KrazyGlue
Smash Champion
Now, just to clarify, I realize that there have been several other censorship threads. These, however, did not have very elaborate OPs and did not give enough of a base of opinions for good, healthy debate to start. I'd like to go more into detail and throw out some ideas that I think can cause some good discussions.
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Censorship, as we all know, is to suppress speech or information that is considered to be dangerous or offensive.
I would like to make it clear right now that there are certain forms of censorship that I recognize to be necessary, while there are others I find to be unnecessary. I am not totally in favor of or against all forms of censorship.
Types of Censorship
Moral Censorship: Censorship due to obscene or otherwise "morally questionable" material (i.e. pornography, profanity, etc.)
Military Censorship: Censorship intended to keep critical military information/intelligence away from enemies.
Political Censorship: Censorship that occurs when the government holds back information from its citizens in order to prevent rebellions.
Religious Censorship: Censorship by a religious group that is intended to prevent information from circulating that might harm their religion.
Corporate Censorship: Censorship that occurs when a corporation attempts to prevent information or network programs in order to maintain the company's public image.
My Views on the different Kinds of Censorship
Corporate censorship: Corporate censorship is certainly something I don't like, but it's usually within a company's rights to only show things they want to show.
Religious Censorship: This is simply ridiculous, and obviously no longer exists at a large scale (if at all) in America, because we have the right to freedom of religion.
Political Censorship: COMMUNISM!!!!!!!!!!
Same as above pretty much. The right of freedom of speech and freedom of the press prevent political censorship from being in America.
Military Censorship: I don't see anything wrong with military censorship to be honest. If we just told everybody all of our military secrets, there would be chaos around the world.
Moral Censorship: I'm kind of on the fence on most of this issue. I'd like to see everyone else's ideas here.*
I think there needs to be some sort of compromise here: a compromise between giving the people the right to choose what media to use and protecting children from material that may negatively effect their growth.
I personally think the idea of parental control passwords is a good idea. It would work something like buying a video game at GameStop. From my personal experience, when I wanted a game rated "M", my mother needed to be there to give permission for me to purchase the game (I am only 15 and the consumer needs to be 17 or older to purchase it by themselves). Through this system, the M-rated games are restricted, not forbidden.
There are already systems like this for the television. When the television is turned on and the channel is switched to something with either a TV-14 or TV-MA rating, a screen opens up and asks for a passcode, which the parent then needs to put in. I personally believe any sort of material should be available on the television, including sexually explicit material. It's easy enough for someone to access this sort of material from their computer for free (probably even easier), so I don't see why it's not within an adult's rights to access it on television for free as well.
However, I would also agree that this material should at least be somewhat restricted, and require a passcode. We just have to put trust in adults that they will be able to make the right decisions of what programs they allow that are going to be viewed by kids; anything more than that is taking away the rights of those adults. I believe that televisions should come with this sort of system, as well as having uncensored material that adults can view if they choose to do so.
Now, we move on to the internet, which is almost completely uncensored. There is obviously no real way to "censor" the internet, without taking away the rights of those who post obscene material. I think the internet should stay the way it is. If parents want to know what their kids are looking at, there is all kinds of software that allows them to do that. **
*I'll come back with much more info later; first I'd like to put the first OP up so everyone can debate over what I have so far. I'll be spending lots of time on this one and I think it's better just to edit it over time.
**I'm currently working on getting some sources for the television and internet arguments.
SOURCES:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_censorship
3. http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/1997/06/4181
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_by_religion
___________________
Censorship, as we all know, is to suppress speech or information that is considered to be dangerous or offensive.
I would like to make it clear right now that there are certain forms of censorship that I recognize to be necessary, while there are others I find to be unnecessary. I am not totally in favor of or against all forms of censorship.
Types of Censorship
Moral Censorship: Censorship due to obscene or otherwise "morally questionable" material (i.e. pornography, profanity, etc.)
Military Censorship: Censorship intended to keep critical military information/intelligence away from enemies.
Political Censorship: Censorship that occurs when the government holds back information from its citizens in order to prevent rebellions.
Religious Censorship: Censorship by a religious group that is intended to prevent information from circulating that might harm their religion.
Corporate Censorship: Censorship that occurs when a corporation attempts to prevent information or network programs in order to maintain the company's public image.
My Views on the different Kinds of Censorship
Corporate censorship: Corporate censorship is certainly something I don't like, but it's usually within a company's rights to only show things they want to show.
Religious Censorship: This is simply ridiculous, and obviously no longer exists at a large scale (if at all) in America, because we have the right to freedom of religion.
Political Censorship: COMMUNISM!!!!!!!!!!
Same as above pretty much. The right of freedom of speech and freedom of the press prevent political censorship from being in America.
Military Censorship: I don't see anything wrong with military censorship to be honest. If we just told everybody all of our military secrets, there would be chaos around the world.
Moral Censorship: I'm kind of on the fence on most of this issue. I'd like to see everyone else's ideas here.*
I think there needs to be some sort of compromise here: a compromise between giving the people the right to choose what media to use and protecting children from material that may negatively effect their growth.
I personally think the idea of parental control passwords is a good idea. It would work something like buying a video game at GameStop. From my personal experience, when I wanted a game rated "M", my mother needed to be there to give permission for me to purchase the game (I am only 15 and the consumer needs to be 17 or older to purchase it by themselves). Through this system, the M-rated games are restricted, not forbidden.
There are already systems like this for the television. When the television is turned on and the channel is switched to something with either a TV-14 or TV-MA rating, a screen opens up and asks for a passcode, which the parent then needs to put in. I personally believe any sort of material should be available on the television, including sexually explicit material. It's easy enough for someone to access this sort of material from their computer for free (probably even easier), so I don't see why it's not within an adult's rights to access it on television for free as well.
However, I would also agree that this material should at least be somewhat restricted, and require a passcode. We just have to put trust in adults that they will be able to make the right decisions of what programs they allow that are going to be viewed by kids; anything more than that is taking away the rights of those adults. I believe that televisions should come with this sort of system, as well as having uncensored material that adults can view if they choose to do so.
Now, we move on to the internet, which is almost completely uncensored. There is obviously no real way to "censor" the internet, without taking away the rights of those who post obscene material. I think the internet should stay the way it is. If parents want to know what their kids are looking at, there is all kinds of software that allows them to do that. **
*I'll come back with much more info later; first I'd like to put the first OP up so everyone can debate over what I have so far. I'll be spending lots of time on this one and I think it's better just to edit it over time.
**I'm currently working on getting some sources for the television and internet arguments.
SOURCES:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_censorship
3. http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/1997/06/4181
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_by_religion