The most obvious problem of censorship is that it comes in the way of freedom of expression and information as well as free and meaningful debate. It is undoubtedly wrong to file cases against the comic Vir Das because of his declamation at the Kennedy Centre, as is the escalating persecution of many comics and artistes in recent years.

But censorship has another, more insidious problem. Opposing censorship of a work often becomes conflated with supporting the work itself. Censorship provides work a halo of political significance. Art becomes reduced to being repeated illustrations of pre-existing political positions, rather than offering new positions and perspectives from which to intuitively understand life and reality. Works then fall on one side or other of a divide, thus maintaining the polarisation of opinions rather than informing or deepening opinions and understandings.