User talk:Stevenarntson/group spaces/2009summeranalytical/group 4

i have the part to the ratings, still working on it ill have it finished tonight 9.01.09 so look for it tonight sometime, it sould be done, i have most of it i just think it needs a little more! MerrisaShepherd _______________________________________________________________________________________

Week 8 Assessment
As per our discussion yesterday:
 * 1) Replace the definitions at the top of the paper with a nonfiction piece. We discussed a few options.
 * 2) Presently, there are some headings that are underused, such as the Dangerous Communications segment. Decide whether these should be expanded or eliminated.
 * 3) In the solutions section, fill out the information on music ratings and the MPAA.
 * 4) Generally, there should be nothing remaining that looks like notes--everything should be written out fully.
 * 5) Complete the source list at the end with all relevant source material.

Once these items are finished, move forward on editing. Best, Stevenarntson

MIDTERM GRADES
Hello Analytical Writing groups, Just a note to let you know I posted midterm grades today. These grades are not based on accumulated points,and have no permanent affect on anything, but I wanted to give the groups a heads up in terms of where I feel everyone is at. On week 7, your group will meet with me according to the following schedule. Please post all materials you can on your main page before that, so I can talk to you about it during our meeting.


 * Group 1: 12:30-1
 * Group 2: 1:10-1:40
 * Group 3: 1:50-2:20
 * Group 4: 2:30-2:50

All group members should be present and prepared to discuss what they're researching and writing.

Best, Stevenarntson


 * Hi Group 4,
 * These topics both seem interesting. One intriguing aspect of the death with dignity issue is that I've read many articles by people who fear that terminally ill patients might be pressured to end their lives against their will--but I've never heard of an actual example of this happening. For the past few years, Oregon was the only state with a death with dignity law, and it would be interesting to research some specific cases of individuals who invoked that law, and why.
 * Best! Stevenarntson

Our Topic
22:57, 20 July 2009 (UTC) Hi Group! so since we decided to research two more topics i found it hard to narrow it down to just 2 but i found some really interesting topics that i feel strongly about. So here are some of them and i guess we can juse decided on some either through discussion or in class next time we meet. If your finding it hard to think of some ideas, just go to google and type in social topics/issues and it gives you hundreds or ideas! talk to you ladies soon! :]

My topics: Animal Rights

Euthanasia/Assisted Suicide (elgerly people in assisted living situations)

Child Labor

Drugs & Alcohol

If i had to choose one i would really like to do the topic on Euthanasia and assisted suicide, theres a lot of really good articles on this topic as well as in the news quiet often about people pulling the plug on the elderly people who do not have a voice. but i want to see what other people have in mind.MerrisaShepherd

Hi guys, Merrisa those are good topics. out of yours I am also drawn to the Assisted Suicide one. The topics I have come up with are

- 1. Social and welfare issues, with the economy the way it is & all the job loss how is this issue being taking care of & why the program is the way it is. (a big mess).

- 2. Same sex Marriage, why is there such a hang up on this issue, if two people are in love that's what should matter & the government should'nt tell us who we can or can't spend the rest of our lives with.

when we talk in class if we have a hard time picking one of the topics we all agree on - maby picking one out of a hat, so to speak, will be the option. we will figure it out :) :XinaDeMoss

Free Speech with Internet
What is free speech?

What is censorship?

History of Free Speech and Censorship?


 * Body suggestions


 * Why censorship is bad/good?
 * Free speech through?
 * Conversation?
 * Book?
 * Radio/TV?
 * Internet?
 * Does it happen all around the world?
 * Where is the most serious place that be affected?
 * Asia ---> China
 * America ---> United States
 * Middle East ---> Iran
 * Euroupe ---> ???
 * Africa ---> ???
 * Big event already happened?
 * Solution?
 * Existing solution and its result?
 * Future solution?

Kimaule

= Organizing our stuff =

I think it could be a good idea to outline what kind of stuff we are thinking of and what we want to do with it. In this section, everybody has their own area so when we are ready, we can just copy and paste stuff to the main group page!

Kimaule

Purpose: To protect society from corrupting ideas

 * 1.	Pornography


 * a)	Can give people the wrong idea about sex


 * b)	Downside: if censorship is too broad, you can’t communicate any idea about sex, even important information.


