Thursday, April 26, 2007 @5:50 PM
consider the merits and demerits of censorship and state your reasons why you think it is necessary/unnecessary.censorship is a rather controversial issue as we all have our own opinions regarding censorship. however, i personally think that censorship is vital.
censorship is necessary to protect the young and innocent. im sure no one is willing to see their children watching something morally wrong on the television, neither do they want their kids to get influenced by extreme violenece portrayed in shows. it is important to protect these children from young, so as to ensure they do not learn the wrong things. they are in a stage where they cannot make a decision towards what is right or wrong, and hence, they tend to believe whatever is shown on the television, fictional or not. hence, censorship is necessary to make sure these children grow up with the correct values and mindset.
also, censorship is necessary to avoid sensitive issues such as religious and racial issues. this is essential especially in a multi-racial country like Singapore, so as to maintain peace and order in the country. Singapore is very vulnerable when it comes to racial and religious conflicts and tensions as that would practically mean the collapse of the country, it being small. thus, to ensure no race or religion is being looked down upon or being criticised and for the interests of the country, it is necessary to have censorship.
furthermore, censorship is needed to protect national interests and the government in Singapore. there would be chaos in the country if political secrets are being divulged to the public, or even if someone goes against the government using the media. yes, some would say that the government might be corrupted and so on and so forth, but arent they the ones who lead the country and ensures peace and order in it? hence, some, if not all credits goes to the government for us being able to live in a safe and peaceful country. thus, censorship is crucial.
however, censorship causes us our freedom of expression. every human being should have the right to say whatever they want to and not be limited by any rules and regulations. with censorship, we are being restricted and stopped from expressing our thoughts and emotions.
on the other hand, as much as i believe that freedom of expression is important, i think that us being restricted by censorship due to the above mentioned issues is only right to guarantee morally right citizens and harmony in the country.
also, censorship is unnecessary as there are other sources of information available and what is being censored will be exposed sooner or later. in this IT savvy era, the internet is enough for one to search for any information under the sun. and hence, whatever is censored can be found out easily just by a few clicks.
however, how many more people actually bother to search the internet for the information that was being censored as compared to the amount of people who engages with media, ie listens to the radio and watches the television? i believe it's minority. hence censorship is still necessary to an extent.
therefore, in conclusion, censorship is necessary in the media to protect the interest of the country, and more importantly, the people.
