Quote:
Originally posted by M. Krass
I tend to disagree with censorship of all sorts. :-/
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While I agree with the above statement, we may not agree on a definition of censorship. I regard censorship as a Government prohibition of certain kinds of speech in any place at any time. For example, certain other countries have laws making it illegal to express criticism of the government at any time, in any way shape or form.
The Supreme Court in a famous ruling whose name I can't recall, commented that it was not inappropriate for a local government to make it a crime to shout "fire!" in a crowded theatre when no fire exists. It has also repeatedly ruled that local government has the right to regulate when and where large assemblies of any kind can occur. It just cannot prohibit them altogether, nor can it regulate what is said at such assemblies.
So if you want to have a political rally for the Purple party, whose express policy is the violent overthrow of all forms of government other than theirs, the city government can tell you to have it in the town square or out at the stock yards or wherever else is usual in the town for such things.
They can also make sure you do not hold your rally at 2am and disturb the neighbors who have their own freedom not to listen. But once they have told you an acceptable place and time, they cannot tell you what you can and cannot say at your meeting. To do so WOULD be censorship. To prohibit your parade through a residential neighborhood at 2am would not, as long as they made a more acceptable (to the community) place and time available. They may also, at their discretion, prevent such speech as may be morally offensive or inappropriate for young ears from taking place at all in a public area. They may do this to protect those who would other wise be forced to hear such things from having to. But they may not prohibit it in private.
Nor would it be censorship for me to throw you out of my house for using bad language. Such things are not tolerated there at any time and it is private, not public, property. I have the right, even the responsibility, to regulate what is said there and how it is said. Not that I expect such things of you, Mr Krass, but just to make a point.
Regardless of what you may think, there is a place for proper restraint by those in authority. This website is private property, not public. Those who own it do have the right and responsibility to regulate what is said here, though they have been very lenient and gracious and have rarely needed to step in and do so. I feel this is a credit to the larger community that they have invited to visit. But if, for some reason, the powers that be at Chief Delphi decided to close this website to all of those NOT on their team, it would not be censorship. You might miss it, but you would not even have grounds to complain. You would also be free to build your own similar website to fill the hole that loss of this one would leave in the FIRST community.
Freedom means responsibility. It seems that some are being irresponsible, so some of their freedom may need to be curtailed for the benefit of the larger community. This may be regretable, but it is NOT censorship.