CENSORSHIP
by David Nicholls
It has always been that Tyrants, Monarchs and
religions have censored materials and people they have
disagreement with.
Throughout history though, censorship has consistently
been initiated under some other guise, supposedly for the
benefit of those restricted from becoming acquainted with
the said material.
Cries of 'save the children' one of the favourites, 'halt
the moral decay' or accusations of 'blasphemy' accompany
every book or people burning event and every assault on
intellectual property that should be held in common.
Apart from contemporary considerations, those pretentious
enough to believe their role in life is to filter
information released to the 'masses', are blinded to
historical reality. To be a censor one must disregard the
easily available knowledge that censorship is widely used
and that it is similarly widely abused.
As there is no definitive way to know if one is abusing,
a human problem seen in others and not in self, then it
follows, the censors are primed to be acting against the
interests of present and posterity always.
We recognise and are repulsed by the Taliban's
destruction of the ancient Buddhist statues by firing
live rounds at them and the thousands of missing scrolls
lost in the destruction of the great Library of
Alexandria. We mourn for the lives of the 'alleged'
witches, burnt to death to quieten heresy and we sadly
ponder what it must have been like to have been a 'pagan'
savage forcefully parted from their world-view.
Such overt examples should be a warning to us. Lesser
than these efforts manufactured by the powerful and the
righteous are just as dangerous and deny the future what
are present expressions of consciousness. Any degree
should not be tolerated by societies classifying
themselves as civilised.
Democracies thrive on contention and not suppression. The
supposed dangers of not censoring such and such are
generally based on advantage to a ruler or religion and
have nothing to do with the false reality of some kind of
social protection. This is always overstated. Generally
speaking, the censor is so culturally or religiously
brainwashed as to not be in any position to be making
decisions for the majority. The bias they hold disallows
for that.
Exposure of any preconception in the censor adjudication
process is of paramount importance to a smooth running,
just and equality based democracy.
There is not one human alive capable of justifiably
claiming authority in being the ethical arbiter and
spokes-person for the rest. We should therefore disallow
one, or a small unrepresentative number, to rule over our
access to new experiences.
No one should be forced to come into contact with
information not wished for but no one should be denied
information just to support a particular view. Other laws
govern the young and any miscreant behaviour by adults.
If they are not adequate, then that has to be shown to be
true and if so, new laws investigated.
History should be our teacher in this. Numerous books
that are read common place now were once banned by the
censorship of the day. (See below links) Many have been
lost to us for ever.
It is not the free spirited seeker of information we are
to be a feared of, it is those whose minds that have
already been shackled without their knowledge who are the
enemy to peace and harmony. For it is they who, in their
attempts to censorial shackle us, are the real and
present danger.
Recommended Links
http://www.forbiddenlibrary.com
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banned_books
http://libertus.net/
