Censorship is a FouR letter word

Once upon a time there was such a thing as 'shame'.

Humans understood that shame and modesty, particulary in the sexual arena,were a healthy feature of human existence -particularly involving the female body.
Once upon a time people understood the need for some degree of self censoring.
In Plato's Republic he states: 'The poet shall compose nothing contrary to the ideas of the lawful, just, or beautiful or good, which are allowed in the State; nor shall he be permitted to show his compositions to any private individual, until he shall have shown them to the appointed censors and the guardians of the law, and they are satisfied with them.'

Shame and self restraint go hand in hand, therefore a society which encourages shamelessness creates a real political danger.
Political philosophers knew this all too well.
Rousseau in The Social Contract (1762)states;"The opinions of a people are derived from its constitution; although the law does not regulate morality, it is legislation that gives it birth. When legislation grows weak, morality degenerates; but in such cases the judgment of the censors will not do what the force of the laws has failed to effect.

From this it follows that the censorship may be useful for the preservation of morality, but can never be so for its restoration. Set up censors while the laws are vigorous; as soon as they have lost their vigour, all hope is gone; no legitimate power can retain force when the laws have lost it.

The censorship upholds morality by preventing opinion from growing corrupt, by preserving its rectitude by means of wise applications, and sometimes even by fixing it when it is still uncertain."

Have we not seen and are we not bearing witness to MoraL degeneracy?..Have you listened to the lyrics of rap and rock music as of late?..Seen any films as of late? Seen how young girls and women dress in public?

Democracy, in its inception, required self restraint which was to be inculcated through moral education, and LawS. After all , democracy relies on citizenry of good and upstanding character to even function. This sentiment was expressed by Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln. It is a relatively recent historical phenomenon that even Supreme Court Justices care nothing of societal efforts to encourage and promote good character among men, women and children.

OH!..If they censor curse words,lewdess and pornography....What will they censor next!.. is the battlecry of the liberal...So let me plainly say-that it is understood that while necessary and wholesome for governments to promote 'DecencY', when they overstep that boundary and impose ExtremE piety and strictness, they all too often suffer a tremendous backlash, as can be easily observed from the Prohibition period.

But knowing that evil and vices will continue to flourish in secret, despite all attempts to eradciate it, is no excuse for government to openly exhibit it or normalize it.
Opponents of censorship tend to argue for freedom of all expression (even pornographic)-with little or no concern for the effect this has on the morality of the citizens, not to mention the harm and violence it promotes toward women..oh did I mention that?..I guess I did.

We can no longer distinguish art from Trash..we can't even define 'vulgar'and obscenity has become the norm.

The crisis of ImmoralitY exists. Pornography breeds pathology. Images that practically make human copulation indistinguishable from animal copulation are inundating us. Usage of four letter words have become so commonplace, we have almost forgotten why they were brandished to begin with.

In the name of CivilizatioN,I will defend Censorship with all its inherent complications.

Who is it who has undertaken the defense of obscenity?