Thread: Censorship

I'm amazed no one ever created a topic on this.

Censorship.

Censorship in movies. Censorship on TV. Censorship in games. Censorship on the internet. And I'm not talking about just the political stuff. Ratings of movies and games (you can't watch\play this until you're XX years old! THERE'S BLOOD IN IT!!1), stuff like sex scenes with bras on in the movies (don't you just hate that?), South Park\Family Guy bannings, the bleeping of swear words etc.



Should it be upheld?

In my opinion, it's all just a bunch of bullshit, and it's bad for you. So kids see a little blood, so what? That'll prepare them for what's coming later in life. So some people get offended after watching South Park, so what? Just don't watch the show.

Your thoughts?

Censorship is different depending on the country. I find they are a bit more liberal in Canada than in US when it comes to nudity or swear words. Europe would be even more liberal.

But I think that the problem is also that what you see on TV *isn't* real. Kids need to understand that you can't shoot somebody in the leg because you are mad at them. Kids spend so much time in front of the TV that they learn from it! Some don't think it is any different than real life.

Well, it's the job of the parents to tell them that.

And, besides, by the time they're old enough to buy a gun, I'm sure they would already know it's wrong to do that.

Originally Posted by Nequilius

Well, it's the job of the parents to tell them that.

And, besides, by the time they're old enough to buy a gun, I'm sure they would already know it's wrong to do that.

Mostly, yeah :)
I really dislike censorship. Censoring ideas is just act of true fear of ones mind capability and action, and censoring naughty language is just for those who never understood true power of the words! I mean, is this FUCK word gonna kill you after reading?

The first thing that comes to mind when I read this topic is the fight scenes in R rated movies. At a certain age (17+), you will watch and be like "meh" or "wow that's awesome" and "ouch!". But when you show it to a kid, the kid will like it, and the kid will often try to simulate some of those fights with their friends. When I was a kid, this other kid threw a ******* lath in my face that hit me in the area of the eyebrow close to the temple. I only got out with a scar, but come on. We were 9 years old and we were just playing chase. When asked why he hit me with it, the answer was something along the lines "I SAW IT IN A MOVIE". And it wasn't just this one kid. I was like that too. Most of the kids around my age were.

Some things are better kept out of the mind of young people because they can't grasp the consequences or understand the situations in the movies the way they should.

I used to love to watch some things that were out of my viewing age range. Once I was past the range (when it was "safe" for me to watch), I didn't like it as much as before. I kind of grew out of it. Things like Star Wars, and the Matrix.

There's a reason for the censorship, at least when it comes to physical violence. Swear words are a petty thing to censor.

I don't think that rating a movie for X and older is bad, it is actually good for measuring the ammount of unapropiated things in the release.
In example, many animes are rated R but may look and sound childish from the cover. There are many things i won't like a hipothetical son/daughter of mine to watch at some age because i believe he/she can get unaceptable values from it and suffer from this later in the life or do something stupid like dante92 said. You may argue, that it is all bs since no one believes blindly in everything he watches, but i say that one in a million do and i won't take the risk.

For the things like censoring the swearing and other stuff in open broadcasts, they are bounded by the rules of the society, you may not see a problem in it, but others do, and your liberty to watch what you want can't overcome others right to don't see it. If you don't like the beeps, you can aways buy the uncensored version.
I know that my girlfriend would easily be shocked or even pukes if she came to pass by a broadcast of Canibal Hollocaust or Saw. Extreme examples, i know, but i'm ok with them, should it be broadcasted in the middle of the afternoon? Definetly not, and it is just blood that it shows for a casual watcher.
Just don't watching it wouldn't work for the simple fact that you can't know what is showing everywhere at any time unless there are things like period restriction for different rated stuff.

I, however don't agree with enforcing it as a rule in a private case. I think each parent should judge what his son can watch or do. I agree with forbidding kids to watch movies or do things like going to strip clubs alone, but i don't see a problem in it if a parent allows and is with them when it is happening (like taking your 12 years old son to watch a porn). Everything should be also availible to anyone in the way the creator thinks it is the best, banning movies, books or only letting the censored version availible is wrong.

I support the fact that information, internet, media outlets, news, etc. should not be censored. But If you're specifically talking about the ratings of movies and games and such then this should still be enforced. Without the rating system, unless you're watching everything your kids are you could never be sure there's a scene in that Pokemon movie where Pikachu tell his teacher "fuck this bullshit, this is too much homework!" to find out he's saying the same thing to his teacher becuase he saw it in a movie. Like fractal said, you can always find an uncensored version if need be.

I'll give you an example:

I grew up in Russia. In Russia, there were never any rating systems for either movies or games. I've seen a huge amount of R rated movies, played GTA, Postal and many other violent games all while being below the rating age. Guess what - I didn't turn out violent or retarded. Why? Because my parents told me that all that stuff isn't real, it's not what happens in the real world. So when I saw guys in TV shows skipping school to draw some graffiti, I didn't do it because I understood that it is not the right thing to do and that it's just a TV show. I firmly believe censorship is bad in all it's manifestations, and kids should be exposed to as many things as possible.

But kids - not the only issue. What about grown ups who easily get offended by shows like South Park? Do you think SP really deserves a ban for that?

Originally Posted by Nequilius

I'll give you an example:

I grew up in Russia. In Russia, there were never any rating systems for either movies or games. I've seen a huge amount of R rated movies, played GTA, Postal and many other violent games all while being below the rating age. Guess what - I didn't turn out violent or retarded. Why? Because my parents told me that all that stuff isn't real, it's not what happens in the real world. So when I saw guys in TV shows skipping school to draw some graffiti, I didn't do it because I understood that it is not the right thing to do and that it's just a TV show. I firmly believe censorship is bad in all it's manifestations, and kids should be exposed to as many things as possible.

But kids - not the only issue. What about grown ups who easily get offended by shows like South Park? Do you think SP really deserves a ban for that?

And your parents are intelligent and good parents. But in general that is not true. Censorship exists to make sure kids who have shitty parents don't watch these shows and play these games and then decide to go out and do what happened to dante92. Many, many laws that exist and seem to limit what a person can do are in place because the general population of the world is not intelligent. They do stupid things and then go on to hurt others.

Either way, censorship for video games and movies in the US came about because of a movement by parents. So in a sense, parents were making the decisions and limiting what their children could watch or play. They may have been making the decision for other parents...but that's how things work.