Censorship can threaten freedom of expression .
Censorship is the correction or disapproval of something. The term, which comes from the Latin censorship , is used to name the judgment and opinion made on a work.
For example: "The writer denounced censorship by the publisher that refused to publish his text on the life of the president" , "Journalists have a moral duty to combat censorship in all its forms" , "Public censorship is felt through hissing and shouting against the player .
Censorship as a limitation of freedom
The most common use of the notion of censorship refers to the intervention carried out by a censor on the content or form of a work, based on moral, political, ideological, religious or other reasons. Censorship, in this way, means prohibiting or limiting an expression because it is considered that its content may be offensive or harmful.
Censorship is generally associated with a government 's intention to prevent the dissemination of information contrary to its interests. In democratic societies, prior censorship is usually prohibited: that is, rulers have no right to prevent the publication of any material. In the event that said material, once made public, incurs a crime , Justice can take the corresponding measures.
Censorship can also be moral . In some legislations, a censor is in charge of analyzing different works (films, books, etc.) to eliminate those materials that may be obscene or that are considered contrary to the morals of the people. This is how nude scenes can be cut from a film or rudeness can be deleted from a text.
Authoritarian governments use censorship to prevent the spread of information or ideas.
An action almost always present
For many, the concept of censorship seems distant, like one of those diseases that were eradicated decades ago. However, in certain areas, this authoritarian hand continues to act, cutting parts of works because they are considered inappropriate for the public, absurdly hiding the homosexuality of a character through mediocre dubbing, covering certain Japanese video game characters with more clothing so that they Western human beings should not be horrified by a body of their own species, the same one they see naked every day during personal grooming.
The problem of censorship does not end in the harm it may cause to authors, who see their creations manipulated and must accept the multiple and uncreative mutilations that they suffer to adapt to the closed minds of a few who have a lot of power; The public, by not being able to spontaneously receive artistic content, also loses, and perhaps does so to a greater extent than the creators.
On the other hand, if only censorship were a measure orchestrated by governments to prevent their people from seeing the truth, the world would have more hope of moving forward; But the reality is that this macabre measure to hide information is often used within families and in educational centers, with the aim of molding the little ones according to certain guidelines and preventing them from being exposed to certain knowledge that could help them become more free .
Censorship of homosexuality
Human beings live in fear of what they do not know, of what they do not want to accept, of themselves. Censorship and homosexuality went hand in hand for decades in the cinematographic field, although some astute filmmakers managed to disguise the romances in their films to such an extent that they went unnoticed by the inert censors , and were decoded by the portion of the public to which they were intended. directed. Today, it is possible to capture a romantic relationship between two people of the same gender in film; however, it is almost never done.
They teach us from a young age that the truth does not offend , but at the same time they practice censorship daily to hide what they do not want us to see, the truth, information that could save the lives of many children in cases of sexual abuse, information that would give them peace when discovering that they are homosexual because they would not feel like monsters that are not talked about, information that, as such, does not offend.