Censorship is defined as "Policy of restricting the public expression of ideas, opinions, conceptions, and impulses, which have or are believed to have the capacity to undermine the governing authority or the social and moral order which that authority considers itself bound to protect" (Abraham 357). There is said to be four different categories, which are referred to as political, religious, against obscenity, and censorship affecting academic freedom. All of these categories are equal in their destructiveness towards free speech. There are two different forms that censorship takes; prior, which refers to advance suppression and "p

There are many rationalizations that are used by people that promote censorship. The first rationalization is that ideas presented or about to be presented are "false" and/or "dangerous" by the standards of the authorities and so they must be suppressed or punished. The second is that the minds of those who would be subjected to the ideas to be censored are not capable of seeing the "falsity" and would hence be led astray. Lastly, ideas that lead to "anti-social behavior" such as hardcore pornography must be censored (Abraham 360). For as many people that use these rationalizations, there is as many that do not. Wherever there is suppression of thoughts or ideas, whether it is in written form or spoken, there will always be people who oppose it.

The reasons for protesting censorship are wide and abundant but the most substantial reason is that our constitution specifically forbids it. Anti-censorship activists feel that each individual should have the right to see, and not to see whatever they want, and that there should be no governmental involvement. Seeing the fact that our own constitution forbids censorship, you would figure that the people would be able to speak freely as they wished. This is not the case. There are not only certain restrictions against the freedom of speech, but the culture itself has had to adjust around these "rules" and therefore has suppressed them. Matt Lewis sums up their feelings when he said, "Censorship is ultimately a prohibition against information. And as time and history have and will repeatedly tell, does not work. How are we to learn form out mistakes if we never know we made them"(Corner 4)? The most common way that information is censored is with books. From Galileo, forc!

ost facto" which is suppression after it has been published (Brower 5). Authorities since the beginning of the written word have used both of these forms of censorship. Throughout history, figures that don't have the power to censor resort to other tactics to intimidate those whom they have influence over. One of these methods is the c

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