Is State Sponsored Censorship Ever Justified?
“So many new ideas are at first strange and horrible though ultimately valuable that a very heavy responsibility rests upon those who would prevent their dissemination (J.B.S. Haldane).”Whether parents are censoring material for their children or the media is presenting to the public only the things it deems newsworthy, a nearly infinite amount of censorships are being exercised every day around the world. More significantly, every legislator or person of political power must consider carefully the decision to censor the governed. Those decisions carry consequences of varying weights, but regardless of the issue, it is essential to decide whether the benefit of one choice outweighs the negative aspects of the other. If so, the decision to censor is justified. When asked off the cuff, most Americans would readily proclaim their opposition to censorship. “Censorship violates the First Amendment,” or “America’s supposed to be a free country” are some likely responses. The truth is, most Americans are actually in favor of several types of censorship. They simply haven’t thought about it enough to realize their feelings. Ask a father if he wants his eight-year-old daughter reading a sexually explicit magazine, or if a mother
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Approximate Word count = 1085
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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