At first glance of Milton’s “Aeropagitica” I felt a little dizzy. But, like Jenni, I copied and pasted “Aeropagitica” into a Word document for easier reading and note-taking and this proved to be very helpful. While reading “Aeropagitica,” I could see many similarities between 1644 and 2009. The same issues are still present. How much control should government have over censoring? Should there be complete and total freedom of speech? Is libel and slander included in your Constitutional rights? The jist of it is, is where is the line drawn when dealing with freedom of speech?
One problem I see with government censoring media, such as; television, movies, radio, newspapers, or the internet is there is so much out there that would have to be screened. I think that this is just a waste of time and energy. The government should spend their efforts on something more worthwhile and leave the censoring up to the parents and authorities of children.
Sin will always be present whether or not we have questionable media. As Milton said, “evil manners are as perfectly learnt without books a thousand other ways which cannot be stopped.”
Those who want to be good will choose to be good whether or not the media around them is bad. Those people would believe, “we must not expose ourselves to temptations without necessity, and next to that, not employ our time in vain things.”
With the growing number of accessibility to internet sites and other types of media, how can we as Christians keep ourselves looking for the good media?
This YouTube video explains another great subject. . .the topic of religion in schools.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsuvjEW4UAY
I think it's crazy how the government can try to take God and Jesus out of our everyday lives and allow other malicious works into elementary schools. I don't think the government can make a decision for everyone in the country because there are so many different viewpoints. Can the government put trust in local authorities to make judgements about taboo media? How else could this problem be addressed?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
With watching the youtube video about the heros I was first shocked then really sad. I can't believe we are allowing our world to sink into a state of mind that Christ is not a worthy hero, or that if He is a hero He must be a hidden hero.
ReplyDeleteI would love to say that this is a unique case but I'm sure it isn't. For some reason those who are against Christianity (usually the minority) still are heard far more than those who believe in and uphold Christian values.
The only way I see to address it is to keep instilling Christ in our young ones. Keep being the "trouble kid" would believes in God.
I agree that government censorship is mostly a waste of time and energy. I know for a fact that censorship online is fallible- people found ways to go around the blocks in high school and still get to the websites that were supposed to be blocked. I think that if the government narrowed their censorship to websites they know for sure are bad as opposed to all websites containing certain words, less money would be needed and there would be less frustration with censorship. Shelley is right, they are trying too hard to cover way too much territory. I wonder if the solution is staring us in the face. There is this theory that if you made drugs legal less people would try and use it because it wouldn't be as popular, risky, etc. Or if alcohol was made legal for 18 year olds would there be less drunk driving accidents because they wouldn't have to hide their alcohol? Should the government relax their censorship rules a little bit and see if the fascination with illegal sites/topics died down?
ReplyDeleteThere is such a fine line that divides how effective government censorship could be. It is obviously our right as American citizens to have freedom to look for and/or provide information as we see fit, whether it is on the internet, television, or in print. There should not be a limit to the amount of information we absorb or offer to others. Knowledge is power, right? I believe it is UNLESS we are talking about the knowledge of harmful things. When I say harmful things, I am talking about nuclear bombs, suicide, etc. I believe the government should take it upon themselves to protect our everyday citizens from information such as that, that if it were to land in the wrong hands could only do harm.
ReplyDeleteOther than that small change, I believe that we as humans should have complete freedom of speech. It has been our right, is our right, and should continue to stay that way.
I agree on these issues. I do think censorship being the government's job is a waste of time and effort. They can try to monitor the media, but I believe the main responsibility lies on the parents or guardians of children. Of course, monitoring the content on the television, radio, and internet is helpful to some extent, but bottom line, our world is corrupt. We can watch and monitor the media all we want, but people are still going to be exposed to negative things.
ReplyDeleteI was also very shocked when I saw the You Tube video. Allowing a little boy to dress up as any hero, even one that kills people, but not allowing him to dress up as Jesus just does not seem fair. I can understand people not wanting teachers to tell their beliefs on Christianity, Judaism, or Buddhism to their classes, but I think children should be able to express their religious beliefs. After all, we live in the United States, so aren't we supposed to have freedom of religion and freedom of speech??