Is Censorship Worth Worrying About?

Reading Frank Rich's column in the Times today made me thing whether censorship is something that we need to be overly worried about? On some level of course we should always be vigilant against censorship. But how likely is it that legislators like Bill First, Ted Stevens, and James Sensenbrenner will be able to legislate censorship. Rich seems to believe it's unlikely as discusses how the Right is overplaying its hand. I have to believe that this is true. After all, Republicans like their trashy, sexually oriented TV as much as Democrats do and while they may loathe the Daily Show, if there were a right-leaning Jon Stewart they would embrace him as they might a long-lost son. That will never happen because conservatives are almost never funny, but that's another issue.

I am slightly concerned though that this push for censorship will have more effects that it deserves. Part of this has to do with legislative redistricting. The Republicans in the House don't have to have a majority of the nation's support to get legislation passed. They simply have to have the majority of legislative districts. They could, and increasingly are, using technology to determine where to draw lines for them to win consistent victories. With enough 53-47 victories, a lot of people well to the right of the American public at large can gain power, as we see today. Also of concern is self-censorship as television executives, college administrators, and publishers could, and are, trying not to draw attention to themselves. Thus the Right wins through bullying. Finally, there are millions of Americans who actively do want censorship and they vote. That kind of movement can make a real difference in American life, something we are already seeing.

Ultimately though, even if the Republicans were to pass some kind of censorship bill, it would take one highly publicized trial to blow it all up. Jon Stewart getting prosecuted for obscenity would be a classic moment in American history. But even before this would happen, if Desperate Housewives were cancelled and Americans found out that the Republicans were directly responsible, what would the backlash be? I have to think it would be significant and immediate.