According to McGinn, Censorship is essential because it prevents certain misunderstandings in the society. Throughout the chapter, McGinn bases his rationale for censorship on three arguments. To begin with, his first argument on the rationale for censorship is because it averts the harmful influence of corrupt words and ideas that may corrupt children morally. According to the writer, the society must educate children with constructive ideas that bring out good moral qualities in them.
Secondly, the second censorship argument is that it advances the protection of societal morals. The author argues that there is a need to censor corrupt materials from various people in the society because the country and the society at large are dependent upon them (p, 86). Explicitly, he says that it is for the current and future leaders who offer direction for the society to follow.
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Lastly, his final argument is that censorship protects people from offensive words and conduct. According to McGinn, hate speech, desecration of religious symbols and pornography offends and therefore should be restricted. He argues that even though they do not directly corrupt the young society, the offense relayed by them is enough justification for censorship (p, 87).
Superficially, the above arguments have some appeal: people get offended by various things every day. The problem, nonetheless, a simple formula of censorship cannot just be applied to everything that hurts someone. There are variable grades of offense, and people find diverse things offensive. Therefore, it is unreasonable to censor an impression just because it upsets a select group of people. There is a need for some standard to differentiate those differences if the idea of offense can play any significant role in the censorship debate.
Reference
McGinn, C. (2000). Moral literacy, or, How to do the right thing . Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. (pp. 80-93)
