Questionable Censorship

[Mooshi]

This has been bugging me for the longest time. While I am against censorship, I'm not foolish enough to say it's bad all together. There are things that should not be exposed to little kids and anyone with a kid or younger sibling understands that. However, sometimes censorship is taken from understandable to flat out stupid. Some censors don't even censor the right word! Here is one that honestly disgusts me. You seen it before. TLC/Discovery - birth shows. Not my thing, but something caught my attention while flipping channels. Freaking censoring a newborn! There is NOTHING sexual about a baby. Yes, I am aware of the sickos out there, but I think the CEO who called for censorship is the real sicko for suggesting a baby is 'sexy'. How do you feel about the issue?

[Sky Striker]

I don't think censoring the newborn was for that reason, it's mainly because the censors think that it's bad for small children to see exposed body parts. It's also because most people watching T.V. don't want to see that kind of thing in their leisure time.

I will agree that a lot of censorship is stupid. I don't understand the logic of bleeping the end half of the word and not the first half. However censoring language is an attempt to prevent small children from learning expletives and saying them in public. However if you think about it our censorship is actually pretty liberal compared to other countries. That doesn't mean there aren't problems but it's still pretty good here.

So as far as censoring nudity, I'm fine with that. Censoring language depends on the channel. Of course there shouldn't be swearing in children's programs but the censoring in other shows should be more allowing, although that's pretty close to what it is now.

Besides, if you watch a movie you can avoid the censorship.

[Spirit]

However censoring language is an attempt to prevent small children from learning expletives and saying them in public.

Being in middle school, I can safely say that kids still learn them.   I'm not saying I'm against censorship, it's just that on the school bus there's tons of swearing and one boy has even said one of the absolute worst words I know to me.

[Mooshi]

There is a huge difference between a fully nude grown woman on a basic cable channel vs a newly born infant on a show that is specifically about baby birth and normal people don't watch those shows out of leisure. If it wasn't for flipping channels, I would have never known newborns are blurred these days. Sorry babies aren't born with a jumper and tophat? I don't like seeing my cats rear when she struts, does that mean we're gonna see black bars on animal planet? You can see how rediculious this is getting. I never got bleeping out/censoring brand name goods either. You can tell its a bag of Lays.. 

[Weisseman]

Please remember that the debate forum is not exempt from section 4 of the Rules. All instances that break this section will be dealt with in the normal manner.

[Mooshi]

Weisseman, it's kinda hard not to. To be fair, though, it was used once in conjunction with "censor the wrong word" Had no other way I could think of saying it. "You know that AH word? Dumb how they censor H but not A!" Probably would have been confusing. >_> I am sorry, though! The point about censoring wrong words has been made already. Everyone, please don't bring it up again! =3 What other off censoring have you seen?

[Sky Striker]

However censoring language is an attempt to prevent small children from learning expletives and saying them in public.

Being in middle school, I can safely say that kids still learn them.   I'm not saying I'm against censorship, it's just that on the school bus there's tons of swearing and one boy has even said one of the absolute worst words I know to me.

I know, that's where most kids learn swear words, but it's to prevent kids in elementary school from learning those words, or even younger.

[Mooshi]

I'd have to respectfuly disagree. Most kids most likely learn swears from their parents and listening to other adults than they would from tv.

[Dusty]

Not that I am super knowledgeable on this sort of stuff, but I'm kind of the opinion that the world is, unfortunately, turning into a place where people believe they have the right to not ever be offended. Furthermore it is common sense that anyone who tunes into a documentary about childbirth should at least have some sort of inkling that there may be footage of a newly born child. It just seems to me that a person not expecting that sort of thing after opting to watch the program, or anyone who channel-surfs onto such footage and finds the content that the documentary is supposed to present so utterly offensive probably has a few kangaroos loose in the top paddock, especially considering that at least here warnings and such are given regarding content that may unsettle people both before the program and within the program description (either via the digital set-top box or the TV guide). I'd imagine they'd do that too in the US.

As far as trying to prevent children from learning expletives is concerned I think that is fair enough. Using them is typically unjustified and plain rude. Kids just learn them anyway though, either through a parent's mistake or through friends at school.

[Kobuk]

Freaking censoring a newborn! There is NOTHING sexual about a baby. Yes, I am aware of the sickos out there, but I think the CEO who called for censorship is the real sicko for suggesting a baby is 'sexy'.

If it's censoring of a baby being born that is shown on a birth show on TLC that you mentioned, then I'm guessing it was not necessarily about sex, but rather because the producers didn't want to show the baby coming out of the mother's womb with blood and other bodily fluids all over it.

Now as for censoring swearing........I don't like swearing as much as the next person, even though I am guilty of doing it myself from time to time.  To me, swearing is just plain obnoxious, rude, disrespectful, and derogatory.  Nobody should ever have to be made to feel as if they were put down and humiliated, etc. Swearing is just plain uncivilised. There's no need for that kind of talk in our homes, schools, language, etc.

If there's one type of censoring I absolutely can't stand, it's on the Federal level with the gov't.  THAT is the absolute worst of the lot.

[Foxpup]

If there's one type of censoring I absolutely can't stand, it's on the Federal level with the gov't.  THAT is the absolute worst of the lot.

