Musings on Life, Habits and Censorship

I’ve been racking my brain for a way to write about censorship ever since Emily announced it as the theme for her (now-defunct) Brave Little Blogger Contest. It’s not that I don’t have opinions about the matter. It’s that I couldn’t nail down an aspect of it to tackle in writing. Until tonight, that is.

It occurred to me as I was sitting here thinking about the uncomfortable, painful, and otherwise upsetting stuff going on in my life right now that I’ve been censoring myself in what I say and do. Very heavily, in fact, in an effort to keep from making said uncomfortable, painful, and upsetting stuff even worse.

For example, when discussing certain “hot” issues related to the situation, I’m carefully choosing my words, tone, and even times of day, aiming to be as least inflammatory as possible for all parties involved. I’m doing this in spite of my unruly emotions and true thoughts on the matter (which, incidentally, frequently rival those portrayed on almost any TV show you care to name). As I started to explore this notion of self-censorship a little further, I realized that we’re taught from our earliest ages to censor ourselves at all times.

“Uh, what? Are you out of your mind?”

No, I’m not out of my mind. Or no further out of it than usual 😉 

Go beyond the knee-jerk reaction and think it through. Maybe these phrases ring a bell: “Mind your manners.” “You can’t say that.” “Be polite.” “No running or jumping.” “Hide what you’re feeling so others can’t use it against you.” “Keep all public displays of affection clean and tasteful.”

Sound familiar? They’re all things we’re taught and constantly reminded to do from birth until death, couched as instructions for proper behavior within society—and every last one of them is censorship masquerading as polite behavior. They become deeply ingrained habits. Most of us don’t even realize we’re practicing a subtle form of censorship when we continue that behavior day after day.

I’m not saying I don’t understand the reasons this type of censorship is in use. I do, and in large part agree that we need some filters to keep us coexisting at least semi-peacefully. Let’s face it. Without these “rules for polite society,” we’d probably all be dead, and the cockroaches would be ruling the planet since we humans don’t play well with each other.

Other interesting questions arise from that train of thought. How much censorship is too much? Who decides? And what if we disagree?

Makes you think, doesn’t it?