Honorable Mention
HALLE PRENETA
The Effects of Censorship in Today’s Society Critical Essay Grade: 12 Kenston High School Instructor: George Costanzo
The Effects of Censorship in Today’s Society Words are the fundamentals of any language. Many are able to string words together into a beautiful romantic scene or an intense battle. Some use words to report news stories from around the world. Some people have many words to say whereas others do not. Luckily, in the United States, we have freedom of speech as a constitutional amendment which
allows people to say or write their beliefs and not get in trouble for expressing their opinion. In some countries though, that is not allowed. Censorship is a topic plaguing many countries in today’s society and the effects on the world are astounding. Even though some countries may find censorship appealing, the ever lasting effects on the people and how they interpret information will have a negative impact on their lives. Censorship silences the voices of minority groups which leaves no room for representation or education. These voices are silenced, often sneakily, and in many different ways. “Thus, if one looks at the different types of censorships prevalent today, one finds that there are a number of different ways by which censorship mechanisms work, often parallel to each other” (Sen 181). The different types of censorship Sen listed were self censorship, discouragement of certain ideas through socialization (which often lead to taboos), enforcement of censorship from a federal or legal standpoint, the ultra legal (which includes actions such as tapping telephones and limiting the release of information about a defendant at a trial), a situation where an individual or company with no legal power imposes censorship on others, and using power that was set aside as a means for censorship. When minority groups are blocked out from the media, especially media such as movies or tv shows, the discouragement of certain ideas through socialization form of censorship comes into play. The movie 575