What Is Censorship?

WHAT IS CENSORSHIP?

\"Censorship is the supervision and control of the information and ideas

are circulated among the people within a society. In modern times,

censorship refers to the examination of books, periodicals, plays, films,

television and radio programs, news reports, and other communication media for

the purpose of altering or suppressing parts thought to be objectionable or

offensive. The objectionable material may be considered immoral or obscene,

heretical or blasphemous, seditious or treasonable, or injurious to the national

security.\" The rationale for censorship is that it is necessary for the

protection of three basic social institutions: the family, the church, and the

state.

Censorship and the ideology supporting it go back to ancient times. Every

society has had customs, taboos, or laws by which speech, play, dress, religious

observance, and sexual expression were regulated. Now today, we still have laws and acts let us know how far we can go, and the consequenses if broken. As our world has progressed, we have to as well, with ourself, our ideas, and feelings toward one another. You could say were very expressive and open, and were not afraid to show it.

I am a bit more liberal when the question arrised about censorship. Should we have it? No, we really only need to be regulated.

It\'s true, we\'re a society who craves to be entertained, and the media will go that far to do so. However, Outrageous T.V shows and movies are all directed towards audiences, these audiences are aware, and they have warnings on every showing. We have channels in groupings for a reason, we all know what type of television we will see if we\'re watching Disney Channel, Lifetime, HBO afterhours, CNN, or even TV-X \"The fantasy channel\". The audience has been informed on levels of context and material. Not only can you now put passwords on these channels you find so obscene, you also have the ability to read into brief summarys before you watch them. If all of these options available doesn\'t seem like enough to inform us, it\'s just as easily to simply turn off the TV and find a different form of entertainment.

I\'ve nannied all my life, and I know every once in awhile you\'ll result to the TV or a movie to keep them occupied. I\'ve never had to actually regulate the TV choices they pick, kids want to be entertained, and the raw, true life material adults enjoy just doesn\'t cut it. The Nick TV series of \"Sponge Bob Square Pants\" had an episode that caused controversy

towards parents. SpongeBob and Patrick saw a naughty word written on the back on the garbage can where they work. They said it, and it came out bleeped, but of course the parents realized this was ment to be a dirty word. The soul purpose of this episode was the two boys learning whats appropriate

and cursing was not. Most episodes kids see with violence tends to have a purpose and lesson to learn from. Another example is the \"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles\" Parents argue the fact they fight and are looked as bad role models that will only encourage fights and further violence. However, you can get much more out of this TV show than purely violence. They see the unity of friends coming

together for a good cause, they learn bad guys never win and good overcomes evil. They see moves and games that lead to play and imagination. They see the concepts of not talking to strangers, stealing is wrong, and friends should