Young Writers Society

What do you think about censoring art (all forms)? Is it okay to ban books? Or keep modern art from a museum? Limiting the news that we recieve on TV? Cutting 'obscenities' from film?

I DO NOT in any way, shape or form support any sort of censorship (which makes being a mod...needless to say...difficult). It is wrong, and not only denies us the right to free speech as laid out by our founding fathers and severly stunts creative and philisophical growth, but also denies us the ability to choose for ourselves what is and is not acceptable.

If obscenities bother you, fine. Don't use them.
Porn? Don't look at it.
Radical political pamphlets? Don't read them.

But don't tell me that I can't. I will not accept that.

england has easier press laws than the US (which is really weird, cuz... damn, we're lenient) and a spy's name was published in the paper after completing some job. that is certain information that shouldn't be released because it effects the safety of not only him, but his entire family.

sometimes, keeping thingsfrom being said is for the greater good. of course, i dont give two shits about censoring "foul" language, since i dont personally belive in obcenity, and if its cable, or radio, then there is always the option of not tuning into that particular program. program and channel blocking technology is readily available to keep it from children if they have a problem with it.

Where do we draw the line between common sense limiting of information (not publicizing troop movements for example) and keeping information from the public?

Or, better question, what IS censorship?

Living mostly in my own head, I've not really been aware of any outward censorship, at least in New Zealand. I have used a dictionary (this is laughable, but sadly true) to look up the exact definition of censorship (as told by WORDWEB, actually):

censorship:

1. Counterintelligence achieved by banning or deleting any information of value to the enemy.

This I support, but only on the understanding that lives/countries/etc. would be endangered if such info were released thus it is better kept under wraps until secrecy is no longer necessary.

2. Deleting parts of publications or correspondence or theatrical performances.

This I do NOT support. In any shape or form, for any reason. It limits creative expression and the free choice of individuals to decide what they want to read/view etc. Just because you dont like something is no reason not to let others enjoy it. Its up to you whether you read/view it or not and there is always the option of walking away.

so your saying that it should be published, even if someones life is potentially in danger if that particular information gets out?

OK, my views on censorship:

Beyond allowing parents to censor what their children see/read/hear/whatever, I believe censorship should not be allowed (unless of course someone's life is in the balance or things of that nature).
This does not mean that I like profane language. It is crude, demeaning, and nasty.
I retain the right to censor as I see fit for myself, which is why I plan on only skimming your posts from now on, Qi. My apologies for any offense you may take, but I don't like that first post you put here. Ruffled my feathers enough to promt me to ask you to refrain from spelling out obscenities. If you must, can you use * in the words? I'd appreciate any effort you make to humor me and my idiotic request.

hey man, s'all good. i understand completely, i mostly put them there to make my point a bit more clear. expect asteris's in the future.

First of all, how to swear words clarify anything? All they say to me is that you can't think of anything better to say so you just throw in a meaningless but obscene word to try to make it sound better. In my opinion, we should have a right to be able to safely avoid things that commonly offend people, such as profane language, as much as we have a right to say what we want. Therefore, public channels that show things for, say, kids, should have censorship to protect the ears of the innocent. If, on the other hand, the material is known to contain such language and must be purchased or otherwise requested, censorship is unnecessary.

I hate censorship. It interrupts with the free flow of ideas, "shields" people from truth, and really does not mean anything. Now, I can understand it in regards to troop movements (imagine if the press ran front page stories about Normandy weeks before it happened), but censorship for national security reasons is overused. As long as the material produced internally by the government does not deal with matters of war, I see no reason why the material should not be released. It baffles me when I hear a President say that he can't tell those who voted for him about a conversation he had with (insert organization here) because of national security reasons.

With TV, censorship is often times hypocritical and simply nonsensical. I mean, listening to six thirty year old degenerates babble on about their latest sexual escapades is a whole lot worse than saying a swear word or showing off your hoo-hoos on national TV during a sporting event. Who are we protecting? The children? I guarentee you that they know every single swear word by third grade. Hearing it on television won't be detrimental. And what censorship does is shift the burden of parentening away from the parents, resulting in deviant behaviors among children. Once a parent begins to believe he/she that government will help them in raising the kids, that parent will not be as involved in the childrens' lives. One of the biggest problems in society today is the notion that government will do it for you, whether that be child-raising or saving up for your future.

Ideally, censorship is always wrong. Unfortunately, others think otherwise and that creates the need for censorship. Its strange that people will actually sometimes choose to restrict their own access to information in a market driven economy.

Regarding the use of swear words, I don't like it either. I view it often times to be indicative of a poor education and upbringing. I don't even let my two next door neighbors (they're 10 and 12) say words like "crap" or "freakin'" around me since I believe that others will come to think less well of them if they use such words in their common speech (can somebody tell me where freakin' came from anyway???). Outside of common speech, though, swear words can sometimes be appropiate. But dropping the f word, or any swear word, casually into a conversation is simple mental defeciency.

