Every structured society has suffered from some form of censorship of literature, art, or entertainment. Plato, the famous Greek philosopher, was the first to record a method of censorship in a democratic society. In his Republic one of the first guidelines that Plato designates is that "The first thing will be to establish a censorship on the writers of fiction, and let the censors receive every story of fiction that is good, and reject the bad; and we will desire mothers and nurses to tell their children only those authorized." (Semtu II) This was a model intended to maintain the moral chastity of subsequent generations, but it also served to control the flow of information into the public. In theory, censorship can serve the purpose of moral filtering of a society. In practice, however, censorship is essentially about hiding or altering the truth. Whatever the original intention, when the truth is hindered, the freedom of the author of the censored work as well as that of the recipient is jeopardized. Human dignity includes freedom and the right to make informed decisions. If all life is sacred and all human beings are to be valued, then they also have the inherent right to make informed, truth-based choices. Historically, censorship has been a tool used by dictators and oppressors to stifle advocates for change. This has sparked concern among human rights and civil rights activists. Without truth and without the possibility of expression, oppressed groups have consistently remained so. In Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler burned the works of Jewish authors and artists. Discounting the contributions of Jews to German society allowed non-Jewish citizens to easily believe the propaganda. (Hutchinson 32) The use of censorship is… middle of paper… them to understand boundaries, and parents who set those boundaries show that they respect the freedoms of families while protecting children. As in all things, censorship should be taken in moderation. Works Cited Donelson, Kenneth L., and Alleen Pace. Nilsen. Literature for today's youth. New York: Longman, 1997. web. November 17, 2011.Hagstrom, Rev. Aurelie. "The Catholic Church and censorship". THE COMMUNITY 23.2 (2001): 4-10. Analytical teaching. Viterbo University, 23 April 2001. Web. 17 November 2011. Hutchinson, Allan C. and Klaus Petersen. Interpreting censorship in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto, 1999. Premier Academic Research. Network. November 17, 2011.Semtu, Cara. "Cultural Influence of Plato's Republic: The Encyclopedia of Popular Art and Culture." Home Page: The Encyclopedia of Popular Art and Culture. 06 October 2007. Web. 17 November. 2011.