Censorship is the enemy of democracy and censors are evil because of it


Censorship is an anathema to a democracy and an evil in and of itself, albeit a necessary evil in a few rare instances.

In saying this, I am not debating what Constitutional rights to information Americans may have, this is strictly a matter of morality and the logical necessities of a democracy. I would argue that free flow of information about all subjects is necessary to a democracy, whether or not it's in the Constitution is a moot point.

I'll start by defining censorship as one group of adults deciding what information another group of adults may have access to, by governmental fiat.

Note that I am specifying adults. I am sympathetic to parents who don't want their kids seeing "Cum Guzzling Butt Girls" on broadcast TV, so long as protecting the kiddies from smut doesn't also prevent adults from enjoying it if they are so inclined (which was historically the case for many years).

Note also that I am specifying "by government fiat." An individual or corporation may be in possession of personal and/or proprietary information (like the formula for Coca-Cola) and keep it secret, but they don't have the power to compel all others to keep their similar information secret. That's a government thing.

The reason censorship is so dangerous to democracy has little to do with sex, it's that it runs counter to the democratic process by nature. After all, in a democracy it is the citizens who ultimately rule, if only by electing the ones who make the rules, based on their understanding of their rulers' performance.