Censorship?

[Polraudio 122]

Lets discuss censorship here since it seems to be a popular topic at the moment.
Heres a few topics i would like to cover about censorship(not in any order)
-Is censorship dumb?
-Why we dont need censorship
-Why we need censorship
-Different types of censorship
-Does censorship prevent nation/world growth?
-Does censorship help nation/world growth?
-Is censorship used to much?
-How would you like to see censorship changed?
 
I want this to be a full discussion of why censorship is good/bad for everyone if its in the home, town, major city, or world as a whole.

 

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Im going to start off why we need censorship then move on to why we dont need it.

 

Theres a few types of censorship we must be aware before i can even start(if i miss a few dont yell im going off the top of my head).

 

Speech/Audio - Censoring words like swears and other things we dont want to hear.

Visual/Video - Blurring out faces and things like someones wounds.

Internet -

 

Why we need it?

Speech/Audio - We need it here so that way kids dont hear swearing over the radio or TV and start swearing because of it.

 

Visual/Video - This is a big one not only for kids but for the average joe. People dont really want to see censorship but i bet they will want it after actually seeing news without it. No one wants to see someone dismembered head/limbs. If kids seen it they could be damaged for life mentally and might even drive them insane... but wait what about movies that show this without censorship? Its all the same but yet different. We will go over that more in why we dont need it.

 

Internet - The above two mostly explain this but theres a few reasons why internet is separate. If anyone been to a public school you know exactly what im talking about. Once again kids are the main reason for this censorship(In the US). Internet has to be censorshiped cause you dont want kids to accidently stumble upon porn or images with people limbs dismembered so thats why we need internet censorship. This type of censorship can be turned off/on at will(but not by kids).

 

Why we dont need it?

Many can argue with this one cause its different per person and country.

 

Speech/Audio -  As i said above we need it so kids dont go around swearing all over, but do we really need it?

 

Most kids now days already know swears and know its bad so putting a beep where a swear is wont really help cause they will already know what swear to replace the beep with. You can even argue that your kids have never heard a swear in their life. Well my friend your mostly wrong cause other kids swear around your kids if you know it or not. Unless all kids come equip with a beeper that beeps when a swear is said chances are they are going to hear swears no matter what.(dont tell govt. about the beeper :P)

 

Video/Audio - This one can go so many different ways. You can argue that this is needed no matter what but you may be surprised. We see blood/gore all the time in movies so what makes real blood and gore any different? Is it just the fact that you know its real? You could just tell your kids its not real. I personally think there should be an option to turn off/on censorship for this. Its not much more work to do it either.

 

Internet - Internet can be a dangerous place if its censored or not. Even if you put on the proxy filter and have it on strict mode you can still stumble across all the bad stuff as if it wasnt on in the first place so do we really need it? Theres ALWAYS a way around censorship on the internet. You can even access a way around it without even knowing it and where theres a will theres a way.

 

In the end censorship just leads to people trying to find ways around censorship and makes censorship  happen more often. Same way that trying to prevent pirates makes even more pirates and how making drugs illegal makes more people do drugs. Its a never ending battle till we find a good middle for it all and i have a solution coming up after these messages XD(not really).

 

How would you like to see censorship changed?

 

Censorship can be changed for the better by having the ability to turn it off/on just like you can with an internet proxy server blocking sites.

 

I would love to see all devices change and allow us to turn it off and on with the press of a button and pin/password. That way we can enable censorship for our kids while disabling it for ourselves when we dont see the need for it. I personally think censorship is used to much and we need more control on what we censor. Everyone should have the ability to opt in and out of censorship.

 

As for public places like bars and stuff it should always be censored unless everyone in the place agrees that it should be disabled/enabled. If one person in the place wants it to be censored it should be censored.

 

 

Does censorship prevent nation/world growth?

 

Yes and no. It highly depends how you look at it. I personally think it does to a degree.

 

If someone hears about a terrorist attack on something and lots of people died they will try to prevent it from happening again right? Well if they could actually see peoples guts and stuff all over the place in the news instead of it being censored they might be even more willing to try to prevent it from happening again.

 

This is a very touchy subject and ca go many ways depending on how you look at it.

