Concidering Censorship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Concidering Censorship - Essay Example Basically, we all know that information is power and the aim of censorship is to control this information and in the end contain power. Therefore, censorship is the control of information or suppression of speech that is distributed in any population with an aim of protecting that population from any harm. What matters at the end of the day is whether the aims and objectives of the censorship have been achieved despite the methods used in censorship. As mentioned above, censorship is varied and comes in many forms reason being that society has different sectors. Moral censorship has the main aim to remove, control or censor any pornographic material such that it does not reach the society. Pornography is not only shunned by traditional and religious groups, but it has also been placed in the group of permanently illegal material by the elites in the society. One such example of moral censorship is the controversy that surrounded the rock and roll group The Rolling Stones on their song â€Å"let’s spend the night together† (Inglis 562). Apparently, the song was obscene and looked down upon, in fact the author states â€Å"such a blatantly sexual song should not be sung to a family audience†. One of the most explicit and intimidating form of censorship around the world is political censorship. This is one way with which most famous dictators have used to remain in power and control their subjects oppressively. Famous African dictators who have been accused of using such censorship include President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe among others. In some cases, especially during war, countries involved in war control the information that they release to their population to prevent valuable information from reaching their enemies. Information exchange is controlled in both cases because it is perceived as being ‘harmful’. With great appeals to divinity and religiousness, the church has joined the quest to censor some information leading to the development of