Censorship and the Digital Razor
Censorship is a widely disliked concept throughout the modern world. What should be used to make sure the world is kept safe and clean for those who are not yet ready to experience certain things has transformed into a tool for manipulation and propaganda. Although it has been that way since Before Christ was even a thought. So many things can be altered now in this modern "digital age" that it has become hard to keep up with what's true and what's false. It has become so accustomed to not know the difference between facts and lies that people have begun to stop questioning their information and accept it as it comes to them, processed.
There have been many occurrences of wiping the slate clean and removing any evidence of what happened in the past. A cover up used by leaders and historical figures when they wanted the spotlight to shine its light on them.
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Munich, Germa...
Mussolini (left) and Hitler sent their armies to N...
Ray BradburyMore commonly it was used to push the spotlight away and turn it off completely. Damnatio memoriae is the Latin phrase that literally means "condemnation of memory" used in the sense of a judgment that a person mustn't be remembered. The practice of damnatio memoriae occurred commonly throughout history, specifically during times of rapid change. When Constantine became the leader of Rome, he completely removed any evidence of the Pagans and their beliefs and gods and replaced them with Christ and the Bible. Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 is much like the example with Adolf Hitler that Brian Trent's article uses. Very much like the book burnings in Berlin, the firefighters would burn any and all books they could find to keep the truth of the past out.
Although society can't hope to censor everything - at least...