INSIDER Autumn 2019 | Page 16

Insider Comment Censorship: Ignorance or Protection? A brief insight into the topic of Censorship and whether it’s forcing us to become oblivious or a tool used for our security Cara Overbury The Universal Decla- ration of Independ- ence, Article 19, states that “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and ex- pression; This right includes freedom to hold opinions without interfer- ence and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regard- less of any fron- tiers”. But is this statement still Wide- spread today? Is it no longer acknowledge by the masses? Or to simply ask, is Cen- sorship good or bad? The google definition of Censorship is: The suppression or pro- hibition of any parts of books, films, news etc which are consid- ered obscene, po- litically unaccepta- ble, or a threat to security. In some cases, it can be ar- gued that the Cen- sorship is necessary to hide certain explic- it content from young children such as porno- graphic websites and profanity in music and media. This is often one of the main arguments used by people who be- lieve Censorship is a beneficial thing rather than a interfering one. Other main arguments used for Censorship in- clude that it helps to keep hatred under con- trol and it helps to block various advertisements/ promotions that may be A cartoon il- lustrating the negative of effects of Censorship “Censorship is to art as Lynching is to Justice” - Henry Louis Gate Jr. potentially harmful or disrespectful to some members of the public. But this isn’t where the overall use of Censorship draws the line. In fact it’s way more than just stopping five year olds from hearing the F bomb. Everybody is very much aware of the fact that the world The College magazine online: sixthformmag.blogspot.co.uk