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Introduction
Censorship is a reality that has been with mankind, perhaps, since the beginning of mankinds existence. ... As such, the case for censorship against the media is weakened. In the following paper I will examine the history of censorship, and then focus on the past few decades of change, which indicate a complexity that is difficult to address when it comes to those who would censor the media.
Censorship in History
"It probably all began with a bossy stone-age man erasing an obscene or blasphemous drawing from the wall of a cave. But nothing reliable was known about censorship of the arts until about 2600BC, when the ancient Egyptian authorities had started to dictate the colors, designs and conventions that artists could employ. ... As we can note, censorship involves, at the very least, an attempt to ban that which others find offensive or wrong to some degree. In the older days, such as the ancient days of Egypt, there were obviously limited realities which could suffer at the hands of censorship. Times and art forms were simpler, and thus censorship was also simpler, though no less powerful or controversial.
Throughout time, there have been numerous religions which have suffered at the ideals of censorship as well. ...
The early Christian church was also responsible for censorship in religious realities. ...
With the coming of the age of enlightenment, the amount of religious censorship has radically dwindled. ... In perhaps the most notorious censorship move of the 19th century, a masterpiece by Manet, The Execution of Maximilian, was suppressed by Frances Napoleon III. ...
Throughout history censorship of the media has been intense and very serious. As we have noted, thus far, with each new period in history came a new discovery and alterations to censorship. ...
Now, while much of the information presented seems to have nothing to do with the censorship of today, in light of diffusion and technological advances, the truth is that it has a great deal to do with censorship today. ... And, in understanding this past we can see how far our country has come, and how short a distance it has come as well, in regards to censorship. ... In short, the past is truly not that much different from the present, in terms of censorship. ...
Censorship Today
As mentioned, the United States has experienced a great deal of diffusion in the past few decades. ... This is not to say that censorship is not just as powerful or as prominent as it once was. ... Nudity, language, blasphemous ideals, and many other thoughts are often the focus of censorship. ...
In better understanding, if it is harder to censor things in our newly technologically advanced age, we can turn to a recent event concerning censorship. ... This does not mean that censorship does not take place, for as we have seen, it is still a problem and a complex one at that. ...
We can note the complexity of our diffused nation, and we can clearly note the complexity of the issue of censorship as it relates to our technological age and age of communications. What this tells us is that while censorship still exists, it is perhaps more difficult to truly censor material in the media because of its diversity and because of the inherent needs of the people of this country. ... It seems, in truth, to be that the sheer diffusion of the nation is responsible for making censorship a more difficult undertaking as it involves the media. ...
On the other hand, however, many may argue that our level of censorship has become more extreme. ... And, it may well be that in this type of diffusion, in combination with communication levels and technology; we are merely stuck in another period of censorship.
Approximate Word count = 3064
Approximate Pages = 12.3
(250 words per page double spaced)
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