ONE PAGE DEBATE! D:<

[Tsiklop]

Sorry, I'm having trouble thinking of a good topic.

Post what you think about censorship on television, the radio, in schools, etc, and whether or not it does good or bad (or neither)-basically, are you for or against it.

Personally, I think it's retarded. People get so offended by stupid things, that you have to tiptoe around them or risk having to pay fines or whatever (you know, being sued). It's a futile battle, because you KNOW people are going to find out about it anyway, so instead of pretending that that sort of stuff doesn't exist, maybe you should educate them about it? Instead of telling them they can't use bad words because they're bad, tell them it's because they're rude and using them will only make them come off like an uncultured boor. And don't even get me started on abstinence-only sex education. Uhg. / rant

 

[Kaiyle Brightblade]

I LOVE YOU! I have been wanting to make this topic for a week but I felt like it would be rude to make two topics in a row.

You know what I think about censorship? I think we censor the wrong things. I was listening to the radio one day. Pretty much the standard set of "bad" words and references to drugs were censored. The same things will be censored on Gaia, and lots of other places.

But then I listened to what got through. There's a song about a woman who knows her boyfriend is cheating on her, but she's just hoping it will go away because she loves him. Thats a HORRIBLE message to send to young women. You shouldn't allow your boyfriend to mistreat you just because you love him.

Then there was a commercial about a diet shake talking about a woman who lost twelve pounds in seven days by using the product. Now, this advertisement spreads two very harmful myths about weight loss. The first myth is that weight loss should be instantaneous. In fact, weight loss should be slow and steady to effectively lose weight and keep it off. Due to this misconception people will quit weight loss programs because in their minds they are not seeing results fast enough. The second myth this advertisement spreads is even more harmful: the idea that a magic pill or shake will make you lose weight without you changing your habits. While I wish that were true, the simple fact is that weight loss requires a drastic change in your habits and a commitment to a healthy lifestyle. But thats not what the advertisers want us to believe, because then we wouldn't pay them. So they tell us that if we use their products we'll become thin, and people go on believing it and never doing anything about their health problems.

I would say "Censor these things! Replace the songs about looking the other way with songs about strong, independent women who know how to stand up for themselves. Replace the diet ads with correct information about healthy weight loss!" But you know what? I respect our first amendment. I respect your right to say what you want (barring clear and present dangers) even if I don't like it. So I won't say that. I'll say, uncensor the radio and the television. Eliminate the FCC, and use the extra dollars to fund some commercials and programs with good role models and correct health information.  

[Lady Kira X]

Don't like it.. don't watch/listen to it.  

[Amarah Couture]

Some censorship is needed. Kids will learn bad things/words, but most parent's don't want to be the cause and seem like bad parents.
I do not think drugs/alcohol should be censored, because either young kids don't know what they are or know they're bad.
Cursing on the radio- yes. on the tv- excess cursing- yes.
Nudity/sexual things should be left to the 18+ places only. Not in movies where a 13 year old can go see. That's just disgusting.
Teaching your kids the right and wrong are definitely a big one in this as well.
So, in all- I'm very for censorship.  

[miss-monotony]

I understand that censorship is great to block out the "bad things" for children, but the be quite honest, if the child needs something to be censored, they shouldn't be watching it in the first place. Nudity can also be included in this. Therefore, there's a handy thing we call parental blocking. Oh, and Kaiyle?
Oh my god, I totally understand what you're saying, but that's media. If wieght loss commercials didn't make it look like you could eat/drink your way to an idealistic body, who would honestly buy it? So I'm ok for censoring and media, but overall, I think that we could just easily avoid it.  

[Zephyrkitty]

I'm extremely anti-censorship. I really don't care what content is in your book/movie/game/etc., it can be the most horrible, disgusting, offensive piece of garbage I've ever experienced, but it should still be available for people to read/watch/etc.

That said, I do understand things like age limits. That R-rated movie shouldn't be banned, but that doesn't mean it's okay for your 5-year-old to watch it. Unfortunately, age doesn't necessarily equal maturity, so parents need to be able to judge what is and isn't acceptable for their child.

Fabulous Dahling

It's a futile battle, because you KNOW people are going to find out about it anyway, so instead of pretending that that sort of stuff doesn't exist, maybe you should educate them about it? Instead of telling them they can't use bad words because they're bad, tell them it's because they're rude and using them will only make them come off like an uncultured boor.

THIS.

Fabulous Dahling

And don't even get me started on abstinence-only sex education. Uhg. / rant

Fun fact: Abstinence-only sex education doesn't even help. Teenagers will still have sex at around the same time, but they're less likely to use protection since they've been taught that it's not effective.  

[Kaiyle Brightblade]

xazn_pridex

I understand that censorship is great to block out the "bad things" for children, but the be quite honest, if the child needs something to be censored, they shouldn't be watching it in the first place. Nudity can also be included in this. Therefore, there's a handy thing we call parental blocking. Oh, and Kaiyle?
Oh my god, I totally understand what you're saying, but that's media. If wieght loss commercials didn't make it look like you could eat/drink your way to an idealistic body, who would honestly buy it? So I'm ok for censoring and media, but overall, I think that we could just easily avoid it.

I do understand that is misinformation is spread for the purpose of advertising the product. But regardless of that, I think that the misinformation is very harmful. I move that we stop worrying so much about censoring and spend some money on government-sponsored commercials that contain healthy weight loss information.  

[BannedAccount8623822]

Shouldn't there be people reporting them and taking those commercials off?  

[Kaiyle Brightblade]

Friendshipstar

Shouldn't there be people reporting them and taking those commercials off?

Well, its not technically false advertising. All they said that a woman had lost twelve pounds in a week while using the product, and I'm sure that part is true. They didn't say the weight loss was solely because of the product, nor did they say that everyone will have the same result. However, I think that the message people without a good health education will take away from this commercial is that they will lose a lot of weight very quickly if the only thing they do differently is take this product. That is the message I consider to be harmful. But you notice that the commercial never said any such thing, it was only implied. Thus they did not break any rules.  

[AThousandLullabies]

i like censorship.
i think that it's good because little kids won't be learning curse words and such.  

[Zephyrkitty]

AThousandLullabies

i like censorship.
i think that it's good because little kids won't be learning curse words and such.

I'm just going to point out that I learned most swear words through hearing other people use them. I don't think censorship would be all that helpful in preventing kids from learning curse words.  

[Femme Autobot Crescendo]

You can censor what you want on TV, but you can't censor anyone from school. Middle school, you walked down those hallways, you got seven new vocabulary words that no one ever wanted to hear.