Laughing at Censorship

Abstract

Can a speech restriction ever be inherently good? Can we ever justify censorship as intrinsically beneficial, and not simply a justifiable means of protecting something more important than free expression? For those steeped in American law and culture, these questions may seem almost heretical. But they deserve exploring, particularly given the prevalence and variety of censorship in the United States and elsewhere in the world. Happily, a context exists for exploring the questions that is less threatening and more entertaining than totalitarian thought control. The context is humor: jokes, cartoons, vignettes, and other expressions that make us laugh.