Censorship

 Censorship may be protection from inappropriate materials, but it also limits free speech. For the limitation of free speech, it is reasonable why people are emphatically against censorship. It is understood that there is a need to filter some of the materials released in today’s society, but too much is being done by people who have no right meddling with everyone’s rights. Civilization has always been plagued by a never ending battle being fought over what is deemed right and wrong. In today’s culture, censorship oppresses everything in the media. From movies and music to television and even news stories, most of the content viewed today has been filtered one way or another. Today, censorship is in place in more ways than you can imagine. As mentioned previously, movies, music, television, and more are filtered one way or another. Some people go to such lengths as illegal means of spreading materials deemed inappropriate for a certain viewing audience.

When the United States was established, the first amendment guaranteed the rights to free speech and free press. However, “it has never been interpreted to mean that all forms of expression are legal” (Zorea). The common misconception is that people believe that all forms of expression are legal, but that has never been the case, and probably never will be. Intellectual freedom is important because it allows people to express their ideas or beliefs however they feel is appropriate (Intellectual Freedom Manual). With censorship, that freedom is stifled and breaches the right everyone has for that intellectual freedom. Also affecting that freedom is the influence that outside sources can have on your own thoughts and actions. People tend to rely more on television and other electronic media to give them false ideas or impressions.