[WikiEN-l] What's wrong with censorship?

Tue Mar 29 22:30:08 UTC 2005

RK emerged from his lonely exile to comment that censorship is
suppression of IDEAS.

I submit that this is only one form of censorship. When it comes to
ideas about politics or religion, the U.S. Constitution seems to oppose
this form. "Freedom of press", according to my meager and scanty reading
of the Federalist Papers and other documents of the Founding, guarantees
all political ideas an airing. Whether any one wants to hear, of course,
is up to them. (No question of religious ideas: we freaky faith-based
folks are allowed to print, read and sell whatever screwy scriptures we
can scrape up.)

Let's not allow the general Wikipedian distaste for (or outrage at)
censorship blind us to what is really is, or is not.

When a junior high school library decides not to shelve Lady Chatterly's
Lover (or The Story of O), that is most definitely censorship. Whether
you think pubescent students should be "shielded" from sexual texts or
not, the ACT of shielding them has a name, and it's called "censorship".

Complying with local, regional or national laws which forbid certain
expressions or depictions is also censorship. If we want to send a print
edition to "strait-laced" countries, such as Communist China (or
possibly even Uganda), we will have to respect their laws - or try
smuggling in some CDs instead. I want no part of smuggling (the legal
liability is too high).

Masking censorship by calling it "editorial decisions" sounds timid at
best. Why not call a spade a spade?

Uncle Ed

P.S. Attagirl, Anthere!

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tom Haws [mailto:hawstom at sprintmail.com] 
> Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 10:45 AM
> To: English Wikipedia
> Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] censorship and guidelines
> 
> 
> Tony Mobily IMAP wrote:
> 
> > I understand you were making a point, and I also understand I am the
> > new kid in the block.
> > However, I would like to suggest that such a crude list could be 
> > avoided without weakening your point.
> >
> > If not, I don't think I will last very long in this mailing list.
> 
> Thank you for saying that, Tony.
> 
> Tom Haws
> 
> 
> 