Position Paper Censorship - 1391 Words

Every structured society has suffered from some form of censorship of literature, art, or entertainment. Plato, the famous the famous Greek philosopher, was the first to record a method of censorship in a democratic society. In his Republic one of the first guidelines Plato designates is that The first thing will be to establish a censorship of the writers of fiction, and let the censors receive any tale of fiction which is good, and reject the bad; and we will desire mothers and nurses to tell their children the authorized ones only. (Semtu II) This was a model was meant to maintain the moral chastity of the following generations, but also served to control the flow of information in the public. In theory censorship can serve the†¦show more content†¦Though they may not be aware of the material being censored, the feeling of being deceived is apparent. The public that receives censored information becomes distrustful and disillusioned with leadership. People live in a stat e of suspicion and this can cause rebellion or dissembling of governments. In Canada, the first censorship board was formed in 1954 and consisted of the Catholic Women’s League, women’s farm unions, and the University Women’s Club, in conjunction with the government of Alberta. The board convinced four major magazine wholesalers to submit their magazines for approval by the board. Within ten years the board had censored 168 magazines. In Ontario, a similar arrangement was reached between the provincial government and civic and religious organizations to form an Obscene Literature Committee in 1960 to censor published materials in the province. Distributors, who feared prosecution for carrying obscene materials, welcomed the board as a way of avoiding expensive legal proceedings and submitted to its decisions; by 1964 the board had recommended the banning of 112 periodicals (Hutchinson 18). These civic, religious, and government organizations represented a minori ty of the population regulating the acceptable material for reception by the public. The decisions of these committees were not questioned and their interpretation of truth was made fact by societys fear ofShow MoreRelatedThe Rights Of Free Speech1182 Words   |  5 Pagesfree speech that is important for the existence of democracy. The purpose of using this document by Emily Foster is to use the contents of the article to help support their current position on the act of democratic censorship, but wither it be in a way to promote censorship in order to maintain order, or to remove censorship as a way to promote free speech is unclear to me. In regards to Cohen-Almagor, I find the choice of using Israel as a focus for the research for the document to be questionableRead MoreCensorship: How It Would Restrict the Average American from Living the Life They Deserve1099 Words   |  4 PagesIn what ways has censorship played a role in changing the conceptions of the American Dream? First let’s start by clarifying what the American Dream actually is. Deepening the American Dream is a â€Å"project that engenders a rediscovered sense of community in our society and empowers our capacities to receive and relate to those we think of as other† (fetzer.org). Censorship has played way too many roles in messing with the way people think. One way is through the media. Censorship in the media is aRead MoreFreedom For Students And Parents Should Limit Academic Freedom820 Words   |  4 Pagesdecades now, censorship has been a prominent issue in American education. 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