 * 2.	Books


 * a)	Persepolis


 * b)	Comics Code Authority


 * 3.	Movies


 * a)	Hayes Office

Censorship and propaganda go together

 * 1.	American media about WWII and Vietnam War


 * a)	"Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips"


 * 2.	Vietnam burning French and American media after the war


 * 3.	China censoring internet


 * a)	“The Great Firewall of China”


 * b) Studying Chinese blog censorship


 * c)	Anniversary of Tiananmen Square

Possible solutions

 * 1.	Government


 * a)	Do you trust the government not to be corrupt?


 * 2.	Self-censorship


 * a)	Media companies have their own interests in mind.


 * 3.	How can Free Speech and Censorship help each other?

Alternative to censorship:

 * 1.	Give both sides of argument


 * a)	Commercials for alcohol and cigarettes


 * Now they must include warnings about the dangers of drinking/smoking


 * 2.	Ratings systems


 * a)	MPAA rating system


 * Downside: do you trust the ratings people?


 * “This Film Has Not Been Rated”


 * b)	Music


 * Parental Advisory – Explicit Lyrics


 * Customers get a choice of “clean” or “explicit” versions

Conclusion
=Discussion=

XinaDeMoss
I found a web site that fights for the rights of free speach & the like its call Electronic freedom foundation (or Electronic Frontier foundation.) here is the link [EFF] :XinaDeMoss

Here are some links I found. [fcc] [early radio] [BFE] [pdf] [some links] [wiki] [d halper] [us] [Censorship][tv] [net iran] [time][China] [time line] :XinaDeMoss

here is some really good info on early radio regs [radio regs] interesting info for UKRAINIAN TV JOURNALISTS PROTEST CENSORSHIP [protest] some on net regs [cnet] interesting...Iran censoring net [Iran] ACLU Internet... [aclu] China... [China]

The discussion of freedom of speech and freedom of expression is a long hard road. It is true that people have the right to their speech and expression and everyone has a widely different point of view, which makes this topic a very passionate one. Who is to say what should or shouldn’t be censored? Who is to say what is right or wrong, because to each individual this changes. The question is; should there be censorship in the Medias? If so who are the ones that make these choices and what lines are to be drawn. Does censoring freedom of speech and expression aid or hinder mankind?

Governments have stepped in for many generations to try and tell its peoples what is right or wrong for them, albeit some with good intentions; most have tried to hide the truth from their peoples as a means of control.

When a Government does something, that can and will affect the peoples of its nation, be it good or bad, and hides it from them, they are effectively telling its people they have no rights, that they do not know what is best for them. We understand that each government and the peoples of that nation are very different with different points of view and thoughts on what is considered right and wrong. And this should be respected. But governments are supposed to be there for the people, to protect the people from harm. Not harm of what we watch, hear, learn, speak or even do, but to keep us safe from the harm of enemies. Governments should not be allowed or feel they have the total control over what we as people chose to say, think, believe, watch, hear or do. It is our right to self censorship not the governments.' Beings that the topic of what should be censored or not in our Medias is an ongoing, passionate topic that will not go away anytime soon and there will always be people on both sides of this issue, there should be some guides to help people make their own choices.' One idea is to have warnings of what the topic might be, another might be to put an age limit on who can have access to certain materials, how about we put ideas and topics to a vote, .

How can the people, Medias, and governments come up with solutions to this argument? Who are the ones that will be speaking for the masses, and how do they decide what and how much censorship or lack thereof is appropriate? And why can’t the masses decide for themselves?

With the United States government, we elect into office representatives that are suppose to stand up for our beliefs; be it the laws we put into place to detour crime, what programs we want run to help those that cannot help themselves and even how we interact with other governments.

The United States government was put into place by the people for the people so that the people could live free without restrictions or dictatorships. Over the decades the masses with the controlling voice has become more complacent, allowing someone else to “make up the rules” for them. The People need to stand up again and hold those accountable that where voted into office to protect our freedoms. The people can do this by not re-electing those that go against the public’s wishes.

The Medias were meant to report the news, both sides of it, and not be biased, have an agenda or censor what is reported. It was set up as a way to inform the people of all the events. Good or bad. The people should boycott the major controlling Medias that are not standing to those original values.

People should stand together to be heard, take back the freedoms they have given up over the years by becoming complacent, and rejecting the officials and Medias that hinder these ideals and have agendas that hinder these freedoms.

SuzanneZimmer
Hiya, So i'm sure this is late enough on Sunday that you all won't see it before class tomorrow, but with my dad's b-day today, i haven't gotten to a computer all weekend. my 2 subjects that i came up with were - still the legalization of marijuana but spacifically on how its asinine for the government to regulate stupidity and it would be more cost effective to legalize it just like alchohal and just tax the crap out of the use/purchase. the second one is a little more personal for me but and that is - the issue of how internet affects free speech in the world. the recent events in Iran with the woman who was shot and it was put onto youtube and how countries are no longer able to keep control over their media thanks to the internet. see you tomorrow afternoon.:SuzanneZimmer

Hey Xina that is really cool, a really useful website.:SuzanneZimmer

71.113.127.84 23:58, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

Definition of the word Censor
1.	an official who examines books, plays, news reports, motion pictures, radio and television programs, letters, cablegrams, etc., for the purpose of suppressing parts deemed objectionable on moral, political, military, or other grounds.

2.	any person who supervises the manners or morality of others.

3.	A faultfinder. The very word censor is to actively limit written word do to it being faulty or objectionable. Censoring is just another word for banning or forbidding people to read hear or see what others have to say.

Early History
Freedom of speech has been challenged and censored all throughout history of man and organized government. The ancient Greeks persecuted Socrates and put him to death for publicizing ideas outside of the religious beliefs of the time in 399BC. In early Chinese history as well as many other countries it was believed that censorship was a legitimate way to control moral and political movements/ideas of the populous.

Book Banning
Countries have banned books for a variety of reasons. The Bible has been banned in different times in history from England in the 1400s, any bible translated from the original text was forbidden. During Queen Mary’s reign she put forth a proclaimation "that no manners of persons presume to bring into this real any messages, books, paper, etc. in the name of Martin Luther, John Calvin, Miles Coverdale, Erasmus, Tyndale etc. or any like books containing false doctrines against the Catholic faith" (http://www.beaconforfreedom.org/). More recently in history in the soviet union banned all religious texts including the Koran, Bible and Talmud. Before and during WWII Nazi-Germany banned several books including all publications by Karl Marx, this banning was included in all occupied countries as well. All works by Jewish authors were similarly banned even Bambi, by Felix Salten. Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf is still banned today in many countries in Europe and all but the English and Dutch versions are owned and controlled by the government of Bavaria, when it was found that German citizens could perchase the books through amazon.com and barnsandnoble.com after public outcry both companies agreed to stop selling this book.

Censorship in the US
The main problem as I see it is that most Americans don’t think or realize that on a daily basis our media and information is censored. The government and mainstream media report how Americans should think and what they should know. In 2003 an article was published in the Gaurdian a publication of the UK written by Michael Meacher who was at the time an environmental minister regarding the Iraq war titled “This War on Terrorism is Bogus”. The article was almost completely ignored by American and Canadian media except a brief mention in the Toronto Star. In a time when the American media was bombarded with headlines such as “War on Terrorism” and other sensational headlines all with backing and support of the Bush administration it is somewhat sad that Americans did not even get to see a contratidicting article.

American Free Speech
The Bill of rights in the constitution of the United states of america The first amendment: “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; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted and proclaimed by the United Nations on December 10, 1948. This was a historic event that was encouraged by the UN to be publicized and spread throughout the member countries and one of the basic things it says is, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

Kimaule
Hi guys, sorry for a very late update. I had some stuff is going on this weekend so now I finally can hoop on the internet. Here is some of my research about the Tiananmen Square event happened in China in 1989, so in case any of us doesn't know much about it, you guy can read and get an idea how it happened.

Tiananmen Square, 20 Years Later

Check this out also Chinese Internet censorship: An inside look

Media Control and Self-Censorship in Hong Kong

lU.S. news media and the Vietnam War


 * Kimaule

This is all of my thought on the topic so far. I know it's kinda messy and the word is not all correct but you guys can feel free to fix anything.

Hey guy, I came up with the new outline for the essay so please take a look and see if you guy agree with it or not. I'm kinda throwing the idea to the outline so anybody interested in any part can write about it. I hope you guy won't mad at me because i changed it a lot. I just feel the old one kinda too simple and unclear.

'''Introduction

My friend once told me a story about when he was young. He never tried spicy food until he was in college. As a child his mother wouldn't let him try it. Whenever he asked she would just says "It's too spicy, you wouldn't like it!". Years later, he tried and loves it. Only then did he realized that his mother wouldn't let him ate spicy food because she didn't like it herself. This is how he realized that what is right for one person may not be right for someone else.

The desire to protect people from harmful ideas is a very basic one. Parents have to decide what to expose their children to from the day they are born. In all forms of communication, people try to put themselves in a positive light. On a human level, this is natural. But when people control forms of mass communication, this natural tendency has a different term: censorship. Whether it's to protect a populace from offensive ideas, or to suppress opinions which may weaken a corporation or government's position, censorship is common in all societies.

'''Government control and propaganda

Censorship is often used as a form of control by many governments. Government censorship blocks differing opinions to keep people from questioning what the government does.

From the 1990s, the Internet gave people a new way to communicate and exchange information. Since the commercialization of the Internet in China in 1995, China has become one of the fastest-growing Internet markets in the world. The number of domestic Internet users is doubling every six months. With the development of the Internet, news reaches China from a multiplicity of sources enabling people to form opinions, analyze and share information and to communicate in ways previously unknown in China. Lively on-line debate characterized the start of the Internet in China. However, the potential of the Internet to spread new ideas has led the authorities to take measures to control its use. In 1998, the government of China began work on the Golden Shield Project, designed "to construct a communication network and computer information system for police to improve their capability and efficiency." This project has become known outside China as The Great Firewall of China, a pun on the ancient Great Wall of China. The preliminary work on the Golden Shield Project alone cost up to $800 million US dollars. The project includes a wide range of provisions that limit how information can be disseminated. Chinese web sites cannot show news from outside media without approval. Only licensed publishers can run news sites; other sites may only publish information already released by other sources. All sites must get approval from government offices. The project is estimated to use 30,000 police officers to monitor for illegal content. Unacceptable messages from online forums are often deleted within minutes of being posted.

Many outside websites are completely blocked from access. Other sites must follow strict guidelines in order to be available in China. Many companies proved pre-censored versions of their services for Chinese customers. This has led to criticism in other countries, who claim that these companies are helping the Chinese government to continue suppressing free speech.

One of the latest censorship events is the argument around Internet access during Beijing Olympics in 2008. China has branded the Beijing Olympics as the "High Tech Olympics!" and the "People’s Olympics!". Despite this, use of the Internet remains highly restricted in China. According to the International Olympic Committee for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the Chinese government guarantees that the accredited media would have unrestricted Internet access during the games. However, journalists soon found that sites containing politically sensitive material were inaccessible.

Obviously, when it comes to free communication, it will be censored. Perhaps the government has a good purpose in mind; maybe they genuinely want to give their people the understanding that everything their country does is good. But instead of making people "harmonious", the censorship has the opposite effect. Skepticism, denial, and infuriation are the usual results.

Propaganda is a specific type of message presentation, aimed at serving an agenda. Even if the message conveys true information, it may be partisan and fail to paint a complete picture. Some people define propaganda as the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognition, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist. Along with censorship, propaganda plays an important role in persuading people to believe and to trust one political view or idea.

The Chinese and Vietnamese political environment is becoming increasingly critical. As this has yet to affect the personal interests and daily lives of ordinary citizens, most people do not feel strongly about this.

An evolution has occurred when it comes to questioning the government in Vietnam and China. From the 1970s to 1980, people in Vietnam never questioned anything about their government. After the Vietnam war, the communist party become the only political system. At the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s when the war was over, a lot people fled from the country. They have different political opinion than the current government. The two separate political systems within the country has created a conflict between the people that still live in Vietnam and those that live overseas. In Vietnam, China and Taiwan most issues are turned into “black or white”, within the political party and most people only support one side. People truly believe that the party is representative of them, when is the people who have become representative of the party. The government creates nationalistic pride to the point that the government is never wrong, and everything it does is good. Nationalistic pride, mixed with a feeling of racial superiority and with the idea that the government is never wrong creates a dangerous situation in Vietnam. This process is known as "boiling the frog by warming the water "If the water is warmed up gradually, the frog may not feel it; by the time the frog feels the heat, it won't be able to jump out of the boiling water. Among the various changes in the political environment, media control and self-censorship are the most worrisome.

Censorship is a way to control differing opinions; it shields the truth, and allows the people who support the government to come forward without hindrance. Even if someone might have a different view, they would rather not go against their culture, government, people, or race. When self - censorship happens, it is not the government controlling the people. Self - censorship it is billions of people putting their fingers in their ears and saying “I can’t hear you and I don’t want to hear you!!!”

After the Vietnam War, Vietnamese Government gave the order to burn all the book, CDs and videos that belong to the French and American. They think books from France and America portray incorrect information about individuals or groups that have the potential to evoke violence. People who followed the old, South Vietnamese, government were treated unfairly when they tried to get a job. Students and family who were followed under the old South Vietnamese government was treated unfairly to get a job. Lower class people were easier to get a job than the upper class because they were associated to the communism. Valuable book from France and America was burned when they kept Moscow and China book, which no longer up-to-date.

Not only are conflicting ideas censored, but any negative events or occurrences within those countries. As many people known the Tiananmen Square events that produced a stir on 1989 when the Chinese government ordered the suppression of a peaceful protest movement that had been carried out by students and civilians in China's major cities over two months in the spring of 1989. The center of the protest movement was Tiananmen Square, Beijing, where tens of thousands of students camped out to press their demands for democratic reform and a halt to China’s escalating corruption problem. More than one million people marched carrying banners and shouting slogans. On the night of June 3, 1989, the government ordered the Army to clear the square. On the afternoon, martial law troops moved into Beijing and clashed with civilians trying to block their way to Tiananmen Square. The troops cleared the square and opened fire on unarmed students and civilians in the surrounding area who resisted the suppression. More than 2,000 people died in various Chinese cities, 182 victims, including three who died at Tiananmen Square. More than 500 people were imprisoned in prison, and an unknown number were imprisoned in other cities. An additional unknown number were executed. Therefore, Tiananmen Square event became a warning for who dare to go against with the government’s law.

From that time, people try to adept more to environment of being obeyed the issue or pretending the issue and the fact do not exist. Ignoring everything, and try not to go against ones culture, government, people, and race. And today, almost people live in Vietnam and China has the belief that whatever their government does, it is right.

Censorship is not just a way of controlling the people; it is there to make it easier on the people to be right no matter what. It is much easier to just magically make things go away, than to address them and possibly find an error. It would stop people from having to think of the unthinkable. It would stop people from questioning long held beliefs and it would in turn, make the party or government stance “undeniable” again.

'''Dangerous Information

Proponents of censorship often talk about dangerous information that should be controlled. They say that some information can be used to commit crimes and hurt people. In 1971, William Powell published the Anarchist Cookbook, a book that contains recipes and instructions for the manufacture of explosives, rudimentary telecommunications phreaking devices and other dangerous and illegal items. Many people were outraged and frightened that it would be used to encourage terrorist acts.

In fact, the Anarchist Cookbook was mostly compiled from other sources of information which were already freely available. Also, over the years, it has been updated, expanded and even moved online with new information, by a large number of other contributors. In some ways it can be considered to be an early version of a Wiki!

This shows how difficult it can be to censor something. Even if a government decided that some information should be censored, where would they start? If the Anarchist Cookbook is illegal, what about the sources that Powell used to create it? Furthermore, what about good use for the information? For example, the Anarchist Cookbook includes sections on lock picking. While lock picking can be used in crime, it can also be used to rescue people or even just to open things when their keys have been lost.

Even now, the book is maintaining a remarkably high sales rate on Amazon. Few people seem to care that some of the "recipes" were quickly discovered to be dangerously, even mortally inaccurate, although several of the readers offering reviews of the book did revile it as "The Disgruntled Idiot's Guide to Rebellion" or, worse, as a catalyst for school shootings.

Ultimately, the book itself serves as a history lesson. This period in history was a very difficult one, and reading the book can help give us a perspective on what people thought at the time. In fact, it can show us how people's perspectives can themselves change. William Powell has changed his mind about the book. "The book, in many respects, was a misguided product of my adolescent anger at the prospect of being drafted and sent to Vietnam to fight in a war that I did not believe in. The central idea to the book was that violence is an acceptable means to bring about political change. I no longer agree with this." (He explains that the book was copyrighted under the publisher's name, not his, so he has no control over its continued dissemination.)

But fans of The Anarchist Cookbook are not so sympathetic to the author's aged retraction. As one of the readers reviews: "It is unfortunate that we lose our sense of outrage and angst as we grow into adulthood. Such is the case of William Powell. The Anarchist's Cookbook is a masterpiece and a perfect example of what the freedoms of the Constitution gives us to speak what we wish."

'''Censorship of the Arts

We have seen a lot of arguments on censorship of pornographic materials, in some people’s idea, it helps preventing the corrupting of the children. As on research, kids who watch pornographic videos, at an early age they would usually have the wrong ideas about love and sex. In contract, if sex-related topics are completely censored, it becomes difficult to teach children and teenagers about the danger of HIV/AIDS or pregnancy. There are lots of cases in which young women become pregnant because they are lacking the knowledge about un-protected sex.

'''Corporate Censorship

In today world, corporation can own many companies, including media or Information Company. These companies want to present a good face in the public so they don’t want to say anything bad about themselves. Therefore, they may use censorship in the media that they own to suppress the unfavorable information, both media that they own and in media that they spent the advertising dollar.

Corporations use money and power to influence the media throughout the world. If a report is going to hurt a company's bottom line, then that report will not be shown on the nightly news. Reporters fear reporting the complete news because their jobs and position will be threatened. One example of corporations controlling the news was at the beginning of this summer. Two reporters from competing channels were in the midst of a rivalry that involved one slamming the other continuously with facts and information regarding the habits of the parent company who owned the station that they worked for, MSNBC and Fox. This was in June of 2009 between MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Fox's Bill O'Reilly. GE owns both MSNBC and Fox so having both of these reporters slanders the other were causing GE to lose money. It was later revealed that the two were “reconciled” by order of the CEO of GE. But at the end of this one of the parties involved was quoted saying, “I promise you, CBS News and ABC News and NBC News are not influenced by the corporations that may own those companies.” a quote by Charlie Rose (Greenwald). Yet, after this reconciliation anything that negatively portrayed GE was no longer reported on either of these very popular news shows. A viewer responded to the change,”In my personal opinion, this was one of the rare useful pieces of information O'Reilly ever presented to his audience, and Olbermann was there to show how lousy the rest of O'Reilly's information was. Though it was in the context of a bitter feud, the two men were actually engaging in real journalism, at least in this case.”(Greenwald)

Maybe the biggest concern with corporate censorship is in conjunction with media conglomeration. After the Television Act of 1996, the FCC allows companies to own many more media outlet. As the result of this, a small number of companies own almost all the media in the United States. Many people are concerned that this will lead to an oligarchy, in which the media company that come together and decide what will be covered in the entire major news outlet.

'''Alternatives to Censorship

People are always learning and copying from each other so by seeing scenes of people consuming alcohol or smoking, it gives a bad influence on the society. Hence censoring such scenes serves a useful purpose. In the 1980s and 1990s, many young teenagers were influenced by the media to think that smoking cigarettes made them look cool. This made widespread smoking among the youth a big problem because it was illegal to smoke at under 18, but the rules were being broken by "rebels". Today commercials warn people that smoking is bad and even highly hazardous to a person's health. The Truth.com has a series of commercials illustrating what could happen if you smoke, such as having your larynx removed due to cancer. A lot of teenagers changed their minds about how smoking made them look and now are more likely to try being healthier. Censoring one way, lead to a widespread misunderstanding of facts.

Censorship is often started with good intentions, but because of the problems outlined above, it can have bad results. Often people do not wish to be exposed to things that they find offensive, but censorship takes control away from people. One alternative to censorship is a system of rating content. Perhaps the most well known attempt at self regulation is conducted by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which rates motion pictures for particular audiences. For example, the contents of "G" rated movies are considered suitable for all audiences, "GP" requires parental guidance, "R," "X," and NC17 are considered appropriate for adults. These standards are offered as a guide to audiences and have never been strictly enforced. Parents may take children to see X-rated movies if they so desire. This approach retains the filmmakers' freedom to create any kind of movie they wish, and also the people's freedom to choose what kind of material they wish to see.

On the other hand; another type of censorship would be art censorship. Most people probably wouldn’t even think about movie ratings as being a type of censorship but quite frankly it is. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) decides what films get put out for the eyes of audience to watch.

Structure of English essay on Free Speech in American vs. the censorship in other countries, should we consider using censorship in the United States?
'Introduction: To help students better understand and fully grasp the freedom of speech in the first amendment, it helps to give them the history behind how it all started not only in the United states but how other countries consider using freedom of speech and the use of censorship.

History of Free Speech in the United States: the right to freedom of speech dates all the way back to the first settlers whose desire to experience religious freedom necessitated the right to freely speak about their beliefs. The constitutional basis for freedom of speech, however, can be traced directly to the 1735 trial of John Peter Zenger, a German immigrant who worked as a Colonial newspaper publisher. John peter Zenger was arrested and tried on July 29, 1735 for publishing critical threats against the New York Governor. In 1776, The Virginia Declaration of rights started with the first formal rights to citizens. Madison's original draft of the Bill of Rights contained two proposed amendments dealing with freedom of speech. One said "The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be unchallengeable." The other stated: "No state shall violate the equal rights of conscience, or of the press." Although freedom of speech is now protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. There are some certain protection rights to the Freedom of Speech such as the miller test for obscenity, (which is when the United States Supreme Court can test whether speech or expression can be labeled as obscene, child pornography laws, & commercial speech such as advertising rights. From colonial settlers speaking their minds on faith, to John Peter Zenger’s outspoken press, to provocative debates ignited by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, free speech continues to be among the most contested of American rights today which brings us to whether or not the United States should consider using limited censorship on speech and expression such as the Chinese countries would use.

History of Censorship in China & other Countries: Censorship in the Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan, was eliminated in 1987. The media is generally allowed to broadcast what they choose as long as it does not contravene slander and libel statutes. Censorship in the people’s republic of china is the limiting or suppressing of the publishing rights, broadcasting, and viewing or certain information in the People’s Republic of China as known as the (PRC). Censorship in China includes anything that will essentially all capable of reaching wide audiences, the audience that they’re implying are T.V., radio, newspapers, film, radio, text messaging, instant messaging, video games, literature, education and the internet. A good example of the use of censorship would be the issue of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. :MerrisaShepherd

hi ladies, so i know we are supposed to write whatever each of us decided to write about and so far im only seeing what i wrote unless im really not looking or posted in the wrong spots i hope everyone is putting there part in b/c without everyone this paper will no be a sucess. but anyways mine is just a starter i know there are alot of this missing and wrong but its just structured out untill i can finish the rest and research more things that i need to put in the history part of my essay! hope everyones doing well! please please please contact one of us if you are having problems! lets kick things into gear and achieve this paper i think its going to be a sucess and i talked to someone about it and they said its an excellent topic to be discussing on. x0-:MerrisaShepherd

What is the MPAA? The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) serves as the voice and advocate of the American motion picture, home video and television industries, domestically through the MPAA and through its internationally counterpart the Motion Picture Association. The MPAA was founded in 1922 as the trade association of the American film industry, the initial task assigned to the association was to stem criticism of American movies, which were then silent, and to restore a more favorable public image for the motion picture business. The MPAA has broadened its mandate over the years to reflect the diversity of an ever changing and expanding industry.

Today the association continues to advocate for strong protection of the creative works produced and distributed by the industry. The Motion Picture Association analyzes the work produced by the film companies and rates each film with appropriate ratings on which they have created for the public.

Who in the MPA gets to rate the movies we watch, what are the ratings, and what do the ratings stand for? Believe it or not but the people who rate the movies we see are actually parents, most people would not have guessed parents would be rating our movie raters. The ratings are decided by a full-time Rating Board located in Los Angeles, California. There are 10-15 members on the board who serve various lengths of time. They work under the classification - Rating Administration which is funded by the fees charged to producers and distributors for the rating of their films. There are no particular qualifications for the rating members, except that the members must have a shared parenthood experience, must be possessed of intelligent maturity and most of all, have the capacity to put themselves in the role of the most American parents so they can view a film and apply a rating that most parents would find suitable for certain age groups and find it helpful in aiding their decisions about what movies their children can and cannot see.

This brings be me back to a time when I wanted to go see a certain movie that was rated above my age group and required one of my parents or an adult over the age of 17 to attend with me. Neither could attend so I wasn’t allowed to view the movie.

The rating system provides certain age group censorship so not everyone can view the film, depending on how appropriate the film is. Many families agree that certain rated R movies should not be shown to young children and only certain shows should be censored to an extent, yet they do not see the significant effect that regular television shows really have on their children. As a child grows, more and more statistics are proving that they are being exposed to too many shows that should be censored. Many studies have concluded that young children are most affected by what they see on television (Dritz, Russel 1996).

Most of you are wondering but what are the ratings and what do they stand for? The ratings for films are G, PG, PG-13, R and a rating most people haven’t been familiarized with NC-17. What do the ratings stand for, G is your typical children’s motion picture that contains no inapropriate language(swearing), nudity, sex, violence or other matters that, in the view of the Rating Board, would offend parents whose younger children view the motion picture. The G rating is not a “certificate of approval,” nor does it signify a “children’s” motion picture. Some snippets of language may go beyond polite conversation but they are common everyday expressions. No strong words are present in G-rated motion pictures. Depictions of violence are minimal. No nudity, sex scenes, or drug use are present in the motion picture.

A PG motion picture rating should be investigated by parents before they let their younger children attend. The PG rating indicates, in the view of the Rating Board, that parents may consider some material unsuitable for their children, and parents should make that decision.

The PG-13 motion picture rating is a sterner warning by the Rating Board to parents to determine whether their children under age 13 should view the motion picture, as some material might not be suited for them. A PG-13 motion picture may go beyond the PG rating in theme, violence, nudity, sensuality, language, adult activities or other elements, but does not reach the rating R. The Board of raters however may rate such a motion picture PG-13 if, based on a special vote by a two-thirds majority, the Raters feel that most American parents would believe that a PG-13 rating is appropriate because of the context or manner in which the words are used or because the use of those words in the motion picture is inconspicuous. A R-rated motion picture, in the view of the Rating Board, contains some adult material.

A R-rated motion picture may include adult themes, adult activity, hard language, intense or persistent violence, sexually-oriented nudity, drug abuse or other elements, parents are counseled to take this rating very seriously. Children under 17 are not allowed to attend R-rated motion pictures unaccompanied by a parent or adult guardian. Parents are strongly urged to find out more about R-rated motion pictures in determining their suitability for their children. Generally, it is not appropriate for parents to bring their young children with them to R-rated motion pictures.

And for the rating not as many people are familiar with is the motion picture rating NC-17 which is not viewed in theaters. An NC-17 rating is one that, in the view of the Rating Board, most parents would consider patently too adult for their children 17 and under. No children will be admitted. NC-17 does not mean “obscene” or “pornographic” in the common or legal meaning of those words, and should not be construed as a negative judgment in any sense. The rating simply signals that the content is appropriate only for an adult audience. An NC-17 rating can be based on violence, sex, aberrational behavior, drug abuse or any other element that most parents would consider too strong and therefore off-limits for viewing by their children.

In conclusion, we as a group believe that censorship plays a huge part in everyone's life. It is both important in each aspect that we need censorship and sometimes we really shouldn’t need it at all. For example, censorship on music is wrong in our opinion because artist should be allowed to say whatever they wish to write in a song. That is what our founding fathers based this country upon: freedom. On the other hand I think the rating system that we utilize is working fairly useful. The latest poll results that 78% of parents with children under the age of 13 found the rating system to be “fairly useful”. If parents have a problem with the rating system, it is because they did not properly supervise their children, and there are other alternatives to censor programs without the rating system.


 * finish with some other things related to your topic....i touched on music and the rating system!!