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Does Alabama have our very own John Adams? It appears so. :(
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Censorship is defined as the systematic use of group power to broadly control freedom of speech and expression. Essentially, censorship includes any attempt to suppress information, points of view, or methods of expression such as art, or profanity, but it may also include sensitive matters relating to national security.
In what circumstances would censorship aid a free society? Certainly, most would agree that certain subjects are appropriately censured. For example, most would agree that censorship is needed in controlling the production and distribution of child pornography. Similarly, censorship may also be deemed as necessary in protecting intelligence and/or ”top secret” information relating to national security.
On the other hand, most Americans take a dim view of censorship because it runs counter to the First Amendment. For example, many people find book burning to be offensive because we remember the book burning days of Nazi Germany. In fact, many associate censorship with the Nazis.
Ironically, this country faced censorship during John Adams’ administration in 1798. In a vale attempt to protect the United States from "dangerous" aliens, the Alien and Sedition Acts were used by the Federalist Party (now known as the Republican Party) in an attempt to stop the growth of the Democratic-Republican Party (now known as the Democratic Party). The Sedition Act made it a crime to publish "false, scandalous, and malicious writing" against government or government officials. Fortunately, our country was blessed with champions such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. These two gentlemen led the fight to expose The Sedition Act as being contrary to the Constitution and its Bill of Rights. The Sedition Act was repealed and ultimately contributed to the Federalists' loss in the election of 1800.
In conclusion, censorship is neither good nor bad. In censoring ideas or philosophies, one must be careful, however, not to allow religious and political leaders to advance their agendas by encroaching on the rights of others. As a result of two of our freedoms, press and speech, we are today better informed of what our government officials are doing than ever before. Censorship is healthy, however, when it is used to either protect our country and protect those who cannot protect themselves. As with anything worthy of deep thought, we must be cautious in limiting rights of expression, however.
-- BamaLefty
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