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