The Pros and Cons of Censorship?

Question

The Pros and Cons of Censorship?
Im doing a project on censorship in my U.S. Government class, and i need to know some pros and cons of censorship. Even some good web sites will do. If you would like you can just send your opinion. Thanks Bunches
jamie

Answer 1

Censorship" is a buzzword. It is a word used to evoke a viseral negative reaction. "How DARE they tell me what I can see!" is supposed to be the usual reaction. Quite often, this is with good reason. Repressive governments have long used censorship to repress the thoughts of the people and to crush movements toward freedom and democracy. We should be wary of any kind of government censorship.

But too often, the cry of "censorship" goes out against what is not truly censorship, but simply selectivity, as if having any kind of taste makes us repressive censors. "How dare Wal-Mart not sell Penthouse! That's CENSORSHIP!" is the cry. Sorry, but no it's not. That is a business decision on the part of a private company on what they choose to associate with their corporate name. Wal-Mart is not banning Penthouse, they are simply chosing not to sell it. That is their right. If you want to buy it, you go somewhere else. That is your right.

One personal peeve of mine is when artists claim the right to take government money and then have no restrictions in what they create. They just took someone else's money! Of course the people (that is, the taxpayers) have the right to put restrictions on that gift. If you truly believe that artistic freedom is paramount to your creativity, then don't take handouts from the government. Government money is tainted money. The minute you take it, you are under someone else's authority. If you don't like those restrictions, don't take the money.

Film censorship is another issue. I strongly believe in film censorship. The movies in this country were censored for 40 years and during that time, they were never better. The most censored era (1930s-1960s) in Hollywood is called "classic film" or "the Golden Era of movies". Far from being restrictive of creativity, the censorship ensured creativity because it put standards up that had to be reached toward and achieved. A Filmmaker couldn't just take the easy (and sleazy) way out by getting profits by sticking a lot of naked women into a film. He had to be more creative than that. The simple fact is, that when the movies were censored the movies were GOOD.
A new version of the "Hays Code" (the old film censorship code") seems to me to be a good idea. Going back to the old one would not be feasible, as it reflected a world that simply no longer exists (some of the words banned by the old code were "mistress" "virgin" "seduction" "housebroken"
and "alley cat"), but a newly written code reflecting our own culture may not be a bad idea. Having a clear set of guidelines of what we, as a society, will and will not accept could work quite well.

As a parent, you absolutely MUST be a censor! Letting your child sit and watch anything that flickers is not doing him any favors. Television, books, films and other entertainments are filled with input which you may or may not want your child exposed to. In this case, it is your job to censor. "Censorship" has become a "dirty word". It brings to mind bluenosed prudes banning classic literature. But realistically, every time you exercise taste, discernment and discretion, you are practicing censorship. In that sense, we should have a lot more censorship today.

Answer 2

Pros And Cons Of Censorship

Answer 3

Pros Of Censorship

Answer 4

Censorship means different things to different people, depending on your political philosophy. Often the same people who holler censorship the loudest will spend the most time trying to block the message of their opposition. Then it will be called protecting the public or preventing hate speech, or whatever. Should absolutely everything the government does be made public? If a conservative newspaper will not print anything favorable about a liberal politician, is that censorship? If you set out to write a book about your extended family, would you delete that episode where your second cousin was caught doing something naughty with a sheep? Censorship? How about a story of your own life? How much would you leave out? How about someone with nutty ideas who is ignored by the media. He's starts hollering censorship because he can't get minutes on the evening news. I would argue that controlling a message of any kind cannot be called censorship. The classic definition of censorship is the government controlling the media by coercian of one degree or another. Smashing printing presses, arresting reporters, burning books. Inherent in censorship is violence or at the least loss of liberty and property. Short of that, what many people call censorship is merely controlling the message. Leaving out the bad stuff and adding the good stuff. Lying. Making it up. Denying the obvious. Governments do it. Public relations outfits do it. Newspapers do it. People on the left and on the right. Recently a whole day shift walked out of a store in Florida. I read one small article about it, then nothing. Did the PR firm that represents Walmart get on the phone and start calling around threatening media outlets that if you print this story we'll pull our advertising accounts, worth millions? Censorship or controlling the message?

Answer 5

Censorship has no con's. In a free and open society it is important to be able to research and form your own opinion on the information that you receive. To censor any bit of information hides the true conclusion of any information. In a free nation that people have died for their ideals, it is wrong to censor any information that is available to them, no matter how caustic or whether you agree or disagree.

Answer 6

Censorship as in bleeping out bad words?
I don't see the point in it, we all know what they're saying. And something that's really stupid is when they blur out someone giving the middle finger...it kind of loses the whole point of blurring it out if they only blur out that one finger...I think if people don't want to hear curse words or see obscene things, they shouldn't watch it! Censorship sucks! It really does!

Answer 7

censorship is like morals and respect there is no such thing anymore. parents do not teach children any respect anymore the grownups don't teach morals anymore and these movies pg 13 etc iwouldn't let my children watch the first 5 minutes of them.