Essay on Censorship

Essay on Censorship

Censorship is a very sensitive topic. While people claim that censorship should be banned because it takes away the freedom of an individual, others say that censorship should be allowed in certain cases because abrogating censorship might harm the safety and privacy of others. While censorship does take away the rightful freedom of individuals to express themselves through literature, film, or music, in subjects such as pornography, confidential information, and other private areas, censorship should definitely be applied.

The complete censoring of books, films, or any other sources of information is detrimental to the society it is applied on. Censorship blocks the flow of information, forbidding individuals to think and reason for themselves. In the book Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury predicts the consequences of a society where the government censors books that it finds "hurtful to others." If any of these books are found they are burned. This society is full of people who cannot think straight, always look for entertainment, have no responsibility, and have no emotions. The people treat their family with no love, the parents treat their children like they would treat trash, even though family members were dragged to war, they could not care less if they died a violent death. This was what a society would have become if censorship had taken over. Censorship denies the freedom of speech, thought, and will of people, which leads to people without the ability to manage their own lives.

Censorship does prohibit people from reaching books or videos they might want to read or watch but it also prohibits children from watching pornography, people knowing of others private life, and terrorists getting a hold of the government's confidential information. If we took away censorship as a whole, we would expose ourselves to danger; we would become vulnerable targets to terrorism, black mailing, fraud, and even corruption because of the uncontrolled trafficking of information. A current article has reported that libraries have taken the book 50 Shades of Gray off of their shelves. The book was known to be very graphic, violent, and sexually filthy. If a book like this reached the young audience, children, who are known to be susceptible and extremely sensitive to their surroundings, could possibly distort sexual perceptions or even worst, trivialize sex related crimes by beclouding the children's judgment between right and wrong. Censorship in some cases is acceptable. While complete censorship can possible harm a society, abolishing all censorship is just as irrational.

Censorship has been a subject that many have debated. Having censorship and not having censorship are both too risky and dangerous. While the government should not abuse the power of censorship for its own good, people should not strive to abolish it. There are many angles in which censorship