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Why Censorship is Wrong
By Brian Lamacraft
January 10, 2021 "Information Clearing House" - Our world is increasingly living in a charged political atmosphere. This political chaos is cousin people to censor more than they might otherwise do. Censorship is not the way out of our current problems. In fact, censorship is going to make things worse. There are several reasons why you should not censor anyone.
I have No Control Over Censorship
First of all, I would like to say that I have no control over censorship. I’m not responsible for those that decided to censor. Perhaps those that are censoring other people are trying to hide something themselves. They simply don’t want to see the other side. We’ve seen throughout history what censorship does and where it could lead. I don’t want to see our world go in that direction. It’s increasingly looking like it might go in that direction. Censorship is not the way forward.
Sites Can Censor All they Want
Some of the sites performing censorship are doing so because they don’t want the content on their sites. Since these sites are not run by any government agencies, they are free to censor whatever they feel like censoring. As a person using these sites, you don’t have any control over what they are doing. You can complain and make a stink about it, but more likely than not you’re not going to be listed on the site again. The owners of that site have decided that they don’t want to listen to your content.
This is much the same way as if you have your own website. I’m sure you have owned your own website and not liked some of the comments that people have put on your blog or in your forms. You can censor these people and remove their content or simply not let them post on your site at all. This is still a form of censorship. As individuals, we have no control over what sites are going to do. This still doesn’t mean that it’s not wrong. I believe that it is wrong to censor people no matter what their opinions are. Free speech is one of the cornerstones of our civilization. When we don’t have a free speech, we don’t have much at all.
Doesn’t Address the Problem
When you sent it to someone, you’re not addressing the problem at hand. How can you hope to correct the problem? Opinions should matter, and when they don’t you’re going to have problems. This is not the way to go about fixing problems in our society. Those problems are not going to go away if you censor people. You’re simply going to have the problem manifest in some other area.
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In many cases, as the past shows us, this could result in other issues because no one has an outlet for their frustrations. If you take away free speech, this results in other forms of speech and, in some cases, chaos. This is a direct result of removing somebody’s ability to have a say and their voices heard. Censorship takes a subject that you don’t agree with it and sweeps it under the rug. It hides it and hopes you will go away.
Hate Speech
We often use censorship as a way to eliminate hate speech. What do we classify as hate speech? in today’s world, this could be practically anything. If we don’t agree with something, we simply classify it as hate speech and tried to censor it. I have seen people’s accounts being deleted on websites simply for speaking their mind about a subject.
They are in no way promoting any sort of hate speech or classified as something that is dangerous to the general public. Some are looking to censor their political opponents or others that are otherwise engaged in political discussion. When we get to censorship of this nature, this becomes a dangerous and slippery slope. Perhaps it’s time to step back and look at what we’re doing. We only have to look at history to see the outcomes of severe censorship.
What Will we Censor? Your thoughts Next?
W are we going to classify as hate speech in the future? Perhaps someone will have something that you don’t agree with, and then that is classified as hate speech. We can use it as a broad category to censor anything that we want. I am of the opinion that we should listen to everyone. I’m perfectly willing to listen to anyone’s opinion on any subject. I may not necessarily agree with the topic, but I am willing to listen to that individual.
By listening to somebody talk, you might understand their viewpoint. Only when we understand other people’s viewpoints can we hope to grasp their feelings about certain subjects. If we don’t talk and communicate with each other and bridge the gap between us, that gap will get wider. Before we know what’s happening, people are going to start falling into the hole.
I’m Just One Person
Just one person with the opinion that censorship is the wrong approach to today’s problems. We must sit down and discuss our issues if we to move ahead and make this world a better place. If we allow our bitterness and our divide to grow, it will never go away. We are sitting on either end of the fence and it’s time to come together in the middle. It’s time to put all of our prejudices, all of our hatred, and everything else behind us. We must move forward, we must grow, and we must confront the challenges in our society.
Dark Future Awaits
Mending the fences takes time, and it is challenging but we can do it. If we don’t moderate our opinions and learn to come together and find common ground, Things such as censorship are going to rule us. Once that happens, the things that we hold dear in our lives such as freedom will be a thing of the past.
We will only answer to the masters that are censoring us. George Orwell’s 1984 look like a church picnic in comparison. If you can no longer speak, then you are a slave, no matter what side of the fence that you are on. The tragedies of the past will not have been learned and we will move into a future of uncertainty. If censorship of our thoughts and opinions it’s going to be at the new normal, and we will have reached a very dark place.