Doesn't it feel good to live in a country where for centuries people have fought and died to protect the basic rights guaranteed to them in the Constitution? In particular, the freedoms mentioned in the first amendment? A little more than 200 years ago, our countrymen went out to combat an oppressive government so that they could not only be free, but so that they could practice and say what they wanted. You'd think that after such a history our nation would have learned a little.
As childish and weak-willed as it may sound, there are still institutions out there that practice censorship. Yes, right here in the land of opportunity it's still not totally kosher to speak your mind.
The tactics used by these institutions are familiar to all of us: some of them will tell you that you can't say something because it's against the law, or because it's a secret, or - my personal favorite - because it's a sin. No matter what the case, these are all attempts to curve speech, thereby curving thought.
And it's the people whose opinions these groups may not like that are the prime examples of why these freedoms are necessary. You never hear people complain that there is too much talk of ending the drug problem. Know why? It's an idea supported by a great majority of the population (myself included). But it's the minority who feels otherwise that needs to at least be heard before it's told to keep quiet. Just because someone thinks a little differently than you doesn't mean that you have a right to shut them up. Yet this is just what censoring institutions do - instead of simply averting their eyes from opinions they don't agree with they try to wipe it out entirely so as not to have to face it. This, if you ask me, is one of the weakest forms of cowardice there is.
Smack me if I'm wrong - I mean, I could be going out on a limb here - but aren't there knobs on radios and televisions? Can't books, magazines and newspapers be closed? It seems to me that if you don't like something being said or written about, well, then don't read or listen to it. If you want to get rid of Howard Stern, don't take the case to court, just turn the damn dial...who knows, you may stumble across something else you like. Turn it off, turn the page, or tune it all out but at least admit that it has a right to be said.
Take for example the comments made about 49ers quarterback Elvis Grbac by the governor of California. Should he have been allowed to say it? Of course. Was he right? Not in a million years. I don't condone what was said, but I support the fact that it was allowed to be said - there's a difference.
Even though those organizations steeped in censorship usually see things only in black and white, it's the gray area that they should be holding on to and embracing. It's time for these places to wake up and smell the 20th century, because a new millennium is almost upon us and yet we still cannot let each other express our ideas without some sort of hassle.
What makes the irrationality of censorship even more humorous (other than the fact that it's an attempt to regulate ideas), is that it always backfires. Guess what banning books does? That's right - it gets people to read them. Hell, you wouldn't be reading this now had I not been given the shaft at my school - which unfortunately has fallen victim to the closed-minded individuals who run it. The saying goes that any publicity is good publicity, even the bad kind. This certainly holds true here.
You've got to wonder who gave the power of "censor" to these places, anyway? And why are there no standards? For a policy that is enforced a lot more than it should, it sure has an ambiguous nature. Face it, censorship changes with the times and the groups who wield the power to tell others what and what not to say, read, or watch. Look at what was considered offensive half a century ago, then see why Gone With the Wind was so controversial. Then, after you've seen Rhett and Scarlett do their thing, turn on Pulp Fiction and revel in the insanity of the double-standard you see before you.
The last time I checked, I was the master of my own destiny...I, not others around me, controlled what I read and listened to. And you know what, that method worked pretty well. I like to think that I still have a shred of control in my life. I guess I'm thinking wrong.
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