 

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Thats all i have to say about censorship for now. Please tell us your thoughts about censorship :thumbsup: .

[zahraa 26]

Since this topic is in "Debate and Mature Discussion" section, It's not my place to talk...I have only one thing to say : As a teen girl, anywhere I see censorship it means that someone else decided for me and I won't let anyone to decide about my doings. Censorship is real dump.

[ShinkuAura 15]

Since this topic is in "Debate and Mature Discussion" section, It's not my place to talk...I have only one thing to say : As a teen girl, anywhere I see censorship it means that someone else decided for me and I won't let anyone to decide about my doings. Censorship is real dump.It'

Uhhh...It's Debate and Mature Discussion forum not Debate and Mature discussion topic. We're not talking anything inappropriate here. nothing to 18+ so your fine to talk about censorship. if there's anything more mature we mods will actually hide it from younger people. 

 

Anyway Censorship is should be done in Online Video games. because Kids these days swear more then me. I'll talk more about censorship later i want to see what other people think about it.

[Calvinchun 3]

Well, censorship is really needed in movie and internet like Pol said above. There is

no doubt that the younger generation will eventually found out how to 'swear' as this

is part of growing cycle. However, its the older generation duty to delay this knowledge from

reaching the younger ones until they're mature to understand which is good and which

is bad. Because this world has modernized and technology has advanced, censorship is the only

thing that can do this. Long story short, censorship is not dumb (anyway for me) as this will

prevent the younger generation from getting early, immoral 'exposure' in their childhood.

 

Though, i can't see the reason why we don't need it as those people who are mature already

can just find a simple way to bypass the censorship without disabling it, whilst those who

are not +18 are safely protected from unsuitable content for them. So, both sides has a

win-win situation. Anyway, that is only my thought, and that's all!

 

Cheers!~~

Edited April 25, 2014 by Calvinchun

[Tomo2000 60]

I really like Pol's suggestion of being able to turn some form of censorship on and off with a pin or password. I have no real arguments against Pol's statements about the internet and video. I grew up in a pretty shitty town, though, so any kind of speech or audio censorship ended with people around my age. The amount of kids in primary school swearing like sailors is ridiculous, but I think it's more of a family thing rather than anything to do with television, music or radio. I still remember getting a kick out of using words I wasn't supposed to, but there's not even any kind of sculding for that sort of thing any more. So, when one kid starts swearing, it spreads pretty quickly. Just my two cents, though.

[Leon 55]

Censorship is a way of removing the freedom of seeing what is really out there.  However, without the guidance of right vs. wrong; without it, it can be a harmful influence.

 

For example, take the movie Back to the Future II.  It has the word 'bitch', and domestic violence (Biff beating on Marty's mother).  With some form of guidance, a child can be taught that is reprehesible behavior.  However, without it, he may see that as the way a man and woman interact.

[ShinkuAura 15]

Censoring in the net is more bad then good.

It's still unbelievable that your so called government make an excuse that censoring the internet will be better to protect the younger generation.

 

C'mon wake up It's a way to control information worldwide. Thanks to the internet information has flowed much more better then any News netowrk on T.V.

 

Censoring the net is bad for gamers also. Because government has the power to censor downloads too. So if you're like polraudio who buys 100 of games on steam he won't be able to download it because the government can say f**k you. Download interrupted.

[Ardaceus 21]

When it comes to censorship, I completely agree with how it is used in some cases, for we should have the right to not see what is not wanted to be seen, and we definitely do not want our own names to be shown up on something that would possibly cause cyber bullying, or blackmail. Such like the deep web, governments don't want people going on there because of obvious reasons, and there being very creepy stuff that even is banned in creepypastas. The only reason I would ever be there is because... I don't want to go there at all. With YouTube videos, people should have the right to be excluded from mention in a video if it could affect them in a bad way, like people who show stupid things that are put up on this internet. Censorship is also good in the way on how it is served to the public, like how in some video games or movies, whole scenes are censored, which is good when there is a well known audience that is younger than an adult.

