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According to extreme liberals, there should be no censorship whatsoever in a democratic society. These liberals fear that if freedom of speech and artistic expression are restricted to some degree some people may attempt to use these limits for political reasons. Despite this fear of abusing censorship most Western countries have drawn the line at complete freedom of speech .
First of all, censorship is indispensable in order to defend the rights of some minorities. In Germany, for instance, it is forbidden to express publicly opinions which aim at defaming Jews. In many countries it is condemned to disdain publicly homosexuals. A few years ago, in a TV program, one of the Polish government officials called homosexuals perverts and blamed them for the spread of AIDS. As a result, this intolerant minister was thrown out of the government. Minorities should be protected by the law because they are too weak to defend themselves. Especially, people in the limelight ought not to be allowed to openly express intolerant attitudes towards people of other race, religion or sexual orientation. Ordinary people very often perceive these politicians, state figures and actors as examples to follow. Therefore, famous people should be careful in expressing their points of view because otherwise their admirers may think that Jews, Blacks, gays are really worse human beings. Such a belief could lead to racial tensions and even to a tragedy akin to Holocaust. After all, Hitler was allowed to state his antisemitic ideas freely and after some time the bulk of Germans started to agree with him .
Pornography is another area of "human expression" which should be restricted to some extent. Nobody ought to be exposed, and in this way forced to see pornographic magazines and watch pornographic movies. That is why, obscene literature must not be displayed, in ordinary bookshops, in such a way that it presents its frequently indecent covers. Such printed matter should be legally sold but not everybody wants to be exposed to it on a daily basis - everytime one buys a newspaper. Similarly, the exposition to pornographic films must be limited. Such films should be shown only very late at night in order to prevent children from watching them. Obviously, this limitation does not entirely protect children against these movies but at least diminishes the access to them. For children such primitive demonstration of human bodily functions may only distort their vision of love and sex .
Violence on TV and in the movies also should be subject to some degree of censorship. The influx of the movies which openly promote evil and seem to persuade viewers to break the law has been increasing recently. According to some scientists, especially children who are exposed to violence on the screen, are inclined to believe in what they see indiscriminately. Children are also very often not able to distinguish between reality and fiction. Massacres, kidnappings, bloodsheds become an everyday phenomenon for them. They start to perceive evil as something normal and acceptable. The increase in the crime rate may constitute one of the outcomes of such permissive attitudes toward offense .
In spite of the fact that censorship is often regarded as a tool used by communists to get rid of their political opponents, even in democracy some spheres of life should be protected by it. Societies ought to be able to foresee the consequences of unrestricted freedom of speech and artistic expression. Otherwise, one day, they may wake up in a very unhappy country .
