The rationale for censorship is different for various types of information censored:
- Moral censorship is the removal of materials that are obsceneObscenityAn obscenity is any statement or act which strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time, is a profanity, or is otherwise taboo, indecent, abhorrent, or disgusting, or is especially inauspicious...
or otherwise considered morally questionable.
"Assassination is the extreme form of censorship."
"Censorship ends in logical completeness when nobody is allowed to read any books except the books that nobody reads."
"All censorships exist to prevent anyone from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions. All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently the first condition of progress is the removal of censorship."
"Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself."
"The Internet treats censorship as a defect and routes around it."
"If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all."
"Don't join the book burners. Don't think you are going to conceal thoughts by concealing evidence that they ever existed."