Censorship

[jessika]

I want to start another very argumental post...lets see how this goes.
How does everyone feel about censorship? I know its not as bad as it used to be, but I noticed more censoring on t.v. and radios. Does anyone think that people are just getting worse or censorship is getting stricter?What about books? Some good books arnt in schools because of the contents, our school has quite a few that we can't read or check out from the library. What do yall think of censorship?

[trojansrule]

You really need to define what you mean by "censorship" for purposes of this thread. For example, when a library makes a decision not to have a certain work on its shelves, that does not constitute censorship in the true sense. No library can carry every single work, and has to make decisions what to have. These decisions are made on numerous factors, content being only one. It is easy to see that there are books that might be appropriate in a high school library that would not be OK on the shelves of an elementary school library, but nobody accuses the elementary librarians of censorship. The same is true for book stores, etc.

"Censorship" connotes taking affirmative action to prevent someone from having any access to a particular work. Some censorship is good (i.e., child pornography, etc.), while other censorship is not, such as totalitarian governments preventing their citizens' access to anything that doesn't follow the government's line.

The fact that your school has decided not to carry certain books doesn't prevent you from getting them elsewhere. As such, I do not consider that real censorship, although you can still be frustrated over their decision.

[Baashar]

Censorship isnt really an issue in America. Honestly, travel the globe a little bit and you'll see what I mean. Living in America we should all count our blessings regarding issues on censorship.

[dcstillownsyou]

True...you can speak all you want. The media will simply make you look like a fool to where you were censored through being labeled a fool and your ideas seeming foolish for having a contrary opinion to where it pulls no weight and is dismissed before thought about, but you can say it.

[Baashar]

Well if you're stupid, the media reserves the right to make you look like a fool.

[trojansrule]

dcstillownsyou said:

True...you can speak all you want. The media will simply make you look like a fool to where you were censored through being labeled a fool and your ideas seeming foolish for having a contrary opinion to where it pulls no weight and is dismissed before thought about, but you can say it.

So, then, would you censor the media's right to comment on you and your opinions? Who gets to decide which opinions get to be aired? I nominate me.

[dcstillownsyou]

Not neccessarily stupid...sometimes speaking the truth. WHy do you think its nearly impossible for someone who is not a puppet of major industries, that is not in the upper class, to be president? The industries own the media...everything major, except for a few radical newspapers and privately owned t.v. stations. Why do you almost never hear about the good things going on with socialism? Or about the people who worked their entire life and are now 70 years old choosing between medicine and food for the month in America. Clinton is so popular, esp. with minorities, but the fact that he cut social funding is rarely brought up causing more problems within the middle and lower classes and grandma is still struggling with a job at age 70 working at Wal-Mart. Why do you think African-Americans and teenagers are overly represented in the news compared to the percentage of crimes committed? Why is it more likely that if a white person is shot to be on the news than if it happened to be a hispanic or african-american? Why do you think Martin Luther King Jr. was tracked by the FBI and written a note that recommended that he commit suicide? The difference is MLK Jr. had a following and people funding him money. Same with Malcolm X, but the nation of islam was one of the richest organizations in the nation (it's thought that the money acquired was acquired shadily, but that's rarely different from bigger corporations). Why do you think no one heard anything when Lucent Technologies (who had a plant in OKC-near Bethany) was making up stock prices by selling stock to themselves, or illegally messing with the demand of their stock, then selling it before the price crashed making the owner set for life, while people over age 50 now had to seek out other jobs and basically start over, usually ending up doing manual labor lifting boxes at Tinker, or Sam's, Walmart, etc. The owner squealed on some other people and ended up basically with no punishment and with a huge reward for his cheating. This wasn't reported in the major media...have you ever wondered why? And don't even get me started on the Daily Oklahoman.

[trojansrule]

Whoa, whoa, hold on there, cowboy. This is a thread about censorship, not man's inhumanity toward man. I grant that there is a degre to which the media can limit our access to information, and thereby, censor some information. But doesn't the fact that you and I, relative nobodys in the big scheme of things (at least I'm not in the power elite), know about the very things you mentioned show that the media doesn't have absolute control over transfer of knowledge?

While I'm not going to ask you for documentation for many of the accusations you make about the media and things reported - that is not the point of this thread - I respectfully dispute many of those assertions.

Let's get back to the gist of the original post.

[Baashar]

Fact is, Cencorship is simply not an issue in this country. Theres many many many larger issues out there, cencorship isnt even on my list of things that are wrong with this country

[dcstillownsyou]

Nah, nah, cowboy lol.The point of that is did you hear about all that through media newspapers?
The power is the press-that's who virtually elects our leaders and keeps corruption in Washington. I got a little off topic, but the media controls what you hear...if all you see is black people shooting white people on the news that's going to form your opinion without you even paying attention. Racism is kept alive (purposely, or not) in a sense by the control of the media and ignorant parents (who sometimes control the media), which is directly related to censorship, and if you really want the documentation you can ask.

