Censorship RDB

Our generation has been exposed to violence and sex since the day we started watching cartoons on Nickelodeon. While we were not aware of it at the time, we were targets of Walt Disney’s subliminal messages through movies such as The Lion King, Aladdin, and The Little Mermaid. The stars in this scene in the Lion King spell "sexy".What appears to be a image of the male genitalia appears in the castle on the cover of The Little Mermaid.


Though our parents thought we were merely watching kid’s shows, we were actually being enticed into the same violence filled, sex obsessed culture that we live in today. Once upon a time, fighting used to be honorable and sex used to be special, but nowadays both are all too common and commercialized. Although I know it is not possible to return to the past or totally outlaw the very foundations of freedom that our country was founded on, I think it is time to reevaluate the excessive use of sex and violence in our modern culture. Thus, I am endorsing Candidate D, who proposes limited censorship of sex and violence in popular culture multimedia.

Violence appears so frequently in movies and on television that it does not even faze us anymore. While thousands die around the world each day as a result of genocide and war, we simply take violence as a form of entertainment value, an exciting way to be thrilled and shocked by the most grotesque things possible. I took me quite off guard the other day when my friends and I were watching Braveheart and started laughed when a man’s head was crushed in by a ball and chain. I know this reaction might seem strange, but I actually think it is quite common for people in our world today to not be upset by such violence. In Ishmael Beah’s “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier,” he talks of his experiences as a boy soldier in Sierra Leone. After many tragic experiences and overcoming the hate he feels for the world, Ishmael is able to escape the violence and move to New York to become a beacon of peace. The opening paragraph of the book reads:

“My high school friends in News York City have begun to suspect I haven’t
told them the full story of my life.
“Why did you leave Sierra Leone?”
“Because there is a war.”
“Did you ever witness some of the fighting?”
“Everyone in the country did.”
“You mean you saw people running around with guns shooting each other?”
“Yes, all the time.”
“Cool.”
I smile a little.
“You should tell us about it sometime.
“Yes, sometime.” (Beah 1). [1]

While I do enjoy the occasional war film and battle scene, reading this book written by someone that has experienced violence firsthand really opened my eyes and evoked new emotions towards violence that I had never felt before. If the portrayal of violence is necessary to tell a story and to get a point across, then I believe it is worthwhile and much more respectable, but what about the way other people view violence? Ishmael’s friend’s fascination with the idea of seeing people being killed is quite disturbing and parallels the way we as Americans think of violence. It is almost as if it is natural and desired. Each day more and more incidents of students walking into schools and shooting others in revenge, a rise in crime and gang activity, brutal murders and terrorism plague our world because some people are not capable of separating fiction from reality. While movie ratings limit content to its appropriate ages, some things should just not be seen at all. It is these things such as ruthless killing, murdering, and terrorism that should be censored and stop polluting the minds of our youth and every individual that watches them.

As for sex, the media has made one of the most intimate experiences a person can have a public phenomenon. From movies such as American Pie and Superbad that encourage sex in teens to TV shows such as Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives that glorify affairs and meaningless sexual relationships, the media’s message is definitely one of lust. While I do admit that I am addicted to Grey’s Anatomy and other such shows, I still feel like they are sending the wrong idea to the public. In 1 Corintheans 13:4-8 the author says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.”[2] Although I realize we are not all Christians, I believe that this quote represents an ideal that we as a society should aim for. Humans have always been sexual beings, but have never portrayed sex in such vulgar and animalistic ways before. What was once a symbol of love and beauty has become just as ordinary as sliced bread. I realize the need to express the emotions and passions that people experience during a sexual encounter, but I think that such a powerful thing should be reserved for a more mature audience. Thus, I believe that sex should be censored in a restricted manner in order to preserve the mystery and joy that lies in its meaning.
As you can see, Candidate D upholds the beliefs that I most believe in. I believe that if the limited censorship of sex and violence in popular culture multimedia were to be put into action, a whole new way of thinking and life would arise. I look forward to the day when we as the human race begin to respect ourselves and the value of our lives again, but until that day I remain open to whatever the world throws at me.


[1]Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier 2007.
[2] 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Bible, New International Version.