The Importance Of Censorship

Censorship is the suppression of any books, films, news, etc. that are considered offensive, or may propose danger to society. Censorship has been around for centuries; even now, with the constitution and laws that protects our rights to freedom, censorship still managed to have somewhat of an impact on our lives today. It’s in the media, our education, and in other countries. But not everything about censorship is terrible, a certain length to what should be censored could be acceptable. It’s the general idea of exercising censorship could do harm to society without us even noticing it. Some countries that practice censorship can be extreme, their lives are turned around and they are not living their lives to their fullest potential. Thus, society should not practice censorship as it is used to promote negative agendas, violates people’s rights, and slows down innovation.

Through censoring books, schools make the messages of books unclear, concealing vital parts of stories and society as a whole; additionally, censorship sometimes even endangers students by failing to provide them with important knowledge. A lack of significant information in any situation restricts

Censorship has been around the centuries for a long time. Censorship means a suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc that can be considered a non- posing threat or threat to our society. Censorship can be impacting many children, teens, and even adults today. The main purpose Ray Bradbury illustrated “Fahrenheit 451” is to show future prosperities that everything we post on social media and also for the world to see can impact our chances to gain access to many different opportunities providing educational, video games, and more websites.

The history of the world has undoubtedly been dominated by an endless struggle for power. However, after a brief glimpse into the pages of history it should not take long to realize that the trick to maintaining power lies in the control of information. Even the most fearsome military generals of the past acknowledge the power of the mind and ideas over lethal force. Former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin once said “… [Ideas] are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, then why should we let them have ideas.” Stalin’s quote personifies the main concept of this literature review which will be discussing the history of government censorship and its effects that are

There are various reasons as to why censorship is used. They include: security purposes, prevent hate speech, to protect vulnerable communities and also to counter unethical religious and political views. Censorship is currently being used for both political and social purposes. Most of these reasons for censorship are not absolute because they hinder people’s freedom of expression and speech. This confirms my argument that censorship is bad in the modern world. Despite some aspects considering censorship to be good, there are several aspects that promote my argument that censorship is bad thus its advantageous nature.

Imagine if a society controlled what people see, hear, or did. This type of censorship is harmful to a society. Everyone needs to understand each other’s freedoms. This issue is discussed in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In this society, they can not read certain things and people decide to commit suicide over it. Censorship takes away our rights as individuals. It violates the First Amendment, keeps people from learning, and gives the government total control.

What would life be like without censorship? Though there might be upsides to it, such as more freedom of speech, it could also cause some problems. Not only would we be exposing children to many horrors of the world, we also would be doing nothing to prevent offensive and oppressive content in the media. Therefore, some censorship is necessary for all people; however, in most cases, we should be allowed access to most information in society.

Children’s innocence must be protected by censorship. The debate on whether censorship is beneficial to society often compiles to a few main reasons. Subjects like freedom of speech, women’s rights, and children’s innocence is brought into question when discussing censorship. It is an important debate because what is censored influences societal beliefs of what is right and wrong. It decides what truths are revealed publicly. Some people think censorship is beneficial because it supposedly protects children, but it is actually useless because it underestimates children’s tolerance, witholds information, oversexualizes women, and sugarcoats the truth.

Is there too much censorship in america, are your kids not allowed to share their mind with the world because of people getting offended over a joke or a misunderstanding. People all through history have been writing free speech to prove a point or for justice or freedom against the government to make a change for the better. But now if you have an opinion some won’t even express you feeling through social media because it will offend people or creators of the website will block the pager or use because their agist there opinion on the matter. Even some parents won’t let their children watch cartoon that are meant for kids because of the creator being homosexal or them no beliveing in the same religion. Some people we hate or distreat that person and won’t let them speak their mind or are be treated the same because of their religion,color or gender appel.

The press is dishonest due to East Coast Bias and lack of objectivity and diversity. Cunningham discusses that, though one out of eight people live in California, most of our news are produced in New York since New York Times’ headquarters, the most influential newspaper, are found. He points out that New York’s values differ from the values of the rest of the country. This creates a dishonest representation of the diverse perspectives in United States. Moreover, compared to past years goals, there is still a lack of racial diversity. Furthermore, female journalists find it difficult to move status due to the glass ceiling. In Four Theories of the Press, the authors argue that the press is controlled by only one socioeconomic class--the business class. As Agnew mentioned, there is censorship when only a few people decide what are news for million of Americans (70)--and censorship results in dishonest half-truths.

“The content of school textbooks is often the issue of debate since their target audience is young people,” and parents get offended when their child is exposed to inappropriate information. Normally when information is too graphic the teacher will have to ask for consent from the parent or guardian. The educational book can also be censored through the government for several different reasons. Sometimes the government may not agree with the opinions or information in the book so it will be banned. Reading books also get censored for reasons of a swear word, or politically incorrect language. “The way facts ad history” are taught change the way it is interpreted and their opinion on the topic (“Censorship”

Books have been a major part of our society for many years. They have given many people the opportunity to voice their opinion in an appealing manner and to stimulate conversation about a particular issue. In recent years, the freedom of expression has been interjected by people who deem certain aspect of it offensive. These groups have called for the prohibition of such literature and claim that the censorship will create a more inclusive environment. However, they fail to realize the suppression of information would lead to libraries imposing their own beliefs on the community.

The United States government has the limited right to monitor its citizens. Many countries all over the world use censorship to wield power and monitor their subjects and citizens and make sure that the government has complete control. In the United States, where internet and social media are widely used, the government should have some hand in social media and its regulation as well as monitoring for cyber crime. Take for instance, England, the country has seen a steady increase in crime rate with internet use and social media, from people posting threats or illegal things such as geomarked photos of fully automatic weapons to tracking files illegally downloaded and obtained, such as child pornography or accessing illegal markets for goods

Vice President Al Gore once addressed the graduating class of 1996 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the following statement; “Fear of chaos cannot justify unwarranted censorship of free speech” (Quittner). With this being said, Al Gore divulged his views on censorship which can now be translated into the current issue of censorship across one of the most advanced forms of communication- the internet.

Free speech has become a topic of large debate across the United States. Due to opposing views between people, the idea of censorship and political correctness has circulated and gained support. In fact, 40% of Millennials believe the government should censor offensive comments, remarks, speeches, etc. Prevalent on college campuses, “safe space” zones have erected for those such students who feel targeted or offended by remarks. Over the last few months, riots have erupted at the University of California at Berkeley campus regarding the scheduling of a conservative speaker, Milo Yiannopoulos, over the issue of his Republican agenda offending the liberal students on campus, a major theme erupting across America right now. Regarding censorship, Saturday Night Live actor Tracy Morgan stated, “We have freedom of speech, but you gotta watch what you say.” I believe America needs radical censorship in order to protect the feelings of the offended Millennials, including censorship in school systems and media, such as the news.