One of my discussion topics in my theater class where the assignment was: “What are your thoughts on censorship?”
I avoided sharing in this discussion for the very reason that I have too many emotions involved concerning this subject, but I ask anyone who is offended by this view should please move along as my discussion is somewhat inflammatory and very close to being troll-bait, although not by design. It just generally happens that way when you take such an extreme view on such an emotionally charged subject. So I apologize if any flaming occurs as a result of my remarks.
“I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” – Thomas Jefferson
I have some very strong opinions about censorship. My bias mostly comes from my philosophy that information should be free and freely accessible. Please forgive my ‘slippery slope’ fallacy, but censorship is a tool that is abused and stifles growth more often than it ‘protects’ somebody from harm. As this is only a 100 word discussion topic asking for opinions, I will not be providing references or empirical evidence but I will share my opinions on the matter.
Censorship allows anyone who is offended to control what other people are allowed to consume. It provides people with a false justification with which to impose their will upon others with no repercussions. Censorship also allows people to feel entitled to philosophy and lets people think that it is acceptable to forcefully control the lives of others.
I do not care for your cries of “what about the children”/”save the children”. This rhetoric proves to me that the only purpose of censorship is to manipulate the emotions and fears of everyone concerned. Censorship serves no other purpose than to give those with intellectually incapable minds a more ‘level’ playing ground with which to aggressively attack those who have more rational minds. It is their way of trying to make up for their laziness of the brain and excuses them from having to exercise their right to refuse to consume offensive content. Worry about your own consumption of information. Don’t force your flawed world perceptions upon mine or my family’s.
Relating this subject to current events brings me to the topic of censoring Mark Twain’s book Huckleberry Finn by replacing all instances of the word “Nigger” with the word “Slave”. Rewriting history as it was actually spoken speaks volumes of the lengths people will go to in order to avoid becoming offended or avoid the remote possibility of offending others.
The abuses of censorship far outweigh any social benefits we could curate by instituting any form of ‘reasonable’ censorship rules. I know I keep repeating myself, but, I’ll say it a different way again. Censorship can cause greater magnitudes of harm to society’s growth and learning than the harm that is caused by somebody being offended by objectionable material, especially considering no one has the right to force you to watch offensive material while those that are offended have the right to force others to not view objectionable material.