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Censorship and its effects on society
Negative effects of censorship on society
Censorship and its effects on society
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Is Censorship necessary?
“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear." -- Harry S Truman
Thesis: Although some people believe that censorship is adequate to select what things does the society will be good and can live around it while others believe that there should be no censorship because it takes away your right of expression of freedom.
Definition of obscenity: the state or quality of being obscene; obscene behavior, language, or images.
Definition of Censorship: the practice of officially examining books, movies, etc., and suppressing unacceptable parts.
Censorship in the media:
Every time we look at a program either a newsletter or hear a talk show enclosing political, social or something affecting a certain group of elite people we see censorship issues, as these programs often are banned for many reasons such as: any partner or channel or media owner, someone with influence, threats, etc. That's why most of the time we see in the media the opinions of those who have more influence and power.
The media censorship appears in various forms and in almost all countries; few have legal systems that guarantee absolute freedom of the media.
The most effective way to ensure the freedom of the media system is one in which the media have the ability to make careful decisions alone.
The "self-censorship"
Self-censorship is perhaps what is most ominous in these cases, journalists and editors do not keep track of notes that could affect business interests, the newspaper owners or their relative...
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...d Tracey M. DiLascio. "Point: Censorship Undermines Democracy." Points of View: Censorship & Democracy. N.p.: Sally Driscoll, 2013. 2. Web. 2 Feb. 2014.
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Witherbee, Amy, and Ames C. Cushman. "Driscoll, Sally, and Tracey M. DiLascio. "Point: Censorship Undermines Democracy." Points of View: Censorship & Democracy. N.p.: Sally Driscoll, 2013. 2. Web. 2 Feb. 2014.
Censorship, defined as the act of destroying, suppressing or withholding information otherwise intended for the public, is detrimental to the community in a number of ways and has no place in a democratic society. Firstly, it is detrimental to the progression of social ethics, morals and ideals and limits diversity in society while prolonging ignorance. Secondly, it is a breach of freedom of expression, free speech and the free press. It will be demonstrated in this essay that censorship does happen in Australia, that it is not beneficial to society, and that it should be replaced with a system of management where members of the public will always have a choice as to whether or not they can view material intended for the public. Censorship in Australia comes about in a few ways.
The American Association of School Administrators (AASA) defines censorship as: “The removal, suppression, or restricted circulation of literary, artistic, or educational materials… of images, ideas, and information…on the grounds that these are morally or otherwise objectionable in light of standards applied by the censor” (Miner 1998). In schools there are three types of censorship, one type is a “parent who doesn’t want their child to read a particular book. Another is a parent, teacher, administrator, or school board member who argues that no one in the class, or school should read the book in dispute. Lastly, there is censorship that involves someone who is part of an organized campaign, whether of a local or national group, and who goes in ready for a fight and wants to make a broader political point” (Miner 1998). Although there are many others ways that a piece of literature could get censored, most censored works are asked to be removed from classrooms and school libraries.
But the new landscape of ideas and their control leaves many people queasy and uneasy about media, morality, and responsibility. If censorship is wrong and impossible, how then to address the issue of people and companies that use media irresponsibly?
What is censorship? An encyclopedia defines censorship as "the control of what people may say or hear, write or read, or see or do1." There are many reasons why people censor entertainment such as literature and music. Many governments or groups try to preserve their standards of morality by preventing people from learning about or following other standards2, commonly found in the two previously mentioned mediums. There are different ways to censor things. It can be on a local level, such as libraries refusing to carry a controversial book. It can also be on an entirely larger scale. In the 1770’s, French author Beaumarchais had two of his plays, The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro, banned by King Louis XVI.2 Back then, these plays were considered outrageous and sometimes blasphemous. To fully understand how our system of censorship works today, we have to look into history to see how censorship got started.
Censorship has been a big part of the world’s history and especially America’s history. One of the most quoted amendments to the United States constitution is the first amendment; “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ...” This amendment guaranteeing free speech, press, and religion is still heavily debated and contested today. Censorship, as a challenge to free speech and press has been allowed many times and has been heavily debated itself. Many people censor for many different reasons and in many different forms. Censorship itself is not always a bad thing and has in some cases been used for protection of the general population.
