We are fortunate to live in a country that has many rights, the most important of which is freedom of speech which provides a framework of protection over our remaining rights; however, all of our rights are under attack, starting with the First Amendment which is constantly under attack by censorship. The United States Constitution states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or restrict freedom of expression or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. » Censorship as defined by Wikipedia is "the suppression of speech or removal of communication material that may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or embarrassing." to government or media organizations, as determined by a censor. » Any statement or image can be considered offensive by anyone at any time, so censorship is an attack on our freedom of expression. No one can determine for someone else what is offensive or not. What we, as individuals, deem offensive to us, might be beautiful to someone else. Additionally, the definition provides for the suppression of speech considered embarrassing to the government. The Constitution guarantees us the right to free speech, specifically to prevent the government from suppressing our expression. Many argue that there are words, phrases, images and ideas that are so offensive that we must ask the government to pass laws to prevent these words, phrases, images and ideas from being spoken or discussed. . They would further argue that the enormity of the degree of offense justifies such censorship. There are certain types of speech that fall under this definition, but... in the middle of the newspaper... we trust what the newspaper says because the state runs the media. The Constitution states that “no law shall restrict our right to freedom of expression.” Therefore, all laws supporting censorship are unconstitutional and should be banned under the First Amendment. If we fail to ban censorship, we give up all our rights and cease to be free. Works Cited Merriam-Webster. Abridged. Retrieved May 24, 2010 from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abridgingWikipedia. Censorship. Retrieved May 24, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CensorshipWikipedia. Doctrine of fairness. Retrieved May 24, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairness_DoctrineWikipedia. Main article: United States Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights (Amendments 1 to 10) Retrieved May 24, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution