Result 4

result 2

Result 1

Censorship of Information

Internet censorship is harmful to everyone on both the local and global scale. Globally a recent example would be Arab Spring in Egypt. The government literally unplugged the Internet and took a freedom away from their people. People protested and found a way around these blockages, but the government had no problem stripping this right away when there was strife. Information was blocked from leaving the area and from going to the area. China is also doing the same thing now as well. People have of course found a way around censorship by using their phones to carry messages to all nearby people via Bluetooth. Information is hard to every truly repress locally. Journalists have been captured and killed for trying to report stories from countries that are heavily censoring what their people can access and send out. People will obviously find a way around controls as it is in our nature to do so. But these helps reinforce the idea that we do not need censorship, as it is only harmful to everyone. People have a right to know and that should not be impeded in any way. Access to information should be as protected as the right to freedom of religion or freedom of speech. Knowledge means power and people in power are not afraid to block information if it provides a threat. The only way to remind those in government and rulers that the real power lies with the people is to allow access of information.

Long-term effects can also happen when a government gets too censor happy. China has censored or restricted all of its policies regarding global warming and climate in general. The United States and other countries cannot plan a way to eliminate global warming if we do not know what others are doing to combat it as well.  

            The government censors to protect itself and that is a very bad sign. If the government is so scared of what their policies are or what the people would think if word got out about their activities, then maybe it is time to elect a new government. Public relations is all about telling the truth and telling it fast, why does that same policy not apply to the people in charge. The people have a right to know what their government is doing and why they are doing it. A well-informed society is a dangerous society. Censorship does not allow the people to be the best they can be because as they say, knowledge is power.

            Censorship should only be allowed for things that may be offensive to the vast majority of people. Obscene or indecent gestures (such as cursing around children) is not something that will harm people if oppressed. Harmless censorship on the Internet, like banning curse words from Club Penguin (a site geared towards elementary school aged children) does not harm anyone. It is only the needless censorship of information or other un-obscene acts, such as nudity or information on sex, that we start to harm ourselves as a society.