Censorship
Phil Turner
Philosophy
02/14/2012
Censorship
Should the government censor media, literature, and the internet? Censorship has been a major controversy in the United States even before it was country. In 1734 a New York newspaper printer, John Peter Zenger, publicly bashed the current ruler at the time and was imprisoned. He was defended by Alexander Hamilton who made his famous speech “truth can 't be libel.” This case led to freedom of speech to be added to the Declaration of Independence. Even with the first amendment being in the constitution censorship has still been around in America and is only getting worse. Currently the government is trying to make laws to monitor what you can do on the internet. While there motives are to protect certain business 's it still raises the question when has censorship gone too far? In 2012 America was the 47th ranked country in terms of press freedom in a survey done yearly by the organization Reporters Without Borders. The increase of censorship has had many opinions a lot of people are happy with the government’s decision to increase censorship because they feel the government is just protecting its citizens. Others however are against it saying it violates the first amendment and is bad for society. One of the most outspoken people about censorship is philosophy professor David Ward. David Ward has taught philosophy at many universities including the university of Illinois and Widener University. He has written many papers on why the government shouldn 't censor the media, literature, and the internet.
Before I go into David Wards ' papers let us get a little understanding on censorship. Censorship actually dates back to well before Columbus set foot on America. It goes back to the dawn of civilization there has always been a struggle of what if anything should be blocked for the better good of the people. When leaders try to censor certain things they are more often than not trying to protect people
Philosophy
02/14/2012
Censorship
Should the government censor media, literature, and the internet? Censorship has been a major controversy in the United States even before it was country. In 1734 a New York newspaper printer, John Peter Zenger, publicly bashed the current ruler at the time and was imprisoned. He was defended by Alexander Hamilton who made his famous speech “truth can 't be libel.” This case led to freedom of speech to be added to the Declaration of Independence. Even with the first amendment being in the constitution censorship has still been around in America and is only getting worse. Currently the government is trying to make laws to monitor what you can do on the internet. While there motives are to protect certain business 's it still raises the question when has censorship gone too far? In 2012 America was the 47th ranked country in terms of press freedom in a survey done yearly by the organization Reporters Without Borders. The increase of censorship has had many opinions a lot of people are happy with the government’s decision to increase censorship because they feel the government is just protecting its citizens. Others however are against it saying it violates the first amendment and is bad for society. One of the most outspoken people about censorship is philosophy professor David Ward. David Ward has taught philosophy at many universities including the university of Illinois and Widener University. He has written many papers on why the government shouldn 't censor the media, literature, and the internet.
Before I go into David Wards ' papers let us get a little understanding on censorship. Censorship actually dates back to well before Columbus set foot on America. It goes back to the dawn of civilization there has always been a struggle of what if anything should be blocked for the better good of the people. When leaders try to censor certain things they are more often than not trying to protect people
Bibliography: 1. Ward, David. “Philosophical Issues in Censorship and Intellectual Freedom.” . Fall 2009. Web. 14 Feb 2012. <http://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/7716/librarytrendsv39i1-2i_opt.pdf?sequence=1>. 2. Walker, Jon. “America’s Press Freedom Ranking Drops Sharply.” 25 Jan 2012. Web. 16 Feb 2012. <http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2012/01/25/americas-press-freedom-ranking-drops-sharply/>. 3. Ward, David. “Pornography and Censorship.” 1995. Web. 13 Feb 2012. <http://philpapers.org/s/David V. Ward>. 4. “Angel Fire.” History of Censorship. 2008. Web. 15 Feb 2012. <http://www.angelfire.com/vt2/UnitedStudents/history.html>. 5. Plato, . "The Republic." 1-4, 380bc. 6. Barrett, Bryan. "What is Sopa?." . gizmodo, 2011. Web. 03/1/2012. <http://gizmodo.com/5877000/what-is-sopa>.