With all the controversies going around lately, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about the definition of censorship seriously, to see where everyone's coming from.
As a starting point, let's consult a dictionary, just as a "control" of sorts. It's not necessary going to have a perfect definition, but it will give us someplace to start.
According to Merriam-Webster (the first "official" dictionary that popped into my head) to censor is to ": to examine books, movies, letters, etc., in order to remove things that are considered to be offensive, immoral, harmful to society, etc."
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This brings up some good questions.
•Does there have to be some sort of motivation for something to be classified as censorship, and if so, what motivations apply? Could accidentally destroying information count as censorship? Does destroying it shamelessly, with only an excuse of greed or vengeance count as censorship?
•What does "remove" mean? To rid the information entirely everywhere, or just the general public? Does making something incredibly inconvenient but still feasible (albeit with enough required investment of time and effort to make it "not worth figuring out") count as a removal? Or what if some sort of information is inconvenient or impossible to access in the first place? Does not making it more accessible count as censorship, and if so, under what conditions? Or what if instead some uses those inconveniences to their advantage to make the information less accessible or completely inaccessible, even if they did not cause any further hinderances and did not create such inconveniences themselves or if they did, it was a complete accident?
•Is censorship limited to just media? Or does it apply to information, and if so, to what extent? Can actions or choices or thoughts be censored? How far does censorship reach?
•Does censorship apply to the prevention of the creation in the first place? And if so, how far along the chain of cause and effect does that definition apply?
•Are there any other aspects worth examining? Were there any important questions I left out?
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For extra credit, let's discuss if censorship is ever justified. If you don't think it could ever be justified, I'd invite you to read SCP-231 which is a fictional document that is censored quite a good bit and does a scary good job of showing just how disconcerting can be. (Actually, I'd recommend reading it regardless of your position, unless you've already read it or aren't old enough to sign up for this site). It's a tad long, and more than a bit confusing, but it's incredibly though provoking.
Sorry for the long post. I just figured that we take a good, hard look at the idea.