Essay on Is Censorship Unconstitutional?

Issues of censorship in public schools are contests between the exercise of discretion and the exercise of a Constitutional right. The law

The word censorship is from the Latin word root of censere, which means to give an opinion or expression to be judged upon. Censorship is the restriction of certain material, and due to its expression it is seen offensive to someone else. The origin of expression of censorship can be tracked back to the Roman Empire when Roman officials assessed the conduct and attitudes of other Roman citizens. The Roman government viewed that in order to have a strong government, the behavior and conduct of the peopled had to be changed according to what they thought was correct. Censorship continued to be a controversy over time. It remained a controversy over time, through many empires, the age of Enlightenment, World War II, and even today. As censorship progressed through the ages it still continues today. Today, censorship occurs at schools. It occurs in libraries, classrooms, and even in student publications. Even though censorship can occur to a certain extent at schools, students’ First Amendment rights are still protected at school. The First Amendment protects freedom of expression, speech, press, religion, and assembly. Students are allowed to express themselves freely at school as long as they do not affect the education and as long as it is not an activity supported by the school system.

Piracy has become a major issue in the United States. For every motion picture that has been featured in theaters also has been pirated onto the Internet the next day, and for every new musical album that is released, yet there is a free torrent file of the album within the same hour. Even though these online pirates steal music and movies from other companies and make a drastic profit, yet these “rogue” websites receive 53 billions visits a year from across the globe according to Creative America. The persistence of the thieves that break copyright laws of the productions has lead the entertainment business to place a definitive complaint to the U.S. government of the constant notion of piracy. While the notion of piracy was not left

Censorship is very important in maintaining government authority which helps in stabilizing the society. The society enjoys freedoms, rights and privileges due to the stability of the ruling body. Without this stability, the society would lapse in to a condition of scenery where the lives would be solitary, poor, and brutal and short as put by Thomas Hobbes (Merryman & Elsen 564). The stability of the government and society is always assumed to exist without understanding the causes of this stability. The exposure of the social upheavals poses a great threat to destabilizing the government through free speeches from the opposition and parties. Since the criminalization of homosexuality in some African states, there have been free speeches that have posed threats to the individual government from the west that require to be concealed before being released to the public because they may spark hatred and distrust. Some of the expressions which are offensive attack the traditional values of the society and are considered harmful (Caso 13). Censorship helps to protect these values from attack.

Censorship is a concept with several different meanings. To each individual censorship has its own meaning. Is it a violation of our rights or is it a protection for our well being? Censorship in the generic sense refers to the suppression of information, ideas, or opinions. It occurs in all forms of communication from technological media to print media. Each society, culture, or individual's belief is violated by the codes of censorship that our society instills.

Censorship has evolved over time in America, from TV, books, and even the internet. America has prohibited specific things from citizen’s beliefs. The role that censorship plays in America is taken from personal beliefs, such as voting for certain things to be banned from books, TV, internet, and articles. This allows and denies things that are used for public use, due to personal preferences on things that are appropriate and inappropriate for public users.

While many believe censorship to be a necessity in certain contexts, the idea of censorship is at fault in its attempt to control and stop the advance knowledge of the world today.There is fear of

Censorship within the United States is not only an immoral and "big-brotherly" practice, but also an insult to each and every one of those who call themselves US citizens. Every day, censors attempt to sanitize TV, radio, music, print, and even the Internet. In their infinite wisdom, they deem what should and should not be viewed by John Q. Public. Censors succeed in suppressing our free spirits and restraining our thoughts in virtually every medium.

A multitude of countries and organizations use censorship for various reasons. However something they all have in common is the one providing the censored material does not want the reader or viewer to know something, whether that be the true state of a country or the real history of a matter. Censorship is a constant tug-a-war between two sides for the truth over a subject. This form of restriction can be observed from the early 1900’s to today’s modern times, and can also be seen worldwide in countries that have little to nothing in common.

Censorship dates all the way back to 443 BC in ancient Rome with the Office of Censor. In that time this was an office of great repute, the Office of Censor was charged with the shaping of the character of the people. Thus it was considered to be an honorable task, since then the connotation of the word and such an office has changed greatly. Today censorship is the practice of officially examining books, movies, etc. and suppressing “unacceptable parts” based on whoever is defining “unacceptable.” Unacceptable has been considered to be a wide range of concepts from ideas to sexually explicit content. Historically in the USSR most leaders used censorship in every form as a means of suppressing whatever or whoever was perceived as a

For example, the novel Of Mice and Men has been banned, because of racism and profanity. This can be seen when the characters in the book refer to the only African-American ranch hand as a “stable buck” or refer to him using the n-word (Steinbeck, J/ Of Mice and Men/ 1937). It is understandable to want to keep children protected, and to not repeat the behaviors of the characters in the book, but it is the ugly truth. It is an accurate depiction of the 1930’s and Great Depression era. In Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Sexual Grounds, Author Dawn Sova gives a brief overview of the book, From Here to Eternity. She said that it is about “American soldiers stationed in Hawaii in WWII,” and that it has been banned for its vibrant descriptions of when the soldiers took “trips to bars, to meet with women so they could temporarily quell their loneliness” (Sova, D,B/Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Sexual Grounds/ 1998). This is another example that illustrates the type of uncomfortable history that people may want to suppress, but it’s accurate historical fact and one of many stories about what took place during WWII. To censor this is wrong because others should have the right to learn from the

Censorship has been a touchy topic over the past few years. Everyone has their own opinion on the topic, but the fact is censorship is way more damaging than people may notice. First off, the definition of censorship is to restrain, block, and censor ideas and information that some may find offensive. The basic definition of censorship completely violates the First Amendment. We, as Americans, have the right to Freedom of Speech. Censorship blocks that by blocking anything some may find offensive. It’s not fair because they’re blocking out how people feel/think just because someone found it “offensive” or wrong. It completely contradicts the First Amendment. People have the right to know about the world and what’s happening. Keeping the

Censorship based on religion views sexual works as attacks on the religious faith itself. Also, anti-religious works are damaging to the religious beliefs. Themes that are viewed as communistic, un-American, or ungodly would be censored based on their changes in the political structure. Obscenity is used by these censors to cover up the objections on political groups and beliefs. Lastly, minority rights censors often want their own special group values recognized. This category is mainly censored by ethnic minorities and women who are struggling against established stereotypes that have been the norm for a long time.

Today, censorship is in place in more ways than you can imagine. As mentioned previously, movies, music, television, and more are filtered one way or another. Some people go to such lengths as illegal means of spreading materials deemed inappropriate for a certain viewing audience.

The Constitution guarantees us the right to Freedom of Speech. Nowhere in the First Amendment does it state that we have the right to freedom of speech as long as everyone agrees with us and likes what we say. Quite the contrary, it states that “Congress shall pass no laws abridging our right to freedom of speech.” Censorship does exactly that, severs away our right to freedom of speech. Censorship is Government telling us what we are to approve of and disapprove of. It is Government abridging our right to freedom of speech.