Censorship

Does censorship really protect society? Or is it just another convenient way for the government to conceal information that may effect society's thought on the matter? Take for example the Vietnam war, with all the media censorship being carried out, the citizens at home were mainly informed of victories and less about the tragedies and amount of soldiers who perished, leaving society with patriotic views about the war (the syringe effect). Because of all this censorship, the American society was, in other words, "blinded" into thinking that they were winning the war with almost no loses of lives, and when Pearl Harbour was hit, the citizens didn't understand how that was possible and only then started questioning the government and its objectives