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Friday, January 20, 2012

Censorship

  I don't know why censorship is ever needed. I believe we should be able to see, read or publish anything. Period. It is the viewer and the reader and the listener who should serve as the censor. It's a simple concept. If it offends you, don't read it, listen to it or look at it.  If you have children, limit their viewing, if it's a concern to you.

When I was raising my kids and something would come on TV that I thought wasn't appropriate, I turned it. If I thought they should see it, I left it. If they had questions or acted uncomfortable watching, we talked about that. I parented my kids.  I didn't need someone 'out there' to pre-view everything my kids and I might see. They were censoring back then, I just didn't think it was necessary.

And to be honest, I let them see almost everything there was to see because I wanted my kids to live in the real world. I wanted them to know about the good and the bad. I wanted them to be prepared not pampered. 

Now, do I want to turn on my TV and see naked people day and night? Nope and I won't be watching those shows. I have been a soap fan for years and am not pleased with the recent cancellation of two of my favorite ABC shows, but all the years I did watch, I avoided the love making scenes.  Why?  I don't wanna watch. I don't like watching people grope each other and tear off each others clothes.  Never have found that enjoyable and so since the invention of the VCR and now the DVR, I just FF through those scenes. I don't care if they included them and I don't care if someone else wants to watch them, I don't. I don't want them to be censored out because some guy in the back office is offended. I will decide, as I have, which to watch and which to FF.

I don't watch blow-'em-up and shot-'em-up movies or shows. I don't like to watch that, but I don't care if you do. I don't want them censored from my programming.

I want to write and post whatever I feel the urge to write and post. I don't want anyone to tell me that it isn't appropriate and therefore, it can't be published. They can, the readers, tell me by commenting or by not reading. I'll get the message and try something else. I think most everyone would do the same, or continue to write and post and not care if there are any readers. That's okay, too.

Now the ripping-off of another persons work, that is a different situation and again I don't see censorship being the answer. What I do see, is that there needs to be protection for the owner of a film, song, recording, writing, picture or anything else that might be shared by the owner who might want to be the only one who shares.  We do not have the right to just copy and share everything we see or hear or read. I think we KNOW that; we sometimes just don't think about it. We saw it, we loved it, we shared it. Music is often shared out of pure love. The problem is obvious, it wasn't ours to share and someone isn't being paid for their work because we gave it away. Is censorship going to stop this? I don't see how. Yes, they can pull it off.  Yes, they can fine you. But the damage has been done. You have already put it out there and someone else has already shared it as well.

Copyrighting might be the answer. Make it easier and faster. If I want to copyright something which I have published or am about to publish, I should be able to clickity click something and BOOM it belongs only to me. Doing this should also make it possible for only ME to copy.  If you try, it should make a big red splash all over the copy rendering it useless.  I am sure that software can be written in 5 minutes and sold in 10 minutes. Let's do that.



Nope, not a fan of censorship in any form; with the possible exception of parental censorship, which I feel is the most underutilized form we see today.

Jo

21 comments:

  1. I bet with some good snacks and a few glasses of wine, this could turn into a lively debate.
    ;-)

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    1. I imagine so and I am grateful to be living where we can disagree and still be friends. :)

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  2. I don't agree with censorship in any fashion. To me it's about choice as you said about watching naked people on TV. I don't get reality television at all, so I don't watch it. My choice. I don't think feeding children Happy Meals is a good thing to do all the time, but I don't think local government should put something on the ballet to remove the toy, etc., to deter parents and kids from wanting the meal.. it's about choice. I let my kids watch, listen, and read anything. If they didn't understand, we talked about it. They understand fact from fiction and also realize it's their choice to do or not do something. Anyway... as Maria says, a lively debate

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    1. I'm on your side, but I am well aware many are not! It's a good thing. Debating makes one think things through.

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  3. Love your idea of the "copyright button!"

    T.V. stinks at night; especially when you have a house full of little ones. Women exploited on almost every channel. Thank God for Food Network and Jeopardy! lol

    Nice job, Jo!

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    1. I agree and if the public doesn't watch, they will clean up their act. If the public is watching, then those who are offended or just don't like it, are free to change channels, watch movies or turn the thing off! Thanks.

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  4. I agree completely with your last sentence. :O)

    Oh, and I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but your words ARE copyright protected the minute you put them out there, no application/registration needed. The surest sign of an amateur writer is when they add a few sentences at the end of their work claiming it as their own and forbidding others to use it in any way without the express permission of the writer, blah, blah, blah.

    Submitting work into some sort of database definitely has potential and similar software is already in use. You can submit a URL or text and in just a few seconds be directed to sites that have the same text--that's exactly how I find (all the freaking time!!!!) when/where my work has been plagiarized. Copyscape is a good site for that, and there are others.

    One of my very best clients has plagiarism software in place and all work submitted to them is run through the checker before being accepted. It is VERY thorough, picking up even short strings of words that have already been published pretty much anywhere. For example, if a famous quote is part of a piece, the software flags it for personal review, and if I use a sentence that you've used word for word, it'd again be flagged and require a human being to take a peek at it before it could go further.

