cen⋅sor –noun
an official who examines books, plays, news reports, motion pictures, radio and television programs, letters, cablegrams, etc., for the purpose of suppressing parts deemed objectionable on moral, political, military, or other grounds.
(Source: www.dictionary.com)
Censorship is a powerful tool, usually wielded by higher authority (*cough cough*). Simply put, through censorship, 'undesirable elements' are removed from various forms of communicative media, such that a politically correct, or 'censored' version, would be disseminated to the masses. Censorship goes a long way back. It is even mentioned in the Christian Bible, when Jeremiah's prophecy in the form of a scroll, was 'censored' by the royal family, because it would have been a cause for worry, had it been made known to the public. ("And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth" -Jeremiah 36:1–26)
To start, censorship should be imposed on a moderate level. It shouldn't be too rigid that people would term it 'oppression', nor shouldn't there be too much freedom of speech. In short, censorship is a grey area, there is no right or wrong. Strict censorship laws are imposed in Singapore. In the theatres, overly raunchy or violent scenes are cut from films, and over the radio, song lyrics containing expletives and profanities, are censored too.
Some people think that censorship kills creativity, but laws governing censorship differ from country to country. A film or advertisement banned in, say, China, may not necessarily be banned in America. Furthermore, media censorship protects the younger generation from corruption of mind, by reducing exposure to sex, drugs, and violence from movies or television.
In daily life, we ourselves, do some 'self-censoring'. Our choice of actions and words, at some point in life, would be chosen in such a way, such that damage to self is minimised. In a similar way, sensitive information concerning the nation is never divulged as well. This is to protect ourselves, so that potential aggressors will not be able to take advantage of any exposed weaknesses.
In a nutshell, censorship is important to a certain extent. Sure, certain information might be omitted, but everybody's entitled to have (and keep) their own dirty little secrets, aren't they?
Extras:
To thank you for your kind attention, here are some banned commercials I found whilst surfing http://youtube.com/ . Enjoy!
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Singapore's censorship is too strict at times. For example censoring lyrics of a song. Songs that normally have explicit materials are normally targeted at the 16 and above age range. Words found in the song would probably be part of their everyday lives. Even if the young do listen to such music, would a mere few words change their total upbringing?
ReplyDelete"What *bleep* "bleep* when *bleep* *bleep* *bleep* is that sometimes *bleep* *bleep* *bleep*"
ReplyDeleteDo you even know what I am talking about?
My stand is that we have to recognize that censorship distorts the message. It is like passing a message through a chain of people, the final message gets distorted by the middlemen.
But I believe censorship has its good intentions, what I think they should do is to evaluate the material and censor through restrictions - who are able to watch (able to make positive interpretations) rather than distorting the message itself.
Besides, without sex, violence and vulgarities...life does seem so unreal. To appreciate life fully, we should embrace the reality too.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Benny
well as u had say, censorship is something that falls into the grey area, no absolute right or wrong and often it is dependent on one's view too.
ReplyDeleteto find, i find that censorship do help us to take away the 'undesirable' content from our younger generations, especially kids who do not know how to differciate between right and wrong. =)
I agree with your stand.
ReplyDeleteThe existence of censorship is necessary, but it should not be practiced to the extent of control control.
Taking Singapore as an example, everyone was, to a certain extent, thrilled to find out that the categorization of movies was changed, branching the old 'RA' to 'NC16', 'M18', and 'R21'.
But unfortunately, as we had come to know, 'R21' does not mean no censorship, be it regarding sexual content or violence.
Quoting what my GP teacher had always like to say:
"Why are we taught how to kill with a gun, when we are not given the liberty of watching imagined images of killings? And why teach us how to take lives, when we are not allowed to watch the act of making life?" (OK, my GP teacher's got something a little loose in his head)
Of course, censorship is for the greater good, some might argue (and I agree), and that we should commit to this form of self-sacrifice to the people. But this very idea is imposed onto us, and not what we chose, and so naturally, disagreements surface and arguments are raised.
For Singapore, in my opinion, the authorities are merely giving us the impression that we have the right to choose freely what we want to have, like a buffet, but the only choices we have are from that of a specially catered menu.
Am I making sense? :P
censorship is not really necessary because ppl hu relly wan to watch will seek other type of media to watch them...also, it kills creativity and film directors have to practise self censorship in order for their films not to be censored by the board..
ReplyDeletehowever, it is good in that it prevents young children from being exposed to ''undesirable'' contents at a young age...yet it is also bad in that these young children might not know things untilthey reach a ''mature'' age
Good point there but i think that censorship doesnt really kills creativity and it always depends on how the person creates something creative despite censorship, knowing the limitations and utilize everything is called creative, however, some may think that creative deserve no barriers and etc but the world doesnt spin around you, even if the whole population of the world dies, the world will keep on spinning.
ReplyDeleteBasically, censorship is there to cater to the public as they know what the public wants and needs or so they claimed.
Without censorship, could you imagine kids watching porn or some sort of cable tv? not as in hardcore porn but subtle hints and etc. The internet is without censorship, look what kids could access via the world wide web?
