Are You Being Censored? (Hint: Yes)
Talking about censorship in the media is nothing new. Media censorship has been around since shortly after media has been around. It seems that while everyone I talk to on a daily basis is against the idea of censorship and finds it rather pointless and stupid. There is a strong subsection of America that wants to be able to flip on the television and see a nice narrow view of perfectly acceptable society. I really don’t understand this viewpoint.
Let’s Be Clear
I can understand wanting to keep your children from being exposed to things you don’t agree with, but maybe then you should keep a closer eye on your kids, instead of allowing the TV to raise them. I can understand not approving of everything that’s out there, and not being in the mood to be shocked, or titillated, but let’s be honest, you don’t even have to get up to change the channel, just change the channel and let everyone else enjoy it.
The HBO Effect
This is not going to be a debate about whether censorship stifles art. There is no debate. While I’m not one to believe that art requires adult content, it certainly shouldn’t be forced to avoid it. Moreover, those that find themselves free of censorship have been denied the ability to express themselves in this way for so long that they usually do so in a rather over the top and less than ideal manner. (We get it HBO, you can show boobs on your channel, amazing… really)
Sex Is Scary!
What I find interesting is exactly what it is that we are censoring. There was an amazing picture posted on the Nonsense Society not too long ago where behind a censored picture of a nude woman there were uncensored images of violence and brutality. Why do these get a pass? Is it because they’re actually happening? Not always, but even if that was the case, sex is happening too! Why are we as a culture so afraid of sex? More afraid of sex than we are of people exploding or dying or murdering each other. I’ve seen more people explode and die in prime time network television than I could count, but I don’t remember seeing anyone wearing anything they couldn’t wear to the beach.
Does It Really Help?
Not only does this strike me as harmful to the artists, but it’s also harmful for the viewers. Sex has become such a forbidden thing that it’s no wonder that kids are running off in droves to find out what all the fuss is about. And yet people use this as yet another excuse to avoid showcasing nudity and sex and things that are ultimately natural. Save for some isolated cased involving over-impressionable and mentally unstable people I haven’t seen any evidence of increased violence due to violent television or video games. At least not on as great a scale as to cause concern. I remember beaning my brother on the head with a lightsaber once after watching Star Wars, but I wasn’t trying to hit him, we were just goofing around. That’s hardly cause to keep violence off the airwaves, so we don’t, so what’s wrong with sex and nudity? Keeping these things away from people causes unrealistic expectations at best, and lifelong problems at worst. Not to mention it stifles storytellers abilities.
Conclusion
As excited as I am for the day when censorship is a thing of the past. I am not looking forward to the overreaction of artists as they finally have the curtain taken off. The overabundance of what used to be taboo following the removal of such paranoid and ridiculous rules will be aggravating to say the least. But once we put that past us I can’t wait to see what kind of art we as a culture can produce when we no longer are restricted by anything other than our imaginations.
-by Nicholas Collins
Photo by tomislav-moze via DeviantArt