Agreed.

[animagusurreal]

I was in elementary school back in the 80's, and the other kids knew swear words that I can't repeat here. And yeah, I knew a few myself, though I didn't say them in public.

I guess TV was more innocent back then too, because I remember watching a dubbed anime called "The Legend of Manx Mouse" on Nickelodeon and being shocked and highly amused when the Manx Mouse said the line "This book is doo-doo!" Gasp! They said doo-doo on TV!

Once, I heard about some rockstar on a live awards show broadcast saing he was "so blanking happy" to win the award (obviously caught up in the emotion of the moment) and got a huge fine. I guess they have to draw the line somewhere, but that just seemed a little ridiculous to me.

The other thing that gets me is swear words getting bleeped in shows or movies that deal with adult themes, that children obviously shouldn't be watching anyway, like The Sopranos (the one shown on regular, non-HBO cable) or Kill Bill (shown on TNT). I'm sure they also cut some of the more extreme violence in Kill Bill, but a lot of it was still there, and yet they had to change the name of her vehicle to the "Party Wagon", which isn't nearly as funny.

Also, bleeping swear words really just calls more attention to them.

Parents really need to be the ones responsible for what their kids see on TV, by watching shows with them instead of using TV as a babysitter.  If they're too worried about your kids seeing something accidentally, they could try one of those V-chips that you can program to block stuff, or don't have TV.

I know some adults who (not because of their kids) will automatically dislike a movie if it has any swearing in it, ("Oh, that was an awful movie. It had swearing!") and that just bewilders me. Sometimes filmmakers go overboard, but sometimes, for intensity or shock value, swearing is required in certain movies.

I once wrote a poem about how non swear words/phrases, such as "shut up!" or "shhhh!" can be just as vicious as swear words if used with the right inflection.

Lastly, I saw a woman feeding a baby, um, the natural way (not sure what words we're allowed to say on here) on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood when I was a little kid, and I'm just fine today  

[Kobuk]

Parents really need to be the ones responsible for what their kids see on TV, by watching shows with them instead of using TV as a babysitter.

AMEN! QUOTED FOR TRUTH!

[Mooshi]

Been gone for a few days to take care of something. Anyway. @Kobuk - I wasn't reffering to the actual birthing, it was about the baby itself. It was getting weighed and of all things, the censors blur its pelvic area. Which not only draws more attention to it, it's just flat out stupid since its only a baby. To treat a newborn the same way you treat Girls Gone Wild really says something about their mentality.. Speaking of which, anyone else tired of constant bleeping and blurs because networks air shows that would have a mature rating if it wasnt on basic cable. MTV/VH1 are major offenders with their "reality" shows.

[killrhawk]

I guess reality shows just go to show that society is messed up. People that find people for shows like that look for people who will swear and do other stupid things so that the show gets viewed. You wouldn't want to watch 10 people that get along live in a house together. It's all about money and ratings for these big companies and they don't care what they have to do to get them.

I wasn't reffering to the actual birthing, it was about the baby itself. It was getting weighed and of all things, the censors blur its pelvic area. Which not only draws more attention to it, it's just flat out stupid since its only a baby. To treat a newborn the same way you treat Girls Gone Wild really says something about their mentality.

I think that it's more about respect for someone that doesn't have choices. Unlike older people over the age of 18 that appear in movies such as "girls gone wild", a newborn baby can't really form an opinion about whether or not it wants to be censored. I think it's fine in the situation your describing though. It wasn't about the genitalia, as much as it was just about baby itself. I guess it's up to the producer in the end though. It may not be that they are sick, but just, feel differently about it.     

[ominipotentgoldfish]

Well, my two cents?  I think that the FCC has gotten way out of hand with censorship.  Anyone else remember a certain Superbowl incident?  That right there was the reason.  After that happened, they cracked down, and now TV and radio aren't fun anymore.

I believe we need some censorship, mostly to keep young children from things, they simply have no business seeing.  (IE: 12 year old kids watching hardcore pornography or violent films.  Or playing Call of Duty, but that's another can of worms.)  In this situation, it doesn't seem quite right tho.

Personally, I think society as a whole, almost expects babies to be naked.  It's just a fact of life.  Grass grows, birds fly, sun shines, and babies are cute.  (Or so they say, personally I also hate children.) 

One last note on this, if a naked baby is so bad, so immoral, that it should be censored, I often wonder something.  How would the cover for Nirvana's "Nevermind" look if it was released today? 

[Shim]

How would the cover for Nirvana's "Nevermind" look if it was released today?  

It wouldn't.  Cobain's response to "Why?" was perfect.  He basically said "Yeah, BUT ITS A BABY!  Get over it."

[ominipotentgoldfish]

It wouldn't.  Cobain's response to "Why?" was perfect.  He basically said "Yeah, BUT ITS A BABY!  Get over it."

Amen to that.  Keep in mind, even the kid who it was, in later years, supported it because it was artistic.  He even went so far as to recreate it when he was older.

[Spirit]

Or so they say, personally I also hate children.)

If you don't know why I don't like that check my age. Yeeeah.

[ominipotentgoldfish]

  If you don't know why I don't like that check my age. Yeeeah.

*shrugs*  I'm sorry if I offended.  Just speaking my mind.