Dave you were referring to the directions the thread was going. I was addressing the reasons for this quibbling and fence sitting here, rather than the prevention of the play.

You could perhaps say that the mob took the action it did - as it was clear that there was going to be any official censor who was going to get rid of the bits they did not like?

The general point is that if you always accept the principle of the right of others to express their view - you never need to worry about the who, what and why of censorship.

If on the other hand, you think that the right of others to express their view should be rightly prevented sometimes - you then have all the resulting arguments and problems that come with this censorship.

I also consider that always sticking to one's principles is less cause for concern than having none at all or being prepared to sacrifice those that you claim to hold - at the first sign of any difficulty being presented.