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'Books, plays and
films should be censored'
1
Let
us suppose that you are in the position of a parent. Would you allow
2
your
children to read any book they wanted to without first checking its
3
contents?
Would you take your children to see any film without first
4
finding
out whether it is suitable for them? If your answer to these
5
questions
is 'yes', then you are either extremely permissive, or just plain
6
irresponsible.
If your answer is 'no', then you are exercising your right as
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a
parent to protect your children from what you consider to be undesirable
8
influences.
In other words, by acting as a censor yourself, you are admitting
9
that
there is a strong case for censorship.
10
Now,
of course, you will say that it is one thing to exercise censorship
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where
children are concerned and quite another to do the same for adults.
12
Children
need protection and it is the parents' responsibility to provide it.
13
But
what about adults? Aren't they old enough to decide what is good for
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them?
The answer is that many adults are, but don't make the mistake of
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thinking
that all adults are like yourself. Censorship is for the good of
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society
as
a whole.
Highly
civilised people might find it possible to live
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amicably
together without laws of any kind: they would just rely on good
18
sense
to solve their problems. But imagine what chaos there would be ifwe
19
lived
in a society without laws! Like the
law,
censorship contributes to the
20
common
good.
21
Some
people think that it is disgraceful that a censor should interfere
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with
works of art. Who is this person, they say, to ban this great book or
23
cut
that great film? No one can set himself up as a superior being. But we
24
must
remember two things. Firstly, where genuine works of art are con-
25
cerned,
modern censors are extremely liberal in their views - often far more
26
liberal
than a large section of the public. Artistic merit is something which
27
censors
clearly recognise. And secondly, we must bear in mind that the
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great
proportion of books, plays and films which come before the censor
29
are
very far from being 'works of art'.
30
When
discussing censorship, therefore, we should not confine our
31
attention
to great masterpieces, but should consider the vast numbers of
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publications
and films which make up the bulk of the entertainment
33
industry.
When censorship laws are relaxed, unscrupulous people are given
34
a
licence to produce virtually anything in the name of 'art'. There is an
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increasing
tendency to equate 'artistic' with 'pornographic'. The vast
36
market
for pornography would rapidly be exploited. One of the great
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things
that censorship does is to prevent certain people from making fat
38
profits
by corrupting the minds of others. To argue in favour of absolute
39
freedom
is to argue in favour of anarchy. Society would really be the
40
poorer
if it deprived itself of the wise counsel and the restraining influence
41
which a censor
provides.
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