In our last class discussion, we talked about some important problems surrounding our topic. One main problem we believe that is very important was the lack of censorship in what we see on television or in movies. What is censorship? "Censorship is the suppression of words, images, or ideas that are "offensive" (American Civil Liberties Union, n.d., para. 1). Children are the ones who are watching television the most these days so with the lack of censorship kids are being exposed to violence and other unsuitable acts that are being shown. Although television was introduced in the 1920s, it did not become popular with everybody until the 1950s. As watching television whether it was a show or a movie became more common in the homes of people, questions came up about who and how the content shown should be regulated. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) had the authority to regulate what can be shown on television. The FCC was established by Franklin Roosevelt.
I feel that today there is not enough censorship when it comes to extremely violent and explicit content that we see on television. Back than before television became popular children even adults would be doing something else besides sitting down in the living room in front of a television set. In today’s society everybody is watching television. I believe that it is especially the younger kids that are doing it the most. If there is not enough censorship think about what the kids are watching while the parents are not around. When I am sitting down watching television all I see are shows that have a lot of content about sex, crimes, killings, and drugs. Even the cartoon shows kids love to watch for example, Family Guy is not suitable for the young children. When kids are young they have great imaginations, what they see on television will most likely influence them.
I do not think that it is just television that lacks censorship either. Think about what is being shown on the internet. Almost everybody here in America has access to the internet somehow.
Here are some interesting articles you make look into.
http://socyberty.com/issues/media-censorship-and-youth/
http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/tcom/faculty/ha/tcom103fall2004/gp6/
http://www.aclu.org/free-speech/what-censorship
I think it up to the parents that should make sure that their kids are not watching anything inappropiate. My tv has an programing that will allow me to turn on parretal control that way my son can't watch nothing expect cartoons. Otherwise I'll have to put in the code just for him to watch.
ReplyDeleteI am not saying that everything needs to be censured, but let's be real people. When and where do we draw the line between the right to know and inappropriate exposure. Perhaps our young people are becoming so disrespectful and boarder-line sociopathic is because we are not showing them a reason to be respctful. There is way too much exposure to things that they are ill-prepared for.
ReplyDeleteI think the concept of censorship should be revisited by the FCC. Television programming appears to be saturated with excessive violence, sex and drug use. I believe that prolonged exposure to negative images can have a detrimental affect on one's thinking and perception of the world. Most adults can handle watching television without emulating what they see, but unfortunately that's not the case for many adolescents.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it is the parent’s responsibility to monitor what their children watch on TV. The FCC is doing their job by posting the type of content that will be shown before a movie, or show whether its rated R, G, or PG13. I have also noticed that a lot of parents don’t seem to care or are to busy to care about the types of activities their children engage in because these days you see a lot of little kids playing violent video games and watching shows like family guy, and the Simpsons.
ReplyDeleteThe so-called entertainment industry can only bring the people, what they think "we" want. If you don't watch it, it will be cancelled. So the fault of the MESS that is available in media, rests on the shoulders of the viewers. In cartoon history, cartoons have always been racially insensitive, extremely violent and inappropriate for children. I am not advocating the censureship of all media arenas, but use you head. Entertainment equals BIG MONEY and they will continue to insult your intellegence as long as they keep getting paid,period. Shows like Family guy, American dad and the majority of the reality shows are blatantly racist, violent and NOT for children. Just because its' on, doesn't mean that you are forced to watch it.
ReplyDeleteUse your remote and simply turn that JUNK off. I very rarely watch TV and that's because, I would RATHER clip my toenails or have a full-body wax, than zone out in front of what the elders called "that IDIOT box" and they were right. The "entertainment industry cares not for you or your kids as long as your household, tunes in to the garbage that's on. But try to remember this statement wen it comes to what you allow yourself and/or your kids to watch..."Junk in, junk out"