as raised by the ultra culture film blog

Why is it ok for the authorities to censor a film and release a cut version because they deem the original too much or that it may cause offence? Why do we accept this censorship in cinema? Especially when the film in question is still passed as an 18 after the cuts have been made.

If the next Jonathan Franzen book had pages cut out by the authorities before it made it to Waterstones would people just accept that or would there be complaints?