Censorship can never be justified. Do you agree?
Censorship is the removal and withholding of information from the public by a controlling group or body. While censorship may be for the good of the society, it raises many issues whether it really is.
I do not agree that censorship can never be justified. It is to protect the interests of society that there is censorship. The mass media does not show certain things like extreme violence or sex scenes, the reason being these erode the moral values of society and corrupt the mind, especially of children and teenagers who are more susceptible to influences and more likely to grow up with values they learn in the environment they are brought up in. Even if the media such as the television do show some things that ought to be censored, it is likely to be during the non-prime hours when not many people are watching. So, how can censorship not be justified, when without censorship the moral values and integrity of the society would be affected?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6234809.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4716610.stm
In crime involving minors, the law will not allow the real names to be printed to protect their identity. Sometimes, this also means that the parent cannot be identified, for example in incest cases in Singapore.
Censorship is also not only to uphold the values of society, but also to protect culture and religion in multi-racial and religious countries like Singapore. What would it be like if there was no censorship against racism or criticism of different religions. Do you think Singapore can afford to have disharmony in society?
On the other hand, people may argue for freedom of speech and expression and democracy. I do not doubt that this is important because this is a basic human right. The public has the right to speak their views freely. But the thing is, if freedom of speech and expression results in racial or religious discrimination which leads to social upheaval, would it still be fine?
To conclude, there are both reasons why censorship can or cannot be justified, but I believe that it can.
1 comment:
Censorship can NEVER be justified. Do you agree. A good thing to note is the word "NEVER" in the question. Even by mentioning a couple of justification for censorship, you already disagreed with the statement. Maybe you would like to put the "On the-other-hand" thinking in the opening, that is to show you considered both sides at the start. Like, while there are many reasons that go against censorship, there are certainly some that justified it..etc etc...
Post a Comment