Censorship - Are We In A Brave New World?

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Censorship is seen as the downfall of civilization, where freedoms are taken away and citizens are told what to think, do, and who they are. This theme is expressed in the novel Brave New World, by Aldus Huxley. Brave New World is about a futuristic civilization, where people are manufactured to be in a certain caste system, and conditioned to fit best in their given caste. Many people feel that the American Civilization is heading towards a fate like the civilization in Brave New World, and others believe that it already is. America is not currently in a Brave New World-like society, because there are still numerous amounts of freedoms when it comes to what we see, do, and think. This argument will be discussed in different sections, those sections being the definition of censorship, the censorship of identity, the censorship of choices, and the censorship of opinions. Censorship has been defined many ways. The most logical definition of censorship is taken from Thomas Storck in his article, “Censorship Can Be Beneficial.” Storck said that censorship is, “. . . the restriction . . . of intellectual, literary, or artistic material in any format” (1). Another definition, by the American Civil Liberties Union (the ACLU), says, “Censorship, the suppression of words, images, or ideas that are ‘offensive,’” (5). Basically, according to Storck and the ACLU, censorship is the blocking of anything from the public’s mind. It can be something as simple as censoring a word on a television show, to erasing entire pieces of history so the public never sees it. Think of the American government had destroyed all records of the Civil War, or the Revolutionary War, or any major American event. Think about how one would see America differently if he had no idea that that certain event never happened. He might think that the American colonies never revolted against their

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