In this day and age, "intellectual freedom" is a buzz phrase.  Everybody totes it, but nobody really explains what it means.

Recently, I've read the book Anthem by Ayn Rand.  In it, society is ruled by collectivism, which states that everyone should be the same as the next person, and that every citizen's goal should be to only care about his fellow man.  There is no room for personal worth or even knowledge.  Books have been done away with, as they allow people to become "smarter" than others - and this is not acceptable.

Intellectual freedom is what has died in the world of Anthem.  It can simply be defined as the ability to find any information on any subject you which to learn more about.  It is freedom of information and freedom of speech.  Basically, it is the right of every human being.

Sadly, however, this right is being denied many people in our modern world.  Often, because a person or a government doesn't think it is "right" for an individual to access information or participate in discussion about a certain topic, intellectual freedom is restrained.  This is happening in Pakistan, Egypt, and China among others as I write.  Pakistan has banned access to Facebook and YouTube, Egypt has shut down the internet, and China censors what its citizens can view.  While this may not seem like a "big deal", it is.  One of the greatest human capacities is the ability to learn.  When information is restricted, this hinders learning, advancement, and  also denies one of the most inherent rights we have as human beings.

Remember, the worst thing about censorship is that ** ********* ********.