Is Censorship Helping or Hurting Our Society?
Fargo 1
Karen Fargo
Mrs. Smith
English 101
25 Oct 2014
Is Censorship Helping or Hurting Our Society? The government has a firm grip on what we as a society can and can't see. For example, early mg television shows cannot contain profanity because that time slot is when children are awake and watching television. But that's just it; the government hides information and other topics to “protect” common people. However, this “protection” aka censorship is a huge part of American media; which is often highly debated and causes controversy. “Censorship is the regulation or suppression of writing or speech that is considered harmful to the common good or a threat to national security.”(Library Database). Censorship has been present in this nation for a long time. Censorship has been around for a long time, even back in the times of The Enlightenment.Examples of censorship's presence in history are the 1873 Comstock Law to things such as the 1996 Communications Decency Act (American Civil Liberties). Censorship is all around us in this day and age, in our newspapers, in our magazines, and in our television programs. And who's to stop the government from censoring our media anyways?Many people fear that there isn’t enough censorship in this country, especially when it comes to the entertainment industry. “And it is clear that the entertainment industry is not going to censor itself. As always, the people who run it will go exactly as far as the law allows them to go. In my opinion, the law currently allows them to go much too far.”(Kimball). Then some feel we, as a society are too censorious. “When you can lose your job and be subject to legal penalties because you tell a joke around the office water cooler, you are living in a very censorious society.” (Kimball). There are and always will be many points to be made for each side of the controversial topic that is censorship, and here are only a few. There are many pros to the
Karen Fargo
Mrs. Smith
English 101
25 Oct 2014
Is Censorship Helping or Hurting Our Society? The government has a firm grip on what we as a society can and can't see. For example, early mg television shows cannot contain profanity because that time slot is when children are awake and watching television. But that's just it; the government hides information and other topics to “protect” common people. However, this “protection” aka censorship is a huge part of American media; which is often highly debated and causes controversy. “Censorship is the regulation or suppression of writing or speech that is considered harmful to the common good or a threat to national security.”(Library Database). Censorship has been present in this nation for a long time. Censorship has been around for a long time, even back in the times of The Enlightenment.Examples of censorship's presence in history are the 1873 Comstock Law to things such as the 1996 Communications Decency Act (American Civil Liberties). Censorship is all around us in this day and age, in our newspapers, in our magazines, and in our television programs. And who's to stop the government from censoring our media anyways?Many people fear that there isn’t enough censorship in this country, especially when it comes to the entertainment industry. “And it is clear that the entertainment industry is not going to censor itself. As always, the people who run it will go exactly as far as the law allows them to go. In my opinion, the law currently allows them to go much too far.”(Kimball). Then some feel we, as a society are too censorious. “When you can lose your job and be subject to legal penalties because you tell a joke around the office water cooler, you are living in a very censorious society.” (Kimball). There are and always will be many points to be made for each side of the controversial topic that is censorship, and here are only a few. There are many pros to the