 

But reasons why we don't need it, go as far as just the simplicity of a form of art, or a freedom of laughter. What I mean is like when blood or the bad traits of humanity is shown in anything, like assault, drugs, killing, torture, theft, anything of the sort. I find it ridiculous how the media reacts to a lot of things shown in video games, like Manhunt, and how it depicts you as a serial killer, using brutal methods to kill people. The ESRB rates that shit, and if it says it's not for people under the age of 20, don't play it unless you are 20. Or the infamous No Russian scene from MW2, that is just like the rest of the game, and you can do stuff like that in a lot of other games, you kill hundreds of people, then shrug it off as nothing happened, except that these are american citizens and not Taiwan soldiers who are defending their country from you as you slaughter their numbers. Anything can be called an art as long as it invokes feelings into a viewer, and shouldn't be censored or shunned because of it. The freedom of laughter is to enjoy anything in a common media, like how people censor their swears in videos. It is ridiculous, and shouldn't be needed. Shows that usually have swears in them aren't for younger audiences, and it is mostly the parents fault for not moderating their child's activities. It's actually hilarious when you think about it, all of the popular channels on YouTube and popular articles usually have swearing uncensored in them. Like Pewdiepie for example, people love him because he reacts very funny to things, I do to for it. I could name some unpopular channels, but they use swearing in a very unfunny way, or censor it. It is usually the channels that uncensor swearing and use it in a funny way that are popular, and support the use of swearing in funny ways, as it is a joke. I find it utterly ridiculous how they are blamed for causing our society to fall, when it is really bad parenting letting children look at stuff that is not of their age, and play games that shouldn't be played for their age.

 

My verdict on the terms of censorship are that you can censor anything you like, but it will change your overall popularity on that subject. It is an age where anything you want can be blocked or removed partially from viewers, but to block everything important is unfair to the society of the world. We should have the rights to not see anything that will scar us, but we should be able to see anything that will strike emotions in us, like how the actual deep web is to a torture scene in a game, one makes you afraid, the other makes you realize how dark we can be as humans with minds. Another thing is that swearing and gore shouldn't be disabled for a game unless if it is extremely inappropriate for the game, like you don't need gore in De Blob or the Kirby franchise (unless you are a final boss in a game from Kirby), but to dis-include sex and violence from GTA or Call of Duty which are games about real life, which don't get more real when you think about it, are ridiculous, for those games aren't for children, but for people over the age of 18/17 whatev. Which brings me to my final point, adults these days do not understand how the world works, for the time they've lived in this world, they lived in a time where the government hid everything from the eyes, due to the lack of communication and views on different societies which was inaccessible to them, but now everyone has access to the internet, which was made for adults to get work done. The internet wasn't made for games and to expose inappropriate subjects to children, it was meant as a gateway for mature people to learn about the world they lived in, and are living in. But in recent years, video games rose from just play games for children, and evolved to include the older audience, which adults still somehow believe are meant for children to enjoy. The real problem is in this issue is parents do not understand what it is they are letting their children view, in a place that was not made for children in the first place. The ultimate censorship that I will always support is the censorship from parents, who should know what kids these days should grow up with as the ascend to the next generation of people to run this world. It never harms to protect children from reality, but it harms if you don't show them at all.

 

Well that was long, so I'mma be going now, tried not to copy off of what other people said for their reasons are good. Ardi out.

[ShinkuAura 15]

@Ardaceus

Censorship isn't that something we need at all. Cyber-bullying is an issue mostly because the governments haven't applied any decent laws to these things yet.

We're more worried about attacks and debts instead of these small things that is happening. I hate to say it but most governments hates the internet mostly because you are truly free and vocal, in other words we are much more powerful than any politician and of course we've always been. We just don't realize it yet.

 

Now about censoring things like things in video games is kind of stupid. Mostly because we all eventually learn it. But our leaders do it to control society, our sanity, so we won't go after them. We give them power from our ignorance. What if i told you that many things we're told on T.V and Books is a lie? We think that this is right because our society thinks is the right thing so let's go with the flow. We were created to make a opinion of our point of view in the world. Many people i used to interact with have lost their individuality because society will judge them if they don't play by the rules. For those who are different are not part of this society and shouldn't be.

My point is that is censoring that useful? especially on the internet? Like i said Cyberbullying is certainly a bad thing and should be punished. But shutting people up because others did something stupid is just not worth it. There's more good people than bad and we can make a difference everyday.

 

That's my take on this!