Driscoll, SallyDiLascio, Tracey M. "Point: Censorship Undermines Democracy." Points Of View: Censorship & Democracy (2013): 2. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
This article emphasizes the point that censors go too far when they attempt to not only ban a book for their own children but want to remove it altogether from a school library, so that other students cannot read it.
Censorship is detrimental to society. People can’t learn from their mistakes if we hide them. People can’t decide the best option if we say there are no options. People can’t understand each other if they don’t know what anyone is thinking. People can’t mature when they are “protected” from mean words. People can’t be themselves when they are being censored.
governments. Censorship is closely tied in as a concept with freedom of speech and other forms
Ever wondered the reason behind racial discrimination, sexual discrimination, children committing crime or violence? The main reason is that censorship is not properly imposed or there is a need of censorship in the society. Censorship is the suppression of ideas and information that certain people, individual, groups or government officials find it objectionable, offensive or dangerous on others. There are varieties of other definitions but all have in common the concept of withholding information and/or resources from those who seek it. Hence censorship is essential in society to eliminate discrimination on basis of race and sex, protect children, maintain stability and restore what censor sees as lost moral values. Censorship occurs when expressive materials like books, magazines, movies, videos, music or work of art are restricted to particular audiences based on their age or other characteristics. (http://www.ala.org/oif/intellectualfreedeomandcensorship.html)
Censorship according to the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press can be defined as, “To remove anything offensive from books, films, etc., or to remove parts considered unsuitable from private letters, especially ones sent during war or from a prison”(Cambridge Dictionary). Censorship in the news and in the media takes many forms in todays fast paced world. Even with the slightly leak in information or even misleading information could cause todays world to be turned on its head and can cause people to interpret the issue in many ways which could have numerous implications. This is why such information is filtered by some governments around the world before it is aired or printed. There are countless arguments as to why or why not information should be censored as each individual is entitled to their own opinion. Censorship impacts people ability to choose freely as it is controls ideas and thoughts and thus influences their freedom of expression or their to express their views on issues, ideologies or even practice their faith.
The movies they watch, the music they listen to, and the games they play have all first been screened through different rating systems to find anything in them that can be interpreted as “obscene”. Once someone finds something, the creator of the work has no choice but to delete, edit, and basically censor the offending portion, otherwise it never gets to see the light of public consumption. Censorship has been used for all different kinds of work, for all different kinds of reasons. The many examples of album covers provided at TabooTunes show different types of covers deemed “inappropriate”, and how drastically the artists had to alter the image in order to make it “friendlier” and “more appropriate” (“Taboo Tunes Gallery - Music Censorship").... ...
Since the foundation of the United States after a harsh split from Britain, almost 200 years later, an issue that could claim the founding grounds for the country is now being challenged by educators, high-ranking officials, and other countries. Though it is being challenged, many libertarians, democrats, and free-speech thinkers hold the claim that censorship violates our so-called unalienable rights, as it has been proven throughout many court cases. Censorship in the United States is detrimental because it has drastically and negatively altered many significant events. Censorship allows governments more control of society than they already have, slowly progressing governments utilizing censorship to a dictatorship. Often times, this censorship can lead to immense rebellions.
Censorship has been around since B.C. times and originated in Rome. Censorship was enforced to protect our society by not allowing explicit content to be viewed in the media. It also protects child pornography and secret government information leaks. The problem is in some cases are hard to determine on what should be censored because even though something might be explicit content it portrays the point the publisher is trying to make. On the flip some people believe that these extreme crime scenes seen in media have caused people to commit these crimes in real life. Although the article, Broadcast Decency Rules delivers a somewhat convincing and effective argument, I disagree that the media should be censored.
In the document, Media transformation, Ownership and Diversity, the ANC criticises the South African media’s self-regulatory model. The fact that the media are first and foremost corporations is incredibly important. Following the recent decline in print media consumption, journalistic standards have dropped following budget cuts by the corporations. (Duncan, 2014, p. 170) Because of the former self-regulatory model, the ANC were concerned that journalists would not call each other out on lapses of ethical conduct.