Back in the middle of the last century, the wise Ray Bradbury wrote: … if you don't want a person to be upset because of politics, don't give him the opportunity to see both sides of the issue. Let him see only one, and even better - none … In fact, in this passage from his novel Fahrenheit 451, the author has described the whole purpose of censorship. What is it? Let's find out, and also consider the features of this phenomenon and its types.
Censorship - what is it?
This term was formed from the Latin word censura, which translates as "exacting judgment, criticism." Nowadays, it means a system of supervision over various kinds of information, which is carried out by the state in order to prevent the distribution of certain information on its territory.
By the way, the bodies directly specialized in such control are also called "censorship".
The history of censorship
When and where the idea of filtering information first arose - history is silent. Which is quite natural, because this science is one of the first, controlled by censorship. It is known thatalready in Ancient Greece and Rome, statesmen came to the conclusion that it was necessary to control the mood of citizens in order to prevent possible riots and keep power in their own hands.
In this regard, almost all ancient powers compiled lists of so-called "dangerous" books to be destroyed. By the way, works of art and poetry most often belonged to this category, although scientific works also got it.
Such traditions of combating unwanted knowledge were actively used in the first centuries of the new era, and after that they were successfully continued in the Middle Ages, and have survived to our times, however, they have become more veiled.
It is worth noting that the authorities almost always have the right hand in terms of censorship - it was some kind of religious institution. In ancient times - priests, and with the advent of Christianity - popes, patriarchs and other spiritual "bosses". It was they who twisted the Holy Scriptures for the sake of political interests, imitated "signs", cursed anyone who tried to speak otherwise. In general, they did everything to turn the consciousness of society into plastic clay, from which you can sculpt whatever you need.
Although modern society has advanced in intellectual and cultural development, censorship is still a very successful way to control citizens, which is successfully used even in the most liberal states. Of course, this is done much more skillfully and imperceptibly than in past centuries, but the goals are still the same.
Censorship is good orbad?
It would be a misconception that the concept under study carries only negative. In fact, in any society, censorship often plays the role of guardian of its moral principles.
For example, if every film director uncontrollably shows overly explicit sex scenes or bloody murders in his creations, it is not a fact that after watching such a spectacle, some viewers will not have a nervous breakdown or their psyche will not suffer irreparable damage.
Or, for example, if all the data about some epidemic in a settlement becomes known to its inhabitants, a panic may begin that can lead to even more terrible consequences or completely paralyze the life of the city. And most importantly, it will prevent doctors from doing their job and save those who can still be helped.
And if you don't take it so globally, then the simplest phenomenon that censorship fights against is swearing. Although everyone sometimes allows himself to use foul language, however, if profanity were not officially banned, it’s even scary to imagine what modern language would look like. More precisely, the speech of its speakers.
That is, theoretically, censorship is a kind of filter designed to protect citizens from information that they are not always able to perceive correctly. This is especially true for children, who are censored to protect them from the challenges of adult life, giving them time to mature before they have to face them fully.
However, the main problem is the people who control this "filter". After allmuch more often they use power not for good, but in order to manipulate people and use information for personal gain.
Take the same case of an epidemic in a small town. Having learned about the situation, the country's leadership sends a batch of vaccine to all hospitals in order to vaccinate all citizens for free. Upon learning of this, the city authorities disseminate data that paid vaccinations against the disease can be made in private medical rooms. And information about the availability of a free vaccine is hushed up for several days, so that as many citizens as possible can buy what they were supposed to have for free.
Types of censorship
There are several criteria by which different types of censorship are distinguished. This is most often associated with the information environment in which control is exercised:
- State.
- Political.
- Economic.
- Commercial.
- Corporate.
- Ideological (spiritual).
- Moral.
- Pedagogical.
- Military (carried out during the participation of the country in armed conflicts).
Also, censorship is divided into preliminary and subsequent.
The first prevents the dissemination of certain information at the stage of its occurrence. For example, pre-censorship in literature is the control by the authorities of the contents of books before they are published. A similar tradition flourished during Tsarist Russia.
Post-Censorship is a way to stop the dissemination of data after it has beendisclosure. It is less effective, because in this case the information is known to the public. However, anyone who confesses to knowing it is punished.
To better understand what are the features of preliminary and subsequent censorship, it is worth remembering the story of Alexander Radishchev and his "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow".
In this book, the author described the sad political and social situation in which the Russian Empire was in those days. However, it was forbidden to speak openly about this, because officially everything was fine in the empire and all the inhabitants were satisfied with the reign of Catherine II (as is often shown in some cheap pseudo-historical series). Despite the possible punishment, Radishchev wrote his "Journey …", however, he designed it in the form of travel notes about different settlements that meet between the two capitals.
In theory, prior censorship should have stopped publication. But the checking official was too lazy to read the contents and let Journey… go to print.
And then the subsequent censorship (punitive) came into play. Having learned about the true content of Radishchev's work, the books were banned, all copies found were destroyed, and the author himself was exiled to Siberia.
That didn't help much, though, because despite the ban, the entire cultural elite secretly read Journey… and made handwritten copies of it.
Ways to circumvent censorship
As is clear from Radishchev's example, censorship is not omnipotent. Andas long as it exists, there are dodgers who can get around it.
Most common - 2 ways:
- Using Aesopian language. Its essence is to covertly write about exciting problems, using an allegory or even some kind of verbal code that only a select few can understand.
- Dissemination of information through other sources. During the times of severe literary censorship in tsarist Russia, most of the seditious works were published abroad, where the laws are more liberal. And later books were smuggled into the country and distributed. By the way, with the advent of the Internet, circumventing censorship has become much easier. After all, you can always find (or create) a site where you can share your forbidden knowledge.
