Citizenship is a mode of certification conferred by a geographic and political authority whereby a prescribed range of rights and obligations are established for a member individual. In the normal course of events this condition is acquired at birth by osmosis and as a consequence, like good health, held in no great esteem until such time as it is lost or in question. To those aliens wishing to become included within the geographic authority of the political and economic structure, it is a matter of being prepared to be subjected to the local constraints of laws and conventions and having such preparedness recorded officially by the authority.

The elements of such a certification consist of a weighted array of taxation and legal constraint obligations offset by a range of protection processes, certain financial benefits...and in the case of a supposed democracy...voting rights. All societies evolve an immune system of legislation and policing which attempts to control intrusions deemed to be threatening to its survival. The external physical threats of invasion are planned for by whatever military ingenuity is able to be implemented and whatever treaty arrangements can be entered into with neighbouring states. Internal threats are allowed for by a range of legislation and retribution mechanisms continually modified by the authorities as any new and changing menace is perceived to become evident. As well as a core set of rules relating to the protection of certain lives and property there is always implemented an extensive class of proscriptions against various forms of speech and promulgation of ideas and beliefs. One cannot incite violence or vandalism against the state or its citizens. One cannot lie to an investigating court or libel celebrities or make claims for products which are not verifiable. One cannot persuade or induce to defraud important people or pervert the vulnerable youth with ideas of unacceptable sex, violence or religion. One cannot blaspheme or use obscene language or utter treasonable words against the incumbent authority. One cannot promote or encourage out of favour religious, political or cult groupings. One certainly cannot disseminate information to foreign states about internal security arrangements. In short, the oft extolled freedom of speech is severely constrained in all societies under an umbrella authority.

A so-called democracy differs from various other governance forms in that a somewhat reluctant amnesty is honoured by the group in power of not punishing any utterings or promulgations about what is not currently politically fashionable and correct. For the most part, any contravention of free speech limitations is a reaction and retribution response by the policing system after the event but some ideas and beliefs appear so threatening to a paranoid inclined authority that a more proactive censorship is invoked as a means of constraining the promulgation of infection. This censorship process assumes an entire gamut of variations from the total imposed blackout of information thru to the deliberate and indifferent bias of journalistic neglect.