Censorship

[Steezie]

They had the movie Casino on tonight. Casino is a good movie, but it has a lot of swearing and "questionable" material in it. When they edited that movie for television, someboddy had to break the bleeping button.

Now why is that? Why do we need someone to regulate what we can and cannot watch and for that matter, why do we need a GOVERNMENT AGENCY to tell us what we can and cannont watch.

Why do we need someone telling us what we can and cannot watch, why cant we decide for ourselves?

 

[Coder]

I am a hypocrite. I am "100%" anti-Censorship, but then I make claims that I believe that all Pornography (hard-core, not simply nudity, swearing, love scenes, etc) should be banned in print and all Pornography should be filtered from all American Internet servers. I am conflicted.

As an adult American I do not feel, need, or want anyone and especially the Government telling me I cannot watch "Casino" or "The Sopranos"-- I love both of those!

As to swearing: I admit I swear TOO much (in private company) so, this is a non-issue for me.

Censorship can lead to dangerous realms of the loss of rights but I do feel Pornography is a suitable place to begin if we were to consider and debate this nationally (but only with limited abilities to censor specific items and themes.)

Thank-you for making this post and posing this important question.

Regards,
Matty

 

[SallyNow]

Network television edits things because it is for family viewing.

Want all the good stuff? Watch cable or rent the DVD.

Now, why someone would want to watch an edited version of Sex and The City, for instance, I don't know, but hey, there's a market for it... so it's going to be done.

 

[Futuwwa]

They had the movie Casino on tonight. Casino is a good movie, but it has a lot of swearing and "questionable" material in it. When they edited that movie for television, someboddy had to break the bleeping button.

Now why is that? Why do we need someone to regulate what we can and cannot watch and for that matter, why do we need a GOVERNMENT AGENCY to tell us what we can and cannont watch.

Why do we need someone telling us what we can and cannot watch, why cant we decide for ourselves?

Are you sure it was censored by the government? If it was the TV company which did the censorship, would you still have a problem with it? Doesn't freedom of speech also include freedom of shutting up?

 

[chaz345]

They had the movie Casino on tonight. Casino is a good movie, but it has a lot of swearing and "questionable" material in it. When they edited that movie for television, someboddy had to break the bleeping button.

Now why is that? Why do we need someone to regulate what we can and cannot watch and for that matter, why do we need a GOVERNMENT AGENCY to tell us what we can and cannont watch.

Why do we need someone telling us what we can and cannot watch, why cant we decide for ourselves?

The simple answer is that the airwaves over which TV is broadcast are a public resource and they should not be used for material that a significant portion of society disagrees with. That's why cable/satellite has much looser restrictions on what they show.

 

[KarateCowboy]

They had the movie Casino on tonight. Casino is a good movie, but it has a lot of swearing and "questionable" material in it. When they edited that movie for television, someboddy had to break the bleeping button.

Now why is that? Why do we need someone to regulate what we can and cannot watch and for that matter, why do we need a GOVERNMENT AGENCY to tell us what we can and cannont watch.

Why do we need someone telling us what we can and cannot watch, why cant we decide for ourselves?

I think the biggest reason is because there are kids whose parents are not telling them what they can and cannot watch.

This ties in to the Veggie Tales topic.

 

[KarateCowboy]

Are you sure it was censored by the government? If it was the TV company which did the censorship, would you still have a problem with it? Doesn't freedom of speech also include freedom of shutting up?

So true.

You have the right to remain silent, anything you say will be deliberately misquoted and used against you . . .

 

[chaz345]

Are you sure it was censored by the government? If it was the TV company which did the censorship, would you still have a problem with it? Doesn't freedom of speech also include freedom of shutting up?

By definition, combined with the actual wording of the 1st amendment, only the government can be guilty of censorship and the case could be made that it only applies to speech that is critical of the government. Anything else is, or should be considered as regulations that reflect the will of society.

 

[kopilo]

I have a censorship of my own.. It's called the off button, no government needs to regulate it, I'm fine with regulating it myself.

 

[gengwall]

There are certain classes of unprotected (or marginally protected) speech. Obsenity is one. Society as a whole determines what is "obscene". Since the government regulates the airwaves (I suppose under the interstate commerce clause in some way), they can determine what is obscene and can regulate (suppress) it. It's that simple.

 

[Robinsegg]

That which is easily accessible to children should be regulated. That which is available after certain hours (not the family hours of primetime) and that which is purchased by consumers (cable/dish) is regulated by the consumer.

That's why I'm so in favor of un-bundling the channels and allowing an ala-carte channel selection for consumers. So that we pay for the channels we want, and don't have the rest coming into our homes. That would be a combination of self-censorship (the consumers censors what comes into their homes) and public policy-driven censorship (supply and demand).

Rachel