Censor is what govt. does.
I always thought that the rules here were fairly liberal. I have seen implied vulgarities, blasphemous opinions, and some insulting remarks. I have yet to notice any censorship, but from the sound of this thread, I have missed something.
There should be more restrictions on government action than on private action, because we can choose to not deal with a private organization, but the government backs up its rules with the legal use of force (deadly, if necessary).
Censorship by the government should be viewed as illegal, immoral, fattening, and without any socially redeeming features.
Censorship by individuals, groups, non-government organizations should be pretty much allowed. If you do not like it, do not associate with the individual, group, whatever.
If those who run the VB Forum want to impose some rules and censor posts/threads which do not conform, I think they have the right to do so. If their rules upset me enough, I will not use their forum.
BTW: Common usage seems to apply censorship to all sorts of situations for which I would not use the term. A dictionary I consulted seems to agree with this usage.
I always considered censorship a term applied to certain actions of a government did, but apparently I have been wrong in this belief.
Big Business Vs Government
Guv
I see what you're saying but I think most of it relates to your (particular) political system.
Now, before I start, let me just say that our system (in the UK) is far from perfect but it seems to be progressing towards the American system and this worries me.
I think the problem is in the USA is that you don't have enough choice. You have a basic choice from two, almost identical (by the worlds standards) political parties. Their policies are so close that it hardly makes a difference who you vote for. You can't just vote for the party that offers to get rid of the Fortiture laws becasue they probably (just guessing here) both support it.
Americans rave on about how their country is the best in the world, the free-est and the most democratic. Whilst America is certainly the richest country in the world, it has some of the highest contrasts between rich and poor and amazing levels of crime. American television is more heavilly censored than British TV (I was told this by an American visitor I had), your laws of fortiture would never be acceptable here and you're only one step away from a dictatorship.
I say America is close to being a dictatorship, not because I think they're going to only have one party, but because your parties are so close (idologically) that it doesn't really matter who you vote for. No wonder you distrust the government when you can't replace them (with someone significantly different). Perhaps if the the american political system was reformed to encourage a greater range of parties then a measure of faith in the political system could be restored.
An I'm sorry if my distrust of big corporations conveys a lack of intelligence. These huge conglomorates that have a turnover bigger than many of the worlds economies have no public face. We only see a glimse of what they do, over what they have control over and who they own. It's only when you look into it and find out that, what you previously thought were many different brands of food stuff down at your local supermarket, are really all owned by the same company that give the illusion of choice.
Now, the USA with it's lack of culture may not mind the effects of the domination of these huge corporations (that bring cheap food, clothes etc.) but in Britian, the traditional way of life has been (predominately) swept aside to make way for big business. It has destroyed many peoples livelyhoods and culture. What choice do we have to walk away from the global corporations when they have already put most small, traditional companies out of business.
In the UK, we can change the government but we can't change who we buy our food from because they're all own by the same conglomerates.
