who will censor the censors?

Julian Sanchez (via Kevin Drum) points us to this sad-but-amusing story from North Carolina.

The department recently released to News & Observer staff writer Kristin Collins its files on Ag-Mart, the Florida-based tomato grower that last year incurred the N.C. Department of Agriculture's largest-ever fine for breaking pesticide rules.

The Labor Department blacked out so much information that its files were nearly unintelligible.

Included was a copy of a 2003 News & Observer story, written by Collins herself and another reporter, in which words or phrases were blacked out in 67 places [emphasis added].

It reminds me of a short story (anthologized, sophomores sometimes read it) by Luisa Valenzuela titled "The Censors."

Living in a completely repressive society, the protagonist, Juan, has written a potentially incriminating letter to his lover, Mariana. Juan fears what the censors will do with it.

He knows that they examine, sniff, feel, and read between the lines of each and every letter, and check its tiniest comma and most accidental stain. He knows that all letters pass from hand to hand and go through all sorts of tests in the huge censorship offices and that, in the end, very few continue on their way. Usually it takes months, even years, if there aren't any snags; all this time the freedom, maybe even the life, of both sender and receiver is in jeopardy.

In order to stop the epistle from falling into their hands, Juan concocts "a consoling but unoriginal idea." He'll become a censor.

Once ensconced in his job, though, Juan changes, eventually relishing his role, quickly climbing to the upper ranks, enjoying his "truly patriotic task, both self-denying and uplifting." The terrifyingly droll conclusion:

His basket for censored letters became the best fed as well as the most cunning basket in the whole Censorship Division. He was about to congratulate himself for having finally discovered his true mission, when his letter to Mariana reached his hands. Naturally, he censored it without regret. And just as naturally, he couldn't stop them from executing him the following morning, another victim of his devotion to his work.