By Kate McClintock
Censorship and criticism have existed since new media has been introduced into mainstream culture. People fear things that are new and unfamiliar, in their fear of them denounce the idea without really understanding or taking the time to look at the idea. The fear of new concepts comes psychologically because people are comfortable with things that they know and tend to shy away from change more than accept it. Another reason that people might fear new media ideas is the fact that older Americans see the new ideas as corrupting the youth of American. An example of this is the idea of video games. Throughout the last ten years more blame has been put on kids who play video games being more violent. This could be a true statement, but more than likely the people proclaiming this are people who fear and distrust the new media of video games.
When new media is released and people begin to fear the new ideas then they usually claim that is it threatening some moral principle. The moral principles in question usually involve corrupting children and wanting to censor or ban an item because of what it does to children. A recent example of this is when certain schools wanted to ban Harry Potter books because they believed that letting kids read these books and this would corrupt their thoughts to believing that witchcraft and sorcery were real and that it was acceptable. The reason these moral questions are always brought about with new media ideas is because of the fear mentioned earlier. The thing that has changed over time is the moral principles that are being threatened and having an uproar made about them. Throughout time more and more things have become more open and less taboo raising the bar on what the criticizing public wants to censor. For example books like Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 have been banned in the past for corrupting children to think for themselves, however, in present times these books are accepted and others have taken their place.
Censorship and harsh criticism are some of many reactions Americans have to new forms of media. Americans put blame on the media for corrupting moral fibers of American children because they can not just accept the fact that times are changing and things are different from when they used to be younger. To try and protect America, cries for censorship and change accompany new media releases and will continue to do so until Americans can become accepting of new ideas.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Joanna Andrusko
I do not know if I agree entirely with this sentiment. I am not arguing for censorship but I do not believe the first amendment was made with the ideas of pornography and torture movies. We take the Constitution and Bill of Rights out of context, they were not made for a modern society such as our own but a society where much less was possible. I do not mind different religions being published, different ideas, criticisms of leaders I like, etc., etc. But I find it highly offensive when people hide behind the first amendment to produce filth and smut. I am not saying our founding fathers were saints but the freedom of speech in our times requires a much higher than it did then. Information is so much more accessible now. One can find anything. In this kind of world would it be the worst thing in the world to take some sort of responsibility, to practice any type of moderation? We as humans seem to feel that whatever is possible is right, is an open venue. Is that true? We are so concerned with our exploitation of the environment and yet not with our exploitation of humans and of the human mind. We have no problem making money off of selling filth. I am not saying we should be censored but perhaps as a culture we could take some initiative to clean up the airwaves of ourselves? Hostel is not a controversial new idea it is an exploitation of a horrible fantasy of twisted minds. There is no new venue that would have any positive results for society that could be open from movies like that being made. We admire so much the Native peoples moderation and respect for the earth yet we do not respect their respect for the human mind.
Post a Comment