Something that we’ve all ran into at one point in our lives has definitely been censorship. While some of us can remember specifically when they’ve been censored, others, such as myself, cannot. Personally, I can’t really remember a single instance when another person or thing has censored my thoughts. Perhaps it is because I usually don’t always express my thoughts so often, so when I actually do express my opinions on a subject, people just don’t have time or the necessary ninja-like reflexes to censor anything I say. It’s usually in these kinds of expressive moments that my words just lie out in front of me, naked, blatantly displaying themselves to others nearby. Awkwardness ensues shortly afterwards.
However, there are many times when I feel we’re being prevented from learning something due to censorship, specifically from the news. When I feel like the information we’re receiving from the media has been censored, paranoia usually begins to seep in. What events can we truly believe being reported on the news when the media already censors so much outside of our lives, especially on TV. Visions of vicious curse words being spat at each other by the predictable cast of MTV’s latest rehashed version of The Real World come to mind; however, by no means can a not-so-real MTV reality show be compared to an event being reported by the news.
What I really mean to be getting at are historical events such as the Vietnam war. In AP Composition, we got to read a lot about how the US media would distort much of the information being relayed from the war to United States, so the US would look like they were doing well in the war, when in actuality, they weren’t. It’s acts like this that make me question sometimes what I hear on the news.
Finally, I began to think further about censorship in general, and I soon started thinking about how we censor ourselves many times throughout a single day. Countless times in a day, we won’t like what is happening between our classes, friends, or family, but won’t say anything about it in fear of making matters worse. This greatly reminded me of Mrs. Bartman and how she would teach us about using our “Filters” to block unnecessary or immature thoughts from blurting out of our mouths. Overall, I was just surprised at my own realization of how often we censor ourselves.
4 comments:
I also could not think of a specific time when I have been censored. I think we just kind of automatically censor most of the things we say. Something I thought of that was censored during the Iraq war has been torturing in Iraqi prisons. The government tried to keep it quiet for a while, but eventually the word got out throught the news channels.
I like the picture, it’s a nice touch. :) Anyway, your post made me think of SH-V when Rumsfoord wasn’t interested in certain details (input from someone who was actually there) to write his account of Dresden, he just wanted the statistics. That we receive censored information about historical events from biased sources makes me wonder how much of the big picture we’re actually getting.
I agree that it is kind of scary thinking about what we might not know about even the Iraqi war. We never know what the media or the government might be keeping from us. It's also seems backwards that the government censors some information from the public when this is supposed to be a country "by the people, for the people." It justs seems that we should know about these things; although, I'm not sure I want to know about the numerous terrorist threats the U.S. receives. I guess with some stuff, we're better off not knowing. Some people could go into a panic. I guess I'm divided on censorship. I feel like we should know the truth about what the government is doing concerning war, but other issues that are "false alarms" are not really worth alarming the public about.
Hey Kyle!
You may have realized it or not but school censors us quite a bit. The most annoying thing that is censored are the computers. I think it's clear why they block porn and all things nasty. But when they block things that I need to look up for a class it can get frustrating. Nice post!
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