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Political censorship involves a government preventing information from reaching its citizens. Perhaps the best-known contemporary example of this is China's censorship of the [[Google]] search engine, known as the "Golden Shield Project", which prevents Google from displaying search results of some human rights websites,  websites promoting Tibetan independence, references to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, and others. A famous example in fiction is George Orwell's novel ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', in which the main character works as a civil servant in the department responsible for altering or destroying historical information which the government wishes to keep secret. The rationale behind political censorship is that the political party in power can protect itself from revolution if the public is kept uninformed.  

Political censorship involves a government preventing information from reaching its citizens. Perhaps the best-known contemporary example of this is China's censorship of the [[Google]] search engine, known as the "Golden Shield Project", which prevents Google from displaying search results of some human rights websites,  websites promoting Tibetan independence, references to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, and others. A famous example in fiction is George Orwell's novel ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', in which the main character works as a civil servant in the department responsible for altering or destroying historical information which the government wishes to keep secret. The rationale behind political censorship is that the political party in power can protect itself from revolution if the public is kept uninformed.  

Ironically, liberals and leftists have also at times advocated against censorship, although strictly so they can ensure a revolution that brings themselves and their left-wing politics into power. Examples include the communist [[George Bernard Shaw]], who had advocated the removal of censorship specifically to ensure "progress" (ie, communism) can be brought into the UK in his preface to "Mrs. Warren's Profession".<ref name="The Author's Apology" /> Similarly, the Philosophes such as Voltaire and Diderot have demanded for absolute freedom of speech specifically to push their anti-Christian agenda on the masses, which ultimately resulted in the anti-Christian nature of the French Revolution,<ref>http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05418a.htm</ref><ref>http://myemail.constantcontact.com/JAN--11---Plot-to-destroy-Christianity-revealed-by-Yale-President-Timothy-Dwight.html?soid=1108762609255&aid=CbibQMZY5JY</ref> and the Free Speech movement during the 1950s tried to allow the Communists unrestrained freedom of speech as well specifically to silence criticism against the Communist movement.

Ironically, liberals and leftists have also at times advocated against censorship, although strictly so they can ensure a revolution that brings themselves and their left-wing politics into power. Examples include the communist [[George Bernard Shaw]], who had advocated the removal of censorship specifically to ensure "progress" (ie, communism) can be brought into the UK in his preface to "Mrs. Warren's Profession".<ref name="The Author's Apology" /> Similarly, the Philosophes such as Voltaire and Diderot have demanded for absolute freedom of speech specifically to push their anti-Christian agenda on the masses, which ultimately resulted in the anti-Christian nature of the French Revolution,<ref>http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05418a.htm</ref><ref>http://myemail.constantcontact.com/JAN--11---Plot-to-destroy-Christianity-revealed-by-Yale-President-Timothy-Dwight.html?soid=1108762609255&aid=CbibQMZY5JY</ref> and the Free Speech movement in 1964 tried to allow the Communists unrestrained freedom of speech as well specifically to silence criticism against the Communist movement.

The term "censorship" derives from ''censor'', the title of the Roman official who conducted the census and supervised public morality.

The term "censorship" derives from ''censor'', the title of the Roman official who conducted the census and supervised public morality.