Censorship: a Difficult Issue Essay

Submitted By Muntgrumble
Words: 1410
Pages: 6
Open Document
Censorship is defined as “the practice of officially examining books, movies, etc., and suppressing unacceptable parts” but lately, it seems to be going beyond examining content for anything that crosses what they define as “the line” but it seems to involve companies, religious organizations and even the government taking it upon themselves to define what is and isn’t proper or acceptable. Censorship is becoming a huge problem in all entertainment mediums, and is even starting to become an issue in real life as well. The three main types of censorship are corporate, political and religious and I intend to highlight each one of those three as well as offer up my own personal take and suggested solution to the issue.
The first, religious censorship, occurs when either the church, or someone who worships in the church takes offense to a certain work. The grounds on which offense is taken are usually something along the lines of blasphemy, sacrilege or heresy. One of the earliest examples of religious censorship occurred in the late 1400’s when Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press was beginning to catch on in Europe. This caught the attention of the Catholic church, which began to recognize that this was an important invention. As a result of this, the Pope required that the church approve any and all books before they were allowed to be published. Although the church had been censoring books for a long time before the invention and popularity of the printing press, this is when it really began to become clear what a tight hold the church had on different types of entertainment and even knowledge in some cases ("Gutenberg's Legacy"). For example, in the early 1500’s Nicholas Copernicus was just coming to the realization that it would make more scientific sense for the Earth to revolve around the sun, rather than the other way around, as was the popular belief at the time. Copernicus chronicled his theory in a book but being a devout Catholic, he was afraid to publish the book due to the possible consequences that angering the church would cause (Xiang, Jung, Xinming, and Teo). A more recent example concerning Islam, when in 1989, British author Salman Rushdie published his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, which was an anthology of three stories, each of which concern the characters having religious experiences. Muslims were deeply offended by various references in the novel, which they found to be either distasteful or full on blasphemous, such as the prophet Abraham being called a “bastard,” angered some Muslims so much that there were death threats made against Rushdie, as well as an assassination order taken out by Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran. Following this, Rushdie was forced to go into hiding for nearly ten years until the condemnation was ended in 1998 (Thompson).
Another type of censorship that has become a problem is political censorship. This is the changing, or otherwise tampering with laws in the name of maintaining morality, public safety and social values. One of the big examples of this is happening and has been happening for centuries in China. One of the big things they attempt to do is to isolate China from the rest of the world. They do this by making it extremely difficult to contact or interview people for use in a foreign publication. Isolating China from the rest of the world has been a tradition in the country for many years, and because of this people in China have gained a sort of fear of dealing with foreign media. It’s even reached a point where, even if someone in China wants to arrange an interview, it may not be able to happen if a supervisor doesn’t approve. In addition to not approving of foreign coverage of things happening in their country, the Chinese government also has strict review policies that public media such as television, movies, newspaper and magazine articles, and even things posted to the internet have to go through in order to be allowed to go public. These reviews occur at both
Show More

Related Documents: Censorship: a Difficult Issue Essay

Censorship In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

conform to society? One of the most difficult challenges in life is trying to be different in a world that is trying to make everyone conform to society. Being an individual means you are different. We were not made to be exactly alike and if we were, we would live in a black and white world. Fahrenheit 451 helps prove the idea that censorship is more harmful to a society because it deprives people of diversity, curiosity, and intelligence. One trait that censorship would deprive people of is diversity…

Words 478 - Pages 2

Censorship On The Internet

where the line of freedom of speech and censorship on the internet is blurry. The decision of at what point the government should intervene can be difficult to make. It often brings concerns of the government, and more specifically Homeland Security, being either too strict or not strict enough. If the interventions become to strict and too often it will come off as censorship. If the interventions are not often enough or are not addressed with issues that should be dealt with, it comes off…

Words 598 - Pages 3

The Controversy Of Banning Books

is controlled is through censorship. Censorship is the suppression of books, film and news that are considered to be a threat to security. Censorship suppresses speech, public communication and other information. Censorship is mostly done by the government. Censorship occurs in many different ways: media, speeches, books, music, film. There are many problems with censorship, such as when the government engages in censorship, first amendment rights are implicated. Censorship can be very harmful because…

Words 908 - Pages 4

237274396 The Future Of Information Tec Essay

eidmohd89@gmail.com July 26, 2014 Part Time Job Summary This document is a respond to a research question (Throughout the world there has been an increase in discussions regarding “Censorship of the Internet”, explain how Censorship can work in some instances but in others it can be a detriment to society). Censorship of Internet has been under a hot discussion for the past many years. In some cases it has been useful to control and manipulate traffic over the Internet. But there are millions of…

Words 1295 - Pages 6

Taurang 451 Essay

Through the character of Montag, Bradbury highlights the detrimental effects of censorship on intellectual freedom and critical thought. As a fireman, Montag initially adheres to the government's mandate to burn books, but he begins to question his role after a series of encounters and experiences. In a moment of frustration with his wife, Mildred, Montag expresses his realization about the stifling effect of censorship, stating, “We need not be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while…

Words 490 - Pages 2

Price theory Essays

going into China like legal, cultural, and ethical challenges facing Google when the decision was made to provide services to China. When Google entered China, locations and hosted servers were maintained by Chinese employees in addition to strict censorship regulations governed by the Chinese government. Google was faced with managing employees and a business that followed different laws and cultures compared to their American counterparts. Arguments For | Argument Against | Rapidly growing internet…

Words 3747 - Pages 15

Essay on Censorship

English 111 October 27, 2013 Censorship Have you ever been listening to the radio and heard a “beeeeep” in some parts of the song you’re listening to? You know, the annoying sound that interrupts the song? The sound is a familiar one among those of us that listen to the radio, in particular Rap/hip-hop music stations. This noise is heard because it’s used to bleep out/censor the word that was previously there; the word was most likely ‘bad’ or offensive. Censorship is a growing concern for our…

Words 2037 - Pages 9

Censorship In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

paralleling themes of censorship in the colleges,…

Words 941 - Pages 4

Essay on Art Censorship FIXED

Smithsonian Hides/Liberals Seek: Censorship at the Smithsonian During the Howl Obscenity trials in 1957, Judge Clayton W. Horn declared, The theme of "Howl" presents unorthodox and controversial ideas. Coarse and vulgar language is used in treatment and sex acts are mentioned, but unless the book is entirely lacking in social importance it cannot be held obscene. (PSCv.LF) Whether literature or visual art, censorship has and continues to pose a threat to the freedom of expression. Uniformity…

Words 2467 - Pages 10

The Pros And Cons Of Censorship In Libraries

Censorship in any libraries has more to do with personal preference than effects on people and fact. Although one could argue that having tough topics could be triggering, but people do not have to read anything they feel strongly against. It is believed that censorship in libraries has no real benefits. Censoring libraries can be detrimental to a student if they are kept uninformed about real issues the world is facing. When someone could bring up a topic that I censored in a child's library,…

Words 256 - Pages 2