Critical Essay - Censorship
May/11/2022 09:39 AM Filed: Critical Essays
Artist: Piotr VaGla Waglowski
(Wikimedia Commons)
If offensive words are removed from language, would the definition of "offensive" change? A desire to extract a derogatory moniker or blunt description will result in certain individuals classifying the action as noble, a necessary purging of negative thoughts that should not be in a person's mind. Censorship has an ultimate goal—control.
A power struggle lurks beneath the surface of every deletion and every rewrite if the intention skulks behind political warfare. Like a cyberattacker, a censor disables a natural flow of communication. Obstruction is not only unethical and inhuman, it is impossible. Getting rid of ugly nouns, sarcastic innuendos, and scathing adjectives will accomplish nothing. Manipulation of language does not eliminate social problems; this treacherous process triggers unrest.
Disinformation and misinformation, terms coined by hired evaluators, refer to disputable content. Viewpoints differ, a manifestation of cultural, religious, and philosophical beliefs, including scientific shifts that alter the foundation for an accurate statement. Science evolves, changing as new information emerges. Squelching discourse, attempting to make knowledge rigid, halts discovery.
Libraries worldwide store books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and audio recordings that contain material someone wants to censor. As targets are established and editing begins, where does this expurgation propose to end?
After infinite directives and endless redlining, freedom of expression will be hyperregulated, while angry people pick through a word dump, like scavenging through a landfill hunting for deleted information. Archaic mistakes haunt these censors.