Matt Ownby's Journal: Censorship.. I do not think it means what you think it means

I've noticed that Slashdot seems to enjoy to stir fear into everyone's hearts by posting stories of perceived Censorship injustices.

Ok... so... if my hypothetical son came into my house with a bag full of horse manure and wanted to spread it all over the rug and stink up my house... if I say 'No!', I am censoring him because I am preventing him from experiencing what it would be like to smear manure on a rug and sniff it in? I don't think so. But if my son came home with a filthy video or magazine and wanted to read it, am I censoring him because I won't let him read it in my house? Strangely enough, some Slashdot users would say yes. To me, both these scenarios are exactly the same. They both involve someone coming into my home and wanting to spread filth around, but since it's my (and my wife's) home, we're the ones who call the shots, not our kids. The kids can pour as much manure on their rugs in their own houses when that time comes if they choose to do so. Of course, we will advise them that they won't enjoy the consequences of that action, but we will realize that it's their decision to make.

Now regarding the issue of "censoring" bad parts out of movies... let's say that you came to my door with an awesome suit but had manure on the bottom of your shoes and you wanted to come in. Would I say "No under any conditions" ? No, I think I'd probably say "You can come in if you clean the crap off the bottom of your shoes." And then would you say "What? But that would totally change the artistic expression I am trying to present with this suit with crap-covered shoes! You are censoring my outfit!"

That is, of course, ridiculous. It's equally ridiculous in my opinion, if I buy or rent a movie, and want to edit out the parts I deem to be filthy, that some people actually have a problem with this and think I am desecrating their art. I've got news for those people.. it's not art.. it's crap. The reason I am editing it out is because it is crap and it smells. If they don't want me tinkering with their movie, they maybe should think about cleaning the crap off the bottom of the shoes before they try to get it into my house.

What I've described isn't censorship at all in my opinion.

Censorship is when a government tries to suppress information that could lead to people becoming more empowered. Censorship is when a government tries to deliberately cripple people in order to maintain power over them. Censorship's goal is to stifle growth.