Censorship

[Thaluikhain]

FEven more importantly Japan had a plan to use balloons to attack the US. They tested it out. They watched the media to see what the US' reaction was. There was nothing in the media about it because the US censored it all. Japan labeled it a failure. In reality the US knew what was going on and was scared shitless.

They did? I thought it was a total failure...the odds of the balloons reaching an important part of the US at random were miniscule.

However, that sort of general thing does occur, and censorship is called for.

After WW2, the Allies went to extreme lengths to stamp out any vestiges of Nazi ideology. Nazi symbols are still banned in Germany...an album by KISS had to get a new cover, because the "SS" of KISS was written in a somewhat Schutzstaffel font. An extreme example, but despite all that, Nazism refused to die down, and people are legitimately afraid of it.

 

[BanthaFodder]

censoring old things is no good. if people don't think Tom Sawyer is appropriate for children, it is no longer a children's book, that does not mean you neuter it until it's PC and bubble wrapped. censorship is very situational. if a kid's show is gonna drop an f-bomb, then yeah, censor it, as the profanity shouldn't be there to begin with. but if, say, a movie like Jaws (PG at the time of release) that contains copious swearing is re-released, don't censor it, simply re-rate it PG-13 or higher.

 

[Adzma]

Sounds like old Ben Franklin needs to be wheeled in again.

"Those who sacrifice Liberty for security deserves neither."

I'm sure you can pick my stance on the issue.

 

[Lekonua]

The only time I approve of censorship is when it's used for comedic effect.

There's just something funnier about a 2-minute long sequence of bleeps than actually hearing cluster f-bombs.

Outside of those situations, I think the very concept of censorship can *BLEEP* itself in the *BLEEP* with a *BLEEP* *BLEEP* *BLEEP* and a rusty pitchfork shoved right in its *BLEEP*

 

[Haydyn]

Censorship is a joke which protects people who can't deal with life, especially when it comes to euphemisms. George Carlin is a genius at exposing them.

Now if someone lets loose a nipple and wants it blocked out for their own personal privacy, that's one thing, but causing a whole uprising because a nipple is accidentally shown on television? What's the harm done? Causing a riot over a body part on TV is only going to cause a million times more damage.

 

[dagens24]

If the human mind can conceive it, the human mouth should be allowed to say it, or hand allowed to draw and paint it, etc. Why are people so afraid of what we are able to imagine?

 

[Wardnath]

I find it a perfect example of how misguided people are in regards to this matter when they talk about "the n word." Yeah, I hate censorship too, which is why I censored myself there.

I think "censorship" is misunderstood and often the term is simply used as a blanket term to hate against. Don't like censorship? Then the next time you want to tell someone to fuck off and don't, congratulations, you just censored yourself.

"Censorship" isn't a bad thing. It is a tool. It's LOGIC. It's the cosmic brain mouth filter, a spell check of what comes out of our brains. When used appropriately, it is a good thing. Just like restraint, it's that last barrier that keeps us from just flinging shit at something.

It is ABUSE of censorship that is bad. Drinking is not bad, drinking and driving is. Abusing alcohol is. Using alcohol as an excuse is. But drinking, using your head and being responsible, that's fine.

Too often it seems being anti-censorship is simply an excuse to do or say whatever with no regard for what you're actually saying. The old "it's a free country" argument.

People in Libya are DYING for the freedom to be free of things like censorship, the right to simply disagree with the ruling party. THAT I can get behind, because that is true abuse of censorship. It is the censor of the people, to keep them in check and to withold from them their basic freedoms.

But complaining about censorship on the internet because we can't use "dick tits" in everything? Jesus titty fucking Christ.

Aaaaaaaaaand that's a /thread, folks.

 

[parks_86]

Censorship is important to any level of media, not just video games, because there are some truly messed up things that would otherwise be readily available to everyone. I know it's a thrashed example, but look at Rapelay.

However, I can think of two examples of how censorship doesn't work in the modern age. One is thanks to the internet and the huge-scale globalisation it brought with it. The other is the censorship associations.

The two are like chalk and cheese - the internet continually changes and diversifies, finding new methods and bridging gaps faster than anything ever before while our censorship boards seem to be left behind in a pathetically unchanging, unshifting and uncompromising mindset that simply means that the needs and wants of the public it is meant to be serving are not met.

If our various global censorship boards are unable to keep up, not just with their respective consumer base but with the world now as well, then censorship as a whole has missed the point. There is no reason behind maintaining a system of classification and exclusion if: a) the very people they are trying to shield are willing to access and view the materials elsewhere; and b) are able to find them from global sources. If our government-controlled boards are unable to keep the best and majority interests of the consumers in mind, then the system is a failure and everything they rule on is potentially incorrectly excluded.

It's best summed up within the issue of our lack of R18+ ratings in Australia, because our classification board is so mindset on the idea that video games are for kids and kids alone.

