The History Of Censorship

Censorship, a concept discussed by the media, politicians, and even children with the kindling fire of a thousand suns. Where a simple bleep can mean the difference between the sanctity and purity of the mind. It is cruel. It is graceful. It is stuck in the grey of civil views. The costs are unforscene, and it’s influence unimaginable. A mistress in a black gown waiting to deceive us all. The history of censorship is rich with violence and treachery. To find the gold amongst the dust and the truth set in stone, we will have to dive head first into the black abyss of human ethics and morality. First let’s get some basics of censorship out of the way. Censorship “is the suppression of information, opinion, or expression of a government or
other authority to control their circulation.” (Galileo, basic censorship info) Censorship is often employed if a “threat” against moral values or powerful social structure is detected. These threats can be anything from a curse word, to discriminatory belief displays. Nothing is outside the flexible range of persecution by censorship. If it offends expect assailment, no matter the context. The history of censorship long extends past the beginnings of the information age and the creation of televisions and computers. It’s been deployed in as early an age as 256 A.D. when the Catholic church began burning the books of theologian Arius. (Aliprandini, Michael, and Geraldine) Later at 1231 A.D. philosophers were burned at the stake if they presented ideas that went against the church’s beliefs. Galileo was even threatened with the same fate and was forced to withdraw his ideas of heliocentrism to avoid a fiery death. The early 2000s, even presented it’s citizens with limits to what they could say. In this time it was illegal to talk about birth control because it was believed that birth control promoted promiscuity. The common claim against censorship is the violation of the first amendment.
While this in some cases is true, a much better reason to remove censorship is that it makes the public vulnerable to what’s being censored. Take animated television shows such as South Park, American dad!, and Family Guy. These shows are in-your-face, loud, crude, and immensely rude, but they’re extremely popular. What does this have to do with pushing sensitivity? Everything! Watch one episode of South Park, for instance, and immediately you find yourself chin-deep in jew jokes, toilet humor, political jokes, and all-around offensive and obscene material. These jokes use comedy to “take the sting out of the statements” (The Artface). This works because of two reasons: the show is animated, and two since it’s beginning South Park has slowly ‘turned up the dial’ in terms of profanity. The animated cartoon style of the show allows it to get away with more, because the audience doesn’t take the jokes as personal. Simply because the characters seem like it’s outside of our world, the audience feels like they are more-or-less insulting something out of this world. Overtime this can have dramatic effects on the minds’ perceptions of profanity. Ultimately desensitizing that individual of what they think is offensive. This desensitizing allows the bar to be pushed even further over time. You can compare this to a person just joining a gym, but instead of loosening your sense of offense, that person is
trying to get stronger. At first, the individual cannot lift heavier weights, but over time they work their way up until they have reached their goal and the lightweights have no effect of the now experienced lifter. Now you’re probably wondering where I’m going with this, correct?
Now let’s imagine the infamous helicopter parent scenario. A child is supported and protected at an unimaginable level since birth and is then thrown out into the real world. They are simply unprepared for the challenges the world will throw at them. Censorship is just like a helicopter parent. It protects and blinds it’s “children” from the true nature of the world until it is too late leaving the children feeling defeated and weak causing negative effects on how the child responds to these challenges. Nobody likes to feel vulnerable, out of control, so they protect themselves and younger generations with more censorship over time making the human race as a whole sensitive to who or what others think they are.They create a new world A world of “political correctness.” Eventually the mistakes will have been realized and those who stick to the ideas of political correctness will create the manifesto of “Whoever is declared the biggest victim gets to be the biggest bully,” (Rush Limbaugh) and “Truth is the new hate speech... During times of universal deceit telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” (George Orwell) Do I think a toddler should be introduced to nudity? No, but there is a point in which the world goes too far. In creating a world of tolerance, they create a world of ultimate
intolerance.
In the end, to truly protect one’s self and loved ones it takes controlled exposure. A small taste slowing leading up to a spoonful. Like getting a vaccine, if you expose yourself to a small amount of the “virus” you’ll gain a tolerance over it making your life that much better. Censorship blocks us from this tolerance, because it reduces our exposure so much that we simply do not have the time nor the experience required to build up our defenses effectively. Maybe you knew this already. Maybe you didn’t. However, one thing is clear, for many of us today this truly is a story you never knew.