Censorship: Good or Bad?

[Brad]

Who thinks censorship is a good or bad thing? Take a vote and/or explain your reasoning.

Personally, I think it's a bad thing. We are shielding everyone from everything that they will experience in the real world, and then they won't be able to prepare for it.

[Song]

For me it is a bad thing.

 

For once it can be used to opress oppositional opinions, ideas or believes (which it is

done so far in all the current countries of this world, at least to my knowledge it is)

and on another matter, throwing children into the world without any knowledge of

what possible cruelty awaits them is very dangerous (not just for them).

For example, someone who has never seen how utterly painful and appalling death can

be, will hardly be of any help in whatever dangerous situation could arise.

 

On the other hand, if for example you would let children watch porn, then we would also

need to educate them about what happens there and not just let them watch it.

So censoring it entirely towards children and educating them sometime later or letting

them find out on their own is kinda the easier way out of this particular problem.

 

I think I forgot something... I'm open for discussion though.

Edited June 23, 2011 by Guest (see edit history)

[alphabetagamma]

Some forms of censorship can be important during wartime, and censoring illegal content from the internet like child pornography is definitely good. But other than that it's oppressive and usually lowers the stability of a county significantly which is usually the opposite of it's intent.

[BTGBullseye]

No censors would likely give us better comedy on late night shows...

[Doom Shepherd]

I'm pro-censorship where it would prevent the bad guys from knowing important things. War information, for example. We shouldn't have these reporter clowns broadcasting from the front lines letting the enemy know where our troops are and what they could be up to.

 

Same thing with these butt-monkeys who go around infodumping military and diplomatic cables for any nutball to read. You're not saving lives, you're endangering them.

 

That said, aside from that I'm a radical anticensor. These people that want to do crazy crap like burning Harry Potter (or even Twilight, despite the fact that it makes better kindling than reading material) need to be taken out into the street and peed on. (For starters.)

 

One of the reasons I became a librarian was so that once a year, I could make a display and encourage people to check out "banned" books... the ones various left and right-wing nutballs have tried to get taken out of schools and libraries.

[Alyxx Thorne]

I'm not for censorship. It's like someone decides for you what is appropriate when we should be free to decide that for ourselves. Away with censorships, keep age restrictions.

[ProHypster]

What sensorship? Here in Ukraine they show porn on three national tv channels after 23 O clock.... lol...

 

(Ok actually maybe that is a slight problem.... [stereotype on] damn those jews, russians, poles.... lol [stereotype off] )

[danielsangeo]

I'm pro-censorship where it would prevent the bad guys from knowing important things. War information, for example. We shouldn't have these reporter clowns broadcasting from the front lines letting the enemy know where our troops are and what they could be up to.

 

I don't think that really qualifies as censorship.

[Brad]

I'm pro-censorship where it would prevent the bad guys from knowing important things. War information, for example. We shouldn't have these reporter clowns broadcasting from the front lines letting the enemy know where our troops are and what they could be up to.

 

I don't think that really qualifies as censorship.

 

It's called OPSEC (Operational Security). It forbids soldiers and other people from giving away vital information to anyone who shouldn't know about it over unsecure networks and in real life. (Although common sense would dictate you wouldn't do that in the first place. Yeah I'm looking at you, Julian Assange.) So it is a form of censorship.

 

Did I... did I just do my research? That's rare on the internet isn't it?

[danielsangeo]

It'll be hard to prosecute Mr. Assange because, apparently, it's going to be hard to prove that he broke any laws.

[Michael Archer]

When I think of censorship (and how most people apply it) is when the government subjectively suppresses things they deem to be bad. In that context, censorship is evil.

 

Is outlawing child pornography and slander/libel censorship? The difference between those two are that when objectively evaluated, they do hurt people. I wouldn't really consider those "censorship."

[Alyxx Thorne]

Indeed, this is largely contextual.

[Blue]

Indeed, this is largely contextual.

I concur.

"Censorship" in my mind is an umbrella term for the dictates of when people can't or shouldn't know or see something whose context is governed by why and where.

The rationality of the why and where is why there is dispute, I posit.

[The Hamburglar]

I feel that people take the matters of what should and should not be censored in the completely wrong ways. Proving their upmost maturity by trying to get anything sexual taken out of a game that shouldn't even be sold to minors in the first place.

 

I mean, I wouldn't try to ban a game like say, Infamous for example, "Ban this filth! This will teach children the wrong things! THEY'LL TRY TO SHOOT LIGHTNING OUT OF THEIR HANDS!!!"

 

And I remember there was a game to take place in Iraq that was cancelled because some cunts somewhere didn't like it. It's perfectly okay to curbstomp every Nazi in the world but the minute we take it out of Germany we're taking it too far.

 

And religious groups who are high and mighty on themselves will try to get a game removed if it represents them badly (See, Resisistance Fall of man.)

 

The point I'm trying to make is that censorship makes sense but we just can't seem to grasp it.

[Bjossi]

What sensorship? Here in Ukraine they show porn on three national tv channels after 23 O clock.... lol...

 

It would be hilarious if they bleeped out naughty words in porn films.

[The Hamburglar]

What sensorship? Here in Ukraine they show porn on three national tv channels after 23 O clock.... lol...

 

It would be hilarious if they bleeped out naughty words in porn films.

"OH YEAH, F*** MY P***Y, OH SH** F***. OH F*** GET A F****** TOWEL JESUS F*** OH S*** IT'S F***** EVERYWHERE."

[Axeldeath]

O_O Slightly disturbing.

[Scorpia]

What sensorship? Here in Ukraine they show porn on three national tv channels after 23 O clock.... lol...

 

It would be hilarious if they bleeped out naughty words in porn films.

im pretty sure i've seen it before, but they did it to be funny, now if it was because they thought swearing was bad, then it would've been hilarious.

[Michael Archer]

Now, now, let's not be too hard on the statists; unnecessary censorship has its merits.

[BTGBullseye]

Now, now, let's not be too hard on the statists; unnecessary censorship has its merits.

Is funny, but that kinda ruins my childhood memories...