 

[crudus]

They did? I thought it was a total failure...the odds of the balloons reaching an important part of the US at random were miniscule.

However, that sort of general thing does occur, and censorship is called for.

After WW2, the Allies went to extreme lengths to stamp out any vestiges of Nazi ideology. Nazi symbols are still banned in Germany...an album by KISS had to get a new cover, because the "SS" of KISS was written in a somewhat Schutzstaffel font. An extreme example, but despite all that, Nazism refused to die down, and people are legitimately afraid of it.

I think I read this about a year ago. From what I remember Japan launched like 100s or 1000s of balloons at the US. With the hope of destroying things. They first sent out test balloons. They watched the US' media to see how successful they were. Since there was nothing in the media the plan was deemed a failure. In actuality a few dozen or so arrived at the US. The US figured out what they were for and figured out they had no defense against it. They then did a total media black out on the balloons. That is how I understand it. I haven't read anything about it in a year and can't find where I read this from originally.

Not sure how accurate that is...

The comics censoring created the Comics code, which went on to make Archie comics the ONLY thing to really follow those guidelines.

The problem with censorship, even if it's only temporary, is that it has a way of being the justification for almost any bad behavior...

It is <a href=http://www.thespeedingbullet.com/atomic.html>quite accurate.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

Nope, never acceptable. Either anything goes or nothing does.

 

[Blue_vision]

The idea of taking something out of a piece of media because you disagree with or dislike what it's saying is just stupid. Nothing is gained. If there's something really bad (i.e. Mein Kampf,) then it's much better to get it out there so that people can go "wow, that's really bad, it's a good thing that's not a part of society." Having public conversation about these kind of issues is important, and we can't have some body, whether it be a government, publisher, or social body as a whole saying "you shouldn't read this."

If there's really an issue with it, you should read it so you can learn from it. If there's going to be any form of censorship, it'd just be a well-documented but informal listing of "x is good, x is bad (and here are the reasons." But taking something out completely, again, accomplishes nothing.

 

[Random Encounter]

Censorship has been taken too far by the government. Especially here in Australia.

I mean, don't I have the right to choose what I can and can't handle in what's considered "offensive"?

 

[parks_86]

O

Censorship is important to any level of media, not just video games, because there are some truly messed up things that would otherwise be readily available to everyone. I know it's a thrashed example, but look at Rapelay.

However, I can think of two examples of how censorship doesn't work in the modern age. One is thanks to the internet and the huge-scale globalisation it brought with it. The other is the censorship associations.

The two are like chalk and cheese - the internet continually changes and diversifies, finding new methods and bridging gaps faster than anything ever before while our censorship boards seem to be left behind in a pathetically unchanging, unshifting and uncompromising mindset that simply means that the needs and wants of the public it is meant to be serving are not met.

If our various global censorship boards are unable to keep up, not just with their respective consumer base but with the world now as well, then censorship as a whole has missed the point. There is no reason behind maintaining a system of classification and exclusion if: a) the very people they are trying to shield are willing to access and view the materials elsewhere; and b) are able to find them from global sources. If our government-controlled boards are unable to keep the best and majority interests of the consumers in mind, then the system is a failure and everything they rule on is potentially incorrectly excluded.

It's best summed up within the issue of our lack of R18+ ratings in Australia, because our classification board is so mindset on the idea that video games are for kids and kids alone.

I don't think your example of legally keeping RapeLay from the public is a good idea at all.
Simple thing is, if people don't like it they won't play it. If they do like it, then what's the problem?

Oooooh, noooo, that wasn't my point at all. I was simply saying that without levels of censorship that game would actually still be available to many countries and many age levels. I wasn't saying it should stay, I'm saying it's one example of how censorship should work. Of course if you think about it a little more then it kind of didn't work, since it was available for whatever length of time it was around.

 

[Blindswordmaster]

For the record: if this gets me suspended I called it.

Um... why would you get suspended for that post?

The Escapist isn't full of crazy power-hungry mods who hate free thought and expression. I think your perception of authority has been severely warped for you to expect to be suspended for that post. Even if you were suspended, it would be due to a large number of reports, not due to a moderator judgment call. You really should read the memos from the mod team.

What i meant was that if I linked the aforementioned passage from the Diary of Anne Frank then I would most likely get suspended.

 

[Blindswordmaster]

Don't kill me but I'd rather keep the nudity censors on for some cases, maybe as an option? Protecting the children isn't that bad of an idea, just ask me and you'll see how fucked up I am >.>

However yes the censorship of the N-word was unnecessary and to be frank stupid.

but you just censored yourself.

 

[Doctor What]

I like to write like real life. I swear in real life, I swear in my writing. I'm crude, rude and smug. I'm overbearing with my superiority complex and snarkiness. So that's how I write.

Thankfully, my writing teacher likes this and tells me to write like this without fear of censorship.

I still have to worry about everybody else, but I've never had any of my work censored.

But yeah, it's just idiotic how much stuff gets censored these days.