on the Internet and the Internet has thousands of users that include children, the encountering of pornography can corrupt the minds of little ones. Pornography censorship can also come under religious censorship as it is insulting to certain religious values. Therefore, I think it is legitimate to disallow the viewing of pornography, in other words, censoring it.

Another situation would be that of enforcing censorship to protect children against violence. Images they see on television often influence kids and those deeply influenced also act like what they see on TV. Video games are getting more violent thus, giving children ideas to carry out violent behaviour and acts. In the case of violent movies, the influence of it also applies to adults. Censorship of these kind of movies limits the danger of destructive cinema without exceedingly limiting the freedom of speech. Hence, even in this case I think it is acceptable to allow censorship.

Democratic countries often boast of promoting their belief on freedom of speech. Hence, it is surprising to know that the people of that country have to fight for the right to free speech. One such organization that originated in the US is the Electronic Frontier Foundation, whose most recent campaign involves the rights of bloggers and citizen journalists. In this case censorship is said to be not justifiable because it does not allow for freedom of speech. They believe that everyone has the right to Blog anonymously, keep sources confidential, make comments without fear, freely Blog about elections and so forth. A quote by William O. Douglas, “Restriction on free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us”, seems to indicate that censorship confines ones thinking. It also limits the power of the press to communicate issues, problems, and the agendas of those holding political power. In such events censorship is not justifiable.

In conclusion, censorship can be justified in incidents where it is harmful or insulting. Anyhow it should not be to the extent of limiting the flow of ideas and opinions, and forbidding the human right of free speech.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pornography-censorship/

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Censorship/

http://www.eff.org/br/