From my point of view is that, those who want to express their creativity, is to work things out based on resources available because censorship is needed but to what level? is up to the viewers.
Hm. Interesting. However, although people often feel the need to self-express thoughts, for eg, the blogger Fragrance Prince who got into trouble with the law due to his rather insensitive racist comments; the end point would still be that censorship is required to regulate a nation, but when does personal thought become a threat to a so-called democratic system?
ReplyDeleteFor a country with a history of less than a century, we were built as a nation to be a united and diverse as seen our multi-racial make-up...However, when does one's opinion become subjected to censorship and persecution as well?
Imagine that the Speaker's Corner is up, and there's sporadic coverage in the news about it, for eg, after the mini bonds incident. But how often do you see coverage of issues we hold closer to heart? For eg, about the need to regulate education (not to just kick kids out based on the cream-de-la-creme ideal) or even more transparent democracy which we've heard alot about, but rarely see?
A nation needs censorship to grow, where in this case, it is necessary to control a rather disciplined city, that functions on man-power. Think about it, without censorship, we would be America. Is America the way we want our life to become? We're Asians after all. Would the addition of guns, violence and weed be the answer to our woes?
Rightly so, as you said, there is no real right or wrong to cencorship, however sometimes censorship could hide the truth from people, take japan over the atrocities commited by their soldiers in China during WWII, they hide or warp the truth in their history curriculum. This I believe is wrong as it offers no justice to those who lived in fear and suffered trmendously under the Japanese occupation.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand censorship, when applied correctly does help to prevent younger children from exposure to too much violence or sexual activities at such an age, sometimes instilling a conservative sort of behaviour into them which is generally how Asians are, take that away and we'd become something like America, as one of the posts above said.. Do we really want to lose our identity by becoming like that?
I guess everything has their advantages and disadvantages, which is also the same case for censorship..
ReplyDeleteI agree that censorship can help prevent the younger generation from undesirable contents such as sex and violence..at young ages, we are like sponges that absorb everything we have heard and seen..How did we ever learn how to speak or even learn how to drink?by looking, listening from our surroundings and imitating people..If everything were so free and unrestricted, they would have imitated almost everything they have seen and heard..Even for teenagers who are deemed to be able to differentiate right from wrong may still commit acts that they may regret just because they were looking for excitement..
Nevertheless, I feel that censorship can have reverse effects..By censoring, sometimes it creates more curiosity in the minds of the young..As the saying goes, forbidden fruits taste the sweetest..The more we censor the more people want to know about it..
Also, with the current use of technology, the internet has become censorship's biggest enemy..Censorship is almost impossible on the internet..One reason is that the internet is accessed by billions of people around the world..Freedom of speech is not as restricted;everyone is allowed to upload any video or picture..Secondly, just as what the writer has posted, there is no universal censorship law..The internet has thus become an easy tool for everyone to access almost any form of information..Besides, behind the computer screen, nobody knows for sure your age, your gender or even your identity..That somehow gives us more 'courage' to explore things on the internet because we feel more 'secure' that nobody will know who we are.....
LOL.. Censorship..
ReplyDeleteWho are we kidding, kids nowadays know more about sex, drugs and violence more that us when we were their age thanks to the internet. And who polices the internet? All the censorship laws are for wayang purposes only la brudder..
i believe most of us grew up watching transformers, smurfs, captain planet and gi joe.. in fact, there wernt anything to censor then, except possibly wrestling...
Much as i don't appreciate the strict censorship laws we have in Singapore, I must say we're in many ways better than other countries, such as Malaysia and China where censorship laws are a notch higher, governing anything from public festivals to dress codes.
ReplyDeleteWhile I also agree that censorship kills creativity, it helps to have rules like that in place, to restrict what is apropriate for public viewing/ listening, especially when we want to cultivate good values in the young.
In the case of "Lust, Caution" which was really memorable in the last 2 years or so, most parts of the movie was cut due to sexual scenes. I have heard that watching the edited piece was like wasting time but I did catch that in the theatres and I enjoyed and well understood the storyline too (: Sometimes, the censored part of the movie/song does not include important facts/cornerstones to the plot/meaning of the art and that is something censorship has been trying very hard to abide by.
i would think that there is an interesting aspect of censorship which is it sparks creativity.
ReplyDeletehumans are naturally inquisitive though a more interesting case would be the forbidden fruit. Consider that certain things are off limits. You would then wonder why is it off limits. It intrigues. And for some upon discovery of it, they extend their world of knowledge. Revolutions to a certain extent was built on the oppression of censorship.
In totality of course censorship is an extremely subjective point of view. And there is probably no denying that there are pros and cons to it. But isn't it a matter of self-censorship?
censorship - why not think of it as a guideline. someone has to set the rules, so as not to cross over the boundary.
ReplyDeletei wouldnt say it kills creativity, perhaps limits. isnt it a challenge to come up with something different, other than the use of unhealthy content.
censorship isnt a problem now. theres always an alternative, the internet. :))
censorship? what's the point?
ReplyDeleteit kills the whole package that is unless it's pointless.
but really? come on. i rest my case.