    This sort of thing costs them considerable man-hours because, let's face it, there are very few truly original thoughts out there. The brilliant thing I just thought of has almost undoubtedly been thought and written about oodles of times before, but this company is very diligent and responsible and because they're committed to publishing only original works, they suck up the cost and look things over very carefully. I appreciate that.

    Since software already exists to check for plagiarism, it can't be too far a jump to create some that scans submissions all over the net and flags the potentially problematic ones. Cost and feasibility of use on blogging, social networking, and other 'self' written sites might make it impractical, but who knows--it may become the norm.

    I do know one thing. As much as it pisses me off every time I see someone put their name on something I've previously published, I'd rather have my work constantly stolen than to see censorship of any kind be employed in some sort of bass-ackwards attempt to contain thieves.

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    1. I appreciate the time and extent of all of this info here, Beth, I hope a lot of others read it as well. I know that I own everything I write, my point was mostly about the end of your comment. The fact that plagiarism is rampant and I assumed, apparently incorrectly, often undetected.
      I was thinking of something the writer could actually use when publishing or submitting that would not allow copying or transferring without some kind of password release.
      I'm sure it will be a normal and every blog will have it built in, sooner than we expect.
      Great comment and very informative. Lots of stuff I didn't know.

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    2. Ouch, Beth! LOL... I am/was guilty. Only recently have I started adding only my name and a date at the bottom of my posts. Guess everyone knows I'm a newbie.... hahaha

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  5. If anybody does not want their work copied, they should simply state that it is copyrighted. IMHO, if a person puts their work out here on the internet, it is released to the world and their should state their copyright claims before, not after posting. Same goes for photos. Personally, I don't care if someone "borrows" my photos. I might put my name and a date on my photos, but I could care less if someone takes the photo, photo shops, crops, or whatever. The only thing that I am territorial about is my written word. My stories are identified with copyright. My general fun blogs are not b/c I don't care if someone copies. It may just come down to personality types.

    As for censorship... I think I will reserve my opinions.

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    1. Thanks for sharing your humble opinion. I appreciate your thoughts and I think censorship is not the way to protect our work, but that's just my ho. I respect you not wanting to share your opinion.

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  6. I live in country where there is limited censorship - for the greater good. Anything that has to do with Nazis is illegal in Germany. Many Americans think this kind of censorship is horrible. But if you look at what they did - ruined all of Europe - then you can understand why they don't want anything like that again.
    .
    And how high is your tolerance level before you say, "No! They can't do that! They can't show that on T.V.!"?
    .
    You said you didn't care if they showed programmes with people "groping each other". That's not for you... you just won't watch it. But you won't deprive anyone else of their pleasure.
    .
    Really?
    .
    What if the people "tearing off each other's clothes" and "groping each other" is an 8-year-old girl and a 40-year old man?
    .
    Sadly, there are more than a few really sick people in the world who think that's okay, and they think of people like you and me are very, very mean, because we are in favour of censoring that. We do it, because the majority of our society thinks it's disgusting and sick to show films of little children having sex with adults. But this is, nevertheless, censorship. And censorship is okay, if it protecting our society as a whole.

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  7. Nope, you would be wrong about just one point here. I would not have to ask for child porn to be censored, it is illegal. I would ask the pervs to film their actions and show it any place they can get public exposure. They will be caught, locked up and a child will be safe. The child who is being filmed was being abused before the film was made, or would have been abused without the film, but ON film, there is evidence. With evidence there is arrest and conviction. Censorship isn't needed to protect us from illegal actions, it is used to protect us from real life.
    Your censorship of the Nazi activities is not necessarily for the greater good. Knowledge is power. Remembering what they did and how horrid they were, being reminded, is facing reality. It's knowing what can happen if it's allowed to develop. Again, if it's illegal, we need to see it.
    I don't believe censorship is protecting anyone. I think it is fooling everyone. If we don't see it or hear it, we don't have to deal with it.
    Thank you for your comments and your sincere thoughts. Although I disagree, I totally respect your opinion and appreciate your sharing it with me.

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  8. I love your idea about the big red splash coming up on something you try to... liberate *wink*

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    1. Me too, but I don't have the knowledge to make that happen!

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  9. Absolutely! If you don't like something you change the channel. As for the groping scenes... it depends on how hot the guy is. ;-)

    Joyce
    http://joycelansky.blogspot.com/

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    1. LOL True for some, I guess. Thanks Joyce, I am glad to see even this subject doesn't hamper your humor! :)

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  10. Joyce! LOLOL!! Depends on how hot the guy is or if my husband is sitting next to me! (Oops, did I type that?)

    I enjoy some levels of censorship. I like knowing the content of movies/programs/video games that my kids are considering. It helps me in my choices for them.

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    1. I don't consider rating productions as censorship. I also like ratings. I think it is very helpful and it still allows the production to be aired, published or shown.
      And yes, you did type that and probably a few others would have done the same, had they wanted to share that info! lol

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  11. I agree completely with you. It should be up to each individual person. I don't believe in keeping my kids from watching stuff either. It is out there and they are going to come across it eventually. They might as well be exposed to it at home where they can ask questions and be informed. I don't go for the porno scenes and groping around either. They aren't necessary in my opinion. Great blog!

    Kathy
    http://gigglingtruckerswife.blogspot.com/

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  12. We are kindred souls! But we knew that, right? ♥

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