Question: How is typing out 'sh*t' any different than typing out 'shit'? You still know what the word is...

I don't want to offend, but some explaination would be nice.

I don't know, it just seems less offensive because.. well, I really don't know lol!

I approve of SOME censorship. I don't want to be flipping through the channels and seeing glimpses of people having sex on every other channel. It's disgusting. Not that sex is disgusting, but I just don't approve of having it on TV. Movies, alright.. because you pay to see the movie and most likely know what you're getting into. But little kids watch TV! They don't need to be learning cuss words and seeing just where babies come from!

I started swearing in 4th grade.. 6 years ago. Wow. No wonder I can't break the habit. I really don't like it. But it's not easy to stop when every other word you hear at school is the f-word, and on TV people are saying G-- d--- it and stuff like that. I'm Christian, and it would be a lot easier to 'prove' that if I didn't cuss. I don't like saying words at school that I'd get killed for if I said them at home. Because sometimes it almost slips at home.

You know where I picked those words up? From TV and playgrounds.. I understand you can't censor playgrounds. But at least TRY to censor some language..

I understand you can change the channel.. but sometimes you'll be watching a show, thinking it's ok, and find out five minutes later that it's not. That limits what I can and can't watch. I don't want to have to limit myself to Spongebob Squarepants because the idiots who create my favorite shows decided they needed to 'spice it up' a little. It's completely unnecessary.

TV is pretty much the only place I approve of censorship. I don't really care about the other things, because chances are you've researched what you want to read or which movie you want to see. At least you've read what it's about. So you have a choice there. But everyone watches TV, and you don't always know what you're going to see or hear.

As much as I agree with Brian, I have to disagree on one thing, or kind of.

Censorship on television, I agree, is bad, in large part. There are, of course, isolated incidents, such as the Persian Gulf War, in which case large organizations such as CNN, ABC, and CBS were all going to air where American troops were when we stormed Baghdad. This goes back to national security, and I think you conceded it might be best if we censor things in the interest of national security. But, look at kids in the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s: did they turn out worse or better for lack of sex and cussing on television? For the most part, I'd say they're doing better than we are. Of course, it wasn't censored by government, it was censored by the people, who frankly wouldn't put up with crap on television. Sure, you can tune away, if you're mature enough. You are granting some maturity to kids here. Parents can't be on their kids backs every hour of every day, so I believe it is necessary, in some sense, for censorship. The television, however, pales in comparison to what can be found through the internet. You can't censor it though. I'm going to say censorship is needed, but it should not be done by the federal government. I don't know what other method there is to do it with, so perhaps it's best to say censorship is stupid. I partly agree with that, actually.

Also, words like "freakin'" came from Peter. Duh. :rolls eyes:

I think I'm getting incoherent, but perhaps the above post made some sense.

Galatea Said:
Question: How is typing out 'sh*t' any different than typing out 'shit'? You still know what the word is...

I agree one hundred percent. Don't just take out some of the word if you're trying to decrease the use of profanity. Take out the whole thing, or just leave the whole thing there. Just like on the radio is some song, they'll say lik e "sh....t," and sometimes it'll be so fast, it'll actually sound like they *said* the word. So in my opinion, it needs to be one way or the other. You can't straddle the fence.

Galatea wrote:Question: How is typing out 'sh*t' any different than typing out 'shit'? You still know what the word is...

I don't want to offend, but some explaination would be nice.

I'll try to explain my views. I don't know how cusswords came about, and they don't make much sense, but they're here. I've only heard my father curse once in an extreme situation. Leaving out a letter is much less offending to me, sort of a comprimise. The point still gets out, but in a way that doesn't make my hackles rise.
btw, I do use the 3 letters WTF, WTH, and a couple other things, but I could never bring myself to say their full words. If I do, take cover in a nuke bomb shelter.

Well, when I read a word with a star instead of the letter, I end up reading the full word anyways. So typing the word and censoring one letter is the same thing. Plus, on the radio, even the f word is pretty much left in. I mean, if you hear "fk," you'll immediately think it's the f word (which is why you have to be careful with words like funky and frock). Anyways, I agree 100% that words like these that mean nothing are stupid and reflect such on the utterer, although when you are surrounded by such words, it's hard not to say some of the "less bad" ones. Being in the bubble known as Utah, I myself find it easy not to curse, although when I lived in California, which was most of my life, I found such words entering my thoughts randomly, for which I am very mad at all of the idiots around me that can't think of anything better to say. Which was everyone. But I don't swear despite having been bombarded with those words for probably 6 to 8 years, and am quite relieved to be hearing them so much less now.