Censorship Essay

 Censorship is often mentioned as one of the characteristics of an authoritarian regime and the opposite of democracy, but is it really that bad? After all, censorship can be compared to a fence that prevents a person from falling off a cliff. It is true that at the most fundamental level free speech is harmed by this phenomenon, but it would not be better off without at well. So, it seems that it is possible for the two to coexist. Censorship, if applied properly, can help the society avoid negative consequences of free speech and make the communication predictable.

It is worth mentioning that there is a number of negative consequences that are associated with free. First of all, one might mention that it is possible to ignite hatred and aggression by mere words that would lead to catastrophic events. Think of the eloquent speeches of Hitler: his words resulted in the biggest armed conflict in history. All this could have been avoided if there were laws that prohibited him from speaking out his mind publicly (Caso 113). Therefore, it seems that censorship may be beneficial after all since it helps the society differentiate between neutral or positive speech and negative one.

Secondly, the existence of censorship in the public discourse makes the latter predictable, stable, and useful for the social environment. If all members of the society know what it acceptable and not in terms of free speech, then they would also know what their counterparts can say (Gottfried 86). This means that ethnic minorities will not be afraid that they will be attacked verbally or oppressed in any way. This will reduce the tension in the social environment; so, everyone will benefit from it. Therefore, it seems that censorship can be compared to traffic rules: though they do limit the free movement of a car on a road, without them, many cars could not have used a single road.

However, many criticize censorship for limiting the freedom of expression of people, ultimately taking away their chance to reach their full potential. In other words, since it is rather difficult to find any objective ways to assess the morality of a certain action or expression, any manifestation of censorship is ultimately oppression of less powerful by more powerful (Jennings 204). It is possible that what the society finds unacceptable, including harmful speech, is the manifestation of one’s abilities (consider once again the example of Hitler). Therefore, it is unfair that the society takes away an opportunity for a person to reach one’s full potential.

While this claim may be valid, there is something that is overlooked: the goal of censorship is not to limit one’s freedom of expression, but rather make sure that peaceful coexistence of all members of the society is maintained. One should keep in mind that every person is unique and it is virtually impossible to find common ground with others without making certain compromises (Couvares 41). So, censorship might be seen as the ultimate compromise that the citizens of the society made to make sure that they find a common ground in public discourse.

Having examined all the evidence, one might come to a conclusion that there are some positive aspects that can be identified in censorship. First of all, it allows the society to avoid the negative consequences that unregulated speech might bring. Looking back at history, one might see that many terrible events could have been avoided if some people were not allowed to make certain statements publicly. Secondly, censorship makes social interactions more predictable and stable which has a positive impact on the social environment.

Works Cited

Caso, Frank. Censorship. Facts On File, 2012.

Couvares, Francis G. Movie censorship and American culture. University of Massachusetts Press, 2016.

Gottfried, Ted. Censorship. Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2016.

Jennings, Brian. Censorship: the threat to silence talk. Threshold, 2015.

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
Available at:

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]
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