Censorship Persuasive Speech

Reid Roman
Mrs. Arnold
English II- 3rd Block
13. Nov. 2015
Censorship
The average citizen would be surprised how often he/she looks at any media related things, such as newspapers, television, books, even the internet, that are censored. Think about it. Have you ever watched a movie like 21 Jump Street on TV, and during a conversation, a character’s dialogue goes silent? The character’s lips seem to be moving, but no words are being expressed. That is an example of censorship. Sure, censorship can be used for great things, especially if you have children running around. However, there have been times throughout our world’s history that censorship has been abused and used for the wrong reasons. Censorship should be eliminated due to the abuse
When you censor a movie, book, or any other thing of that sort, you are risking compromising the entertainment value of it. Some movies are know for certain quotes that may contain an obscene word that many people may know. Sometimes, when a movie is played on television and this statement needs to be censored, the censored quote can come across as somewhat cheesy. Also, if you are watching a movie on television that has a scene that is censored, sometimes, the censor takes away a part of the movie that could have crucial plot points in the scene that can be scene in a DVD version, but may be missed on the edited TV version. Sometimes, censorship can just take the fun out of a movie or a story. Movies and stories are something we view to entertain and inform us. And with some censorships to these things, we do not get to see the big picture or feel the full effect that the directors/authors intended us to
Censorship can be like a stone wall to somebody’s creativity, stopping the flow of certain ideas. Also, for as much as the United States stresses how much they abide by their rules and laws, censorship goes right against the first rule stated in the First Amendment. It seems a little disconcerting to know that we are not watching what we want to watch, but what the government permits us to watch, right? It also is not good when a movie cannot make its profit back. So, while there are benefits to censorship, there are more downsides to it. A quote that really sums up this research paper is a quote by Henry Steele Commager, where he states, “The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real