Censorship

Censorship

When you're watching TV, you may notice that some images may blurred or words may be blocked out. This is called CENSORSHIP. Censorship is meant to protect viewers from disturbing pictures and words that may be considered inappropriate for a young audience. So when your mom and dad have a channel blocked on the TV, this means that a particular station may use a lot of bad words and show pictures that may not be good for kids to see.

Figure 1

In Today's World

Now when you think of the word censorship, don't think that it is only blocking out the bad words or naughty pictures. There is a whole lot more to it. In today's world there are a lot more TV shows, music, and movies out than when your parents were younger. But, the shows back then didn't have as much "bad things" in them, like they do now. There was really no way of preventing that from happening. This happens from society evolving and changing what is socially acceptable. The only thing parents can do is to control what the child is exposed to, meaning controlling what you are watching and listening to. So that means no R rated movies, TV shows that include mature content in them, or songs with a lot of cursing in it. 

Figure 2

What Censorship Looks Like

The most common way you would see something being censored would be either in a movie, TV, or a song on the radio. If someone naked appears on the screen, usually their privates will either be blocked by an object like Figure 2, or they will be blurred out. When curse words are being used, on TV you will see or hear one of three things; either a "bleep" sound will happen when the word is said, a black bar could appear over the person's mouth when the curse is being said usually with a "bleep" sound as well, or the mouth is blurred out when the bad word is said with a "bleep" sound as well. On the radio, songs with curse words in them, most of the time will either be blocked out or a replacement word that is more acceptable will be put in its place. 

 

What Is Being Censored?

Figure 3

Besides the bad words and naughty pictures, there are a lot more things people are being censored from. There are several types of censorship that are; Corporate, Moral, Political, and Religious. Corporate censorship is where a company or corporation makes a decision on what products go out into the stores, as well as what customers can buy, watch, and what information is being released about that corporation(1). Moral censorship is hiding information from the public that is considered socially unacceptable; such as specific details in a murder(1). Political censorship is when the government keeps information from the public to avoid certain reactions the public might have(1). Examples of these reactions would be riots or rampages. Information could also be censored to protect the government from embarrassment. The last type is, Religious censorship, which is anything that is considered "bad" in that religion. Certain religions have rules such as not lying, stealing, and murder. So they "censor" these types of actions from their lives.
 

Figure 4

What Are Your Rights ?

         If you didn't know already, as a U.S. citizen everyone has rights. These rights are in the constitution, and the first amendment or right we have is "Freedom of Speech" (2). The problem people have today, is that they feel when something or someone is being censored, it is taking their right away. 

Now that you have a bit more knowledge on what CENSORSHIP is, you can think about it the next time you are watching TV, watching a movie, or listening to the radio. Censorship is everywhere, and sometimes something could be censored in a way that you didn't even realize it was happening. So next time you want to watch a show and your parents say "No", they are trying to protect you from seeing things you should not see as a young kid. 

References

(1) Confluence (n.d.). Types of censorship. Retrieved from https://wikispaces.psu.edu/display/IST432TEAM19/Types+of+Censorship#

(2) Cornell University Law School (n.d.). U.S. constitution. Retrieved from https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/first_amendment

Figure 1: Nathan. (2013). Parental advisory explicit content [Image]. Retrieved from  https://www.google.com/search?q=censorship&espv=2&biw=637&bih=631&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjBptvbtbzJAhVLSSYKHf-PClwQ_AUIBygC#imgrc=wk2qCdQNJTeYfM%3A
Figure 2: Cooper, T. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.dorkly.com/post/74898/i-wonder-where-censors-fall-in-the-pecking-order

Figure 3: The Law Offices of Ryan P. Morrison. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://ryanmorrisonlaw.com/this-isnt-censorship-its-intelligence/

Figure 4: Uncle Sam. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/275834/la-palabra-del-dia-to