"I am opposed to censorship in all forms, without any exceptions. As a matter of social philosophy, I do not like the idea of some people trying to protect the minds and morals of other people. In practice, this means that a majority seeks to impose its standards on a minority; hence, an element of coercion is inherent in the idea of censorship."
by:
Carey McWilliams
(1905-1980) American author, editor, and lawyer
Source:
Censorship: For And Against, 1971
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Reader comments about this quote:
There is always a standard. Man's standard of anything goes or God's standard or moral code called the Ten Commandments. Would this person be opposed to giving porno to elementary school kid's? How about giving it to them with their parents permission?
 -- David Lee, Oakland, TN     
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    Under the parameters here offered, Waffler will love censorship.
     -- Mike, Norwalk     
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    David, point well taken but, porn to kids is not the best example as, when a harm is committed or right violated the subject matter falls under criminal justice, not censorship. Children are injured and their inalienable rights violated by porn (a long list of how and why could be inserted here) - a criminal act - and if parents gave their permission they would be complicit in the crime.
     -- Mike, Norwalk     
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    More often it is a minority seeking to impose its standards on the majority...
     -- Anonymous, Reston, VA, US     
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    Reston is correct. David Lee , I'll cut you a little slack since you live in the same state that had the Scopes Monkey Trial. See "Inherit The Wind".
     -- jim k, Austin, Tx     
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    David Lee. While I respect your right to worship and a belief in the God of "your" understanding...I have to say your approach is exactly why people are moving away from the church. That kind of intolerance has an alienating effect. Does God not allow that all people may worship in whatever moral manner they see fit? We already have a government that feels it can "legislate morality"...it doesn't work for them either.
     -- J Carlton, Calgary     
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    We had a great Prime Minister in Canada that said, "The government has no place in the nation's bedrooms."
     -- L. Hanson, Edmonton, Canada     
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    David Lee demonstrates the obvious self-righteous attitude of those that wish to censor. So, let me get this straight, if a child sees a naked woman in Playboy magazine, he/she has been "injured" and their "inalienable rights violated"? What if they were to see their mother naked? What about seeing other little kids naked in the school showers? Please give me a break. Pictures of people having sex is not harmful, unless of course a person has been shielded from such 'atrocities' and becomes shocked at what his/her parents did to bring him into this world. This sort of religious BS is from the old days in which the church ruled with an iron fist -- you needed permission to marry from your lord first. Women have been treated like property until about 100 years ago -- and that was without pornography. We are not talking about rape or child molestation which are not pornography -- of course, if there are pictures of the crimes, then they can be used as evidence. Grow up. Censorship does not stop there -- it keeps going. We are shielded from the really bad news, like Fukishima radioactive fallout over North America, the crashing of the US dollar, sealed court cases challenging government authority, low climate temperatures, regrowth of the ice shelves, the arrest of Amish farmers for selling fresh raw milk, the assault on vitamins and herbal CURES for cancer, autism caused by vaccines, not to mention all the false flags over the last century designed to crush the independence of the American people. Seeing somebody's "pee pee" and "wee wee" are hardly a real problem. The TRUTH is never the enemy, unless you are vested in the lies.
     -- E Archer, NYC     
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    I dropped Microsoft Outlook years ago because of their censoring. They just kept saying "This message has not been sent." I want nothing to do with WikidPedia who takes a word or phrase from my email and makes a link out of it. When I condemned legal tender which constitutes slavery by permitting government to take everythng sans paying for anything, Wikid Pedia made a link that when opened gives the dictionary crap for legal tender. Here is what a nationally know minister said about legal tender: www.morpix.biz/god. I believe Lincoln was the first here to use legal tender and his contemporary, Horace Greeley said Lincoln's system "was no less cruel than the old syste, of chatel slavery." Perhaps a million thought Pastor Sheldom Emry was a great man for writing Billions for Bankers but he promoted legal tender AND at heart, he was a Freemason. On that subject, please see: www.morpix.biz/newage.
     -- Winston Smith, St. Louis     
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