[trojansrule]

dcstillownsyou said:

Nah, nah, cowboy lol.The point of that is did you hear about all that through media newspapers?
The power is the press-that's who virtually elects our leaders and keeps corruption in Washington. I got a little off topic, but the media controls what you hear...if all you see is black people shooting white people on the news that's going to form your opinion without you even paying attention. Racism is kept alive (purposely, or not) in a sense by the control of the media and ignorant parents (who sometimes control the media), which is directly related to censorship, and if you really want the documentation you can ask.

Despite my fear of going seriously off-topic, I don't see nearly as many reports on TV or in the paper of black people shooting whites as I do blacks shooting and killing other blacks. I am not drawing too many conclusions from that fact alone, and I would advise others not to do so, either.

The fact remains that active censorship, as an institutionalized policy, really does not exist in the US. I would ask you to compare our situation to that which exists in most socialist nations, as you seem to have some attraction for that point of view. The shortcomings of capitalism and democracy, as practiced, does not mean that socialism offers the cure.

[dcstillownsyou]

Short rant:I don't think socialism cures all, but the facts are the average life in Cuba has been expanded to surpass American life or at least be on par with America, and it can't be denied that the educational system has done wonders since Batista...Capitalism provides for more freedoms in some instances, but with some bad breaks, not everyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps. What happened to capitalism in Africa, Asia, and Latin America? Where are the successes there? Castro has asked this repeatedly. What works for one country does not always work for the other. I'm not against capitalism, because i want to drive a bentley one day, but i am against capitalists who automatically dismiss socialism and view socialists as enemies just because of that label.
Back on topic:

Six out of seven studies that clearly identify race of victims find an underreporting of minority victims.

Among studies that document the race of perpetrators, nine out of 12 find minorities overrepresented.

www.buildingblocksforyouth.org/media/media.html


I'm not all for socialism, but most people are blindly loyal to whatever politicians push through and will not spend five minutes researching before they vote. They vote for whatever sign they saw before election time and they wonder why America is in debt, why polotics are corrupt, etc. Most people end up believing everything that was printed in their elementary history books (eich-don't get me started on history books).
Back on topic, my point is that America has its own form of censorship, despite it not being as blatant as other countries. It's not a legal censor, but a corporate one. There's no such things as free speech in elections-have to buy the time and elections are one of the main keys to power in America.

[trojansrule]

dc, I don't know whether to laugh or cry or both at the fact that you have found something good to say about Fidel Castro in a forum on censorship. Please tell me that this is your idea of a joke and I am too dense to catch on to your satire. Go ask any Cuban in the street about freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, freedom to worship, any freedom at all under Castro. Oh, that's right - they will be too afraid to talk to you honestly about any criticism of him for fear of being thrown in jail.

Have you ever wondered why people risk drowning or being lost at sea to leave there and come here? Ever wondered about why some regimes have to keep their subjects in line under the barrel of a gun or fear of imprisonment?

There are probably positive things that could be said about any despot (Hitler made the trains run on time, etc.), but to cite Castro as an example of anything positive in a forum on censorship is, pardon my bluntness, the sign of one who is either hopelessly naive or so willing to hold on to a position as to be blinded to truth.

Maybe we should just stick to talking sports. I was there when Henry Manning's Eagles came from behind and beat my PCW Patriots for the 1976 state championship (I was in the West band).

[yerout]

I've never been a fan of anything Trojan ..... but d**n, thats good stuff there trojan man.

[dcstillownsyou]

The censorship is the negative of Castro and don't put words in my mouth saying that I said anything good about Castro's censorship. You can't link it together, because I didn't type it. But if you believe life was better under Batista, you are naive (except for a select few, including Americans who owned more than half of Cuban enterprises). A lot leave because they know there is very little chance for a fortune in Cuba. No need to put words in my mouth to ignore the meat of my post. And yes it is a dictatorship, but when has Cuba ever had an elected president that was not elected corruptly? Oh yeah, they did, but Batista with American support threw him out of office (San Martin) citing red fear. That's all Latin American dictators have had to do to gain American support-say they're fighting communists. Cuba is one of the few countries where the poor is taken care of, and Cuba is a third world country. And why is there a trade embargo on Cuba and not China? You notice the anti-Yankeeism (and rightfully so) is one of the key things that Castro gets support from. Have you ever wondered what would happen if the ban was lifted? Castro would have nothing to point at and no "us against them" mentality. The fear of war kept Roosevelt in office and there have been fears of America since the Revolution began. You could even say America pushed Cuba towards socialism, but that pushes the thread even further off topic.
And if you know anyone with a tape of that PCW DC game, holler. I liked the EWF show PC West band put together this year.