Censorship: An Infringement of Rights

Censorship: An Infringement of Rights

America has always been known as “the land of the free, and the home of the brave”, but recent events begin to arise questions of how “free” we, as Americans, actually are.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press... (Bill of Rights)

It has been over two hundred years since these powerful words were so graciously written in what would eventually become known as the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. This seemingly simple passage carries with it a great power that goes far beyond written words. This passage guarantees every single American citizen the rights which they deserve; thus, it should be held in the highest of regards by all citizens alike. (Molen)

Today, the very rights that give us as Americans the freedom to express ourselves are turning into the topic of debate. Certain people feel that these rights must be violated in an attempt to suppress any obscenity from our nation (Oxford Dictionary). Although censorship has a few practical applications, for the most part, it is simply an infringement of our natural birthrights as United States citizens.

Even though censorship applies to a broad spectrum of areas, recently, censorship of the internet and of music have been the topics of controversy. With topics as diverse as the internet and music, it is no wonder as to why people find themselves taking sides on the matter. Censorship, in general, makes one ask him or herself a single important question; what is more important to me, my rights, set forth by the United States Constitution, or my protection from materials of which may cause certain people personal angst?

The fact of the matter is that in our current day and age, censorship seems to be becoming the “popular” thing to support. Several years ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger released a video game based indirectly on his popular movie series, The Terminator. In this game, players shoot each other, all the while hearing catch phrases from Arnold himself. Currently, Arnold’s voice has been taking a different stand on the matter. On October 7, 2005, Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, signed a bill to censor video games which contain acts of violence. (Kushner 37)

Far beyond the realm of videogames lies one of the greatest areas of the censorship controversy: the World Wide Web. In our current “information age”, one has vast amounts of knowledge and information available at the click of a button. For some, this innovation is regarded as a valuable tool. Along with the internet’s positive aspects, also comes some negative. The World Wide Web acts as a medium for individuals to not only explore other people’s thoughts and views, but in turn, provide their own. For this reason, several organizations have teamed up to form the Communications Decency Act, CDA. The CDA is an act which would censor all material that was considered to be “indecent” and “offensive” on the internet. This act was eventually dropped by the court system on the grounds that it was in direct violation of the first amendment, set forth by the U.S. Constitution. (Macavinta) Although this act was turned down, the fact remains that our government is constantly moving in a direction against the first amendment. They are now increasing the fines for those who do not censor acts of indecency (Steves).

In February the House of Representatives approved a huge increase in penalties for broadcasting "indecency," raising fines from $27,500 to a maximum of $500,000 per incident. (Steves)

Honestly, anybody who feels that the internet needs to be censored can take measures to censor their own internet service in their home without ruining a perfectly good thing for an entire country. It is for this reason that special software was created that when installed, it blocks all illicit materials which appear on the internet. Also, internet service providers have all been forced to include “child locks” which is a special account for youth that cannot access these prohibited materials. So I beg the question, “Why are people fighting to change the entire aspect of a situation when they can simply change it for themselves?” After all, to what extent is it even a person’s business as to what others are viewing on the net? It is totally ludicrous that people are trying to “clean up” the internet by simply not allowing any materials which may seem “indecent” to be published. This is nothing but an attempt to take away a fundamental freedom that we are guaranteed by the United States Constitution.

As if attempts