This article is uncensored.

Henry Steele Commager once said, “Censorship always defeats it own purpose, for it creates in the end the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.” There are many examples of censorship in modern day society, ranging from the destruction of books to the hovering of parents.

By definition censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information, on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or "inconvenient"determined by some sort of authority figure.

Personally I think that censoring what people can see online, read in school, watch on tv, or say in certain atmospheres is honestly unnecessary and belittling. I think as a society we focus too much on not hurting other people’s feelings and not enough time talking about them.

Instead of shielding children from all the “horrors” of the outside world maybe explain things to them. Explain why those bad things happen and teach them how to avoid it. Have a strong relationship with your children, so they feel okay asking about the weird and “harmful” sights and experiences they might encounter.

For instance all the parents who say that disney shouldn’t have a gay prince or princess because they “don’t want their kids to know about that type of thing” are really just too scared and uncomfortable to explain to their children what being gay is.

Another example would be schools banning certain books because the content is too controversial for their students, or really the parents of the students.

Censorship is not a form of protection; it is an excuse to not talk about the uncomfortable and controversial things that shape people.

While one could argue that there are certain things that children should not see or that even adults should not have to see; my point isn’t that six year olds should go around watching gory movies or that people need to be subjected to certain sensitive material. My point is that we as a society shouldn’t be so afraid of the uncomfortable things in life.