issue224 G-89-互助社-8月9日同主题写作

waximaUID: 155066

第一次写，没有限时，2个小时完成的，然后自己又改了一遍，再重写一遍，还是2个小时左右，觉得思路和结构还是不是很清楚，希望得到大家的帮助。

224 "Censorship is rarely, if ever, justified."

syllabus:
1.general description, attitude - censorship is not justified.
2.lack proper standard
3.bias people's opinion
4.unfair mechanism(I'm not sure whether it's the corret word to use here)
5.compromise
6.conclusion


Censorship takes various forms from limiting pulications, controlling the mass media to forbiding certain public speeches, etc. It is adopted by the governments all over the world as a method to control information, either supported by law or as intimitation from the government. Though claimed by the government that it is used to serve the purpose to keep the stable and peace of the society, this motivation cannot justify the use of censorship for several reasons.

First, it is hard to set a proper standard as to what should be subjected to censorship and what should not be. Censorship is usually carried on something that most people think is wrong or evil. But how to tell the right from the wrong? People’s thought and concept change with the time. Taking a look at the censorship through history, many cases of censorship, by modern points of view, are totally arbitrary or wrong. It may surprise most people that in the list of the banned book, there used to be the name of the Torah, Bible, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twin and The Arabian Nights, etc. These books are regarded as treasures and merits of religion or literature now, but once in the past, their opinions are totally denied by people. Similarly, science also experienced great hardship in the medieval time when the Church ruled people’s mind. Scientific publication that might offend the belief in God was banned. As proved by history, new ideas hold by a minority of people, which seem blizzard or conflicting to the majority at first, are not definitely wrong. And sometimes, they even might be the breakthrough of thought in certain field. So to censor this kind of thoughts just because they seem to be wrong is actually to limit people’s mind. It may harm the whole society since the restriction on thought will block the development of culture and science.   

Second, censorship not only limits people’s thoughts, but also bias people’s opinions. A good example is the choice of certain kind of school textbooks. Though it is not an official censorship, it takes the same form and lead to the similar result. The school board, or the ones who make the decision what book to be taught, are actually encouraging the ideas in that book while discouraging those of others. When students are exposed to that certain idea, they tend to agree with it and think in the same way. Governments also do the same when controlling the mass media by limiting certain reports on sensitive political occasions or affairs. They often release the news witch exhibits the bright face of the government so as to win people’s support while conceal the ones that may damage their image. They are not cheating but misleading the people by this tricky censorship. People are thus deprived of the right to reach their own judgment since the lack of comprehensive information.   

Third, as a system, censorship is not fair in its mechanism. We can divide people into two – the people informed and the ones not informed. In a case of censorship, it is always the people informed who try to prevent the information reach the ones not informed. So it turns out that those in power and make the rules for censorship are always better informed than the others, or say, the ordinary people, which put them in unequal status as information acceptors.

However, I have to admit that there is some occasion that censorship is reasonable. For example, during war time, for the consideration of country security, censorship is necessary on news or media so as to ensure no information about the government’s plan or army is released. Another example is the censorship on movies or publications involving violence or pornography. Since their content may produce negative effect on people especially the young, censorship or classification will do some good as a kind of reminder or standard. In this extent, censorship does have some value in keeping the order and stable of the society.

In sum, even though censorship is necessary at sometime, in most occasion, its usage is not well justified. For the lack of reasonable standard, the possibility to limit and bias people’s mind and the unfairness exists in its inner mechanism, the adoption of censorship by any government or authority is always subjected to doubt. In a democratic country, people should think it over before carrying out any censorship and try to eliminate the use of it to as the lowest frequency as possible.

[ Last edited by waxima on 2005-8-12 at 11:15 ]

polymathUID: 179557

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