Censorship Should Be Censored Essay, Research Paper

Censorship should be censored

In 443 BC the comitia centura of the ancient Roman State began the fight over censorship, or withholding lawful information from the public to protect the public from violence, pornography, etc This committee felt there was a need for the office of censor who decided what were correct manners and morals. This Roman Empire was the beginning of the war over censorship. Still we feel the need to tighten censorship from the public for various reasons. One argument is that the criminal population can get a hold of security information. George Dunsmore Says The implications of what organised crime [has] learned form the FOIA [is] frightening; what hostile nations can learn poses a much greater danger. However, the modern state insists that by thus quarantining the general public against books not too rugged for grown men and women in order to shield juvenile innocence, it is exercising its power to promote the general welfare. Surely this is to burn the house to roast the pig The incidence of this enactment is to reduce the adult population of Michigan to reading only what is fit for children. Censorship continues to irk our great nation from back in 443 BC to present day and it will continue into the futures; however, the opinions still remain, and censorship should, in itself, be censored.

Opposing sides argue that by opening up the idea that censorship is wrong and allowing freedom security information can more easily be accessed by hostile nations. However, allowing a country to read a magazine with nudity, watch television with violence, or read a book with obscene materials doesn t mean we are giving up important security information. It is merely allowing the adult public to choose what is proper for them to read, watch, etc This is what makes an adult an adult, the power to choose. Thus, security information wouldn t get out the way our government works if it were allowed to because the government will always do what them deem is best for security, but for our entertainment purposes, why censor an adult s decision?

Economically, Porn, violence in movies or sports such as cops and robbers or boxing, etc remain entertainment for the world. A large part of the economy is movies, Internet, magazines and private stores. Censoring these will only lead to unemployment. The producers could no longer make money producing movies, the internet would mostly be purely educational, private store owners would have to close there shops, and large corporations such as playboy would be forced to shut down their huge money-maker. Also, closing such a huge corporation such as Playboy would cause a large increase in unemployment. The economy would suffer if we enforced censorship.

In 1776 our government wrote the Constitution, in this are the First 10 Amendments or our Bill of Rights. The First Amendment or Bill of Right is the right to free speech. It states, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free speech, or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievance.

Our right is to speak freely, watch what we d like and read whatever we want. Justice Thurgood Marshall said, If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a state has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch. This, from a unanimous Supreme Court decision in 1969 shows the importance of the First Amendment. Legally it is without a doubt our right to full access to the materials considered for censoring. It is clearly our right to censor censorship.

Our society also has a thing called equality. Assuming we are all equal, who gets to say what needs to be censored? Allowing one to decide what should be censored and not allowing the other to decide will cause problems. People will argue the says who argument. One will say this is a necessary censorship and the other says, says who. Society wants to know who says they can t watch films or read books as they choose. This creates social chaos and fighting among civilians. Our society works on the basis of equality, if someone feels as though they are unequal to another our society would take a drastic turn for the worst. Eliminating the idea of censorship would eliminate the worry of censorship, thus, calming the people who argue against it.

To conclude, many people have different opinions, however, it is clear that for economic, legal, and social reason that we don t need censorship. There are many other solutions to the problems with obscene materials such as more monitoring and deciding just how much of an impact these things have on people, children or adults. With all the money our country spends and all the laws made each year maybe some of the money or law should be finding a solution more in touch with reality and making it a law. Censorship is not a solution to our problem with obscenities. In return censorship is a touchy or obscene subject on its own. Why then don t we just censor censorship?