In many totalitarian style regimes, fear of the people knowing the truth is a motivating factor behind censorship. North Korean style censorship is a good example. In North Korea there is a successful attempt to control every form of media to which the people could be exposed. This allows the people to be programmed in exactly the manner that the regime deems most advantageous. Just as a communist economy seeks to eliminate competition from the marketplace, censorship in this context seeks to eliminate the competition of ideas. For many North Koreans the vicious lies that the government presents as truth are considered the truth because the people of North Korea have no alternative source of information with which to compare facts or allegations of facts. The United States of America is presented to the people of North Korea as an aggressive, imperialistic, immoral regime rife with rowdyism and flunkeyism. The people of North Korea are legally barred from accessing any foreign news sources to determine if this is an accurate assessment of the USA.

Discovering and accepting opposing views is a second fear that leads to censorship. Often the ruling elites know that their particular viewpoint is vapid and bankrupt or that it is detrimental to certain segments of society. Eliminating an opposing view can prolong the elite's leadership while keeping the people ignorant of an alternative viewpoint or the future effects of a policy or viewpoint. The government of Zimbabwe, headed by Robert Mugabe, has repeatedly shut down The Daily News, a newspaper with over 100,000 readers, because it was the largest voice of criticism to his administration and its policies.

Regardless of one's position, criticism and opposing opinions can only strengthen an argument or position or expose its weaknesses. If the criticism is not valid or mere political sniping, then the original viewpoint is strengthened. If it is a weak position, criticism will expose its shortcomings. In either case, the exchange of ideas and an equally accessible forum for those ideas is one of the hallmarks of freedom and in the end can only serve to strengthen the cause of freedom. Allowing multiple viewpoints and allowing individuals to decide what is best for them ultimately preserves freedom.

Fear of immorality is the excuse that is used most often and is given the most credence by proponents of censorship. In many Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia, the ruling elites believe they are providing a public service or protecting their citizens by censoring or banning materials that they decide are immoral or objectionable. In a free society individuals are responsible for deciding what material is suitable for viewing by themselves or their children, if their children are not yet mature or knowledgeable enough to make those judgments for themselves. Individual morality is decided by individuals and some of the worst catastrophes of legislation, judicial activism, and human rights abuses have occurred because of a particular government's attempt to decide what is or isn't moral. Saudi Arabia, in attempting to impose the morality of the ruling elites on all individuals in Saudi Arabia, currently bans any Christian literature, worship or symbolism from its society. Individuals should be free to choose.

"Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it." - George Bernard Shaw

Arguably, the only form of censorship any government should engage in is banning material that requires harm or death to individuals in order to create the material, such as child pornography, rape pornography, or "snuff" films. These sorts of materials do not simulate the acts; they actually perform the acts.

"The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or to impede their efforts to obtain it." - John Stuart Mill

In the final analysis, censorship itself is immoral. An organization or government making choices for people denies the liberty of the individual. An individual should be permitted to create material and other individuals should be free to choose or not choose to view the material. Again, as Sir Winston said, "Trust the people."