User:Walter Humala/Freedom of Expression

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[edit] Freedom of Expression

Drawing showing the brave Captain America, fighting for truth, justice, liberty and for the people.

A sensor ship battles a censor ship for dominance of the Public Sea.

For those without comedic tastes, the so-called-experts at Uncyclopedia have an article about: Censorship.

Censorship is the restriction of expression for the claimed purpose of protecting people from themselves by selectively limiting access to various ideas deemed harmful by some authority.

Common in authoritarian societies, censorship is often seen by its perpetrators as a necessity needed to control the spectrum of thought, and prevent any kind of protest against the practice. As censorship often simplifies or outright changes a work's creator's ideas, it is sometimes seen as a cap placed on creativity. Censorship can completely destroy a work with even minimal use. The result is similar to nonsense, which makes the original work and its author seem primitive and unintelligent. This form of censorship serves two purposes: to discredit the ideas contained in the censored material, and to associate the very idea of material that has been censored with absurdity, thereby effectively discrediting other censored works as well.

The content of this image has been censored due to one or more of the following: Sexual Nature, Religious Content, Explicit Lyrics, Copyright Violation, drug Use, Sexism, Piracy, Unfair Treatment of Midgets Little People

It is notable that acts of censorship are often unannounced. Sometimes material that is usually banned may slip by censors and when such an act becomes widely known, propaganda defending the practice and asserting that censorship is for the public good may be released.

[edit] Effects on society

This person likes to rape poor innocent and helpless Pokemon, and his twisted and very wrong activities are censored for your own good.

Today, censorship is becoming dangerously prevalent. Countries like China, which censors political material, and the United States, which censors material considered inappropriate for public consumption are blurring the line between censoring for the public good and censoring to keep common people ignorant. This, coupled with the general lack of concern, poses an increasing threat to free societies and independent thought.

It has been proven that censorship alone can have a disastrous effect on otherwise free societies. With its acceptance by people as normal and necessary, any freedom of speech, press, and expression which might have been enjoyed before is short-lived. Metaphorically, censorship acts as a perpetual machine, powered by the very people it is working against.

[edit] Origins

The general principles of censorship have their roots in religion, which often tells followers that anything they cannot explain is such by the decree of a wise authority who decides what people should and shouldn't know, and that questioning such paradoxes is an act against the religion itself. Most notably, the Bible forbids and demonizes knowledge itself, asserting that only God should possess it. This essentially guarantees that most people will take what they are told at face value, and therefore ensures obedience to established authority. An individual who seeks and finds knowledge previously thought unattainable is often cast out as a traitor to the faith and is therefore ignored by everyone else. This concept is almost indistinguishable from the modern practice of censorship.

[edit] Forms of Censorship

And yes, always make sure to add humor to your censors.

Censorship at it's most unhelpful

It is most certainly not beneficial to Society to monitor Internet use

• Censorship in society
• Censorship in media
  • The masking of nudity by use of blurring or obstruction
  • Broadcast and basic cable television are known for censoring parts of films that would otherwise have relevance to dialogue, characterization, humor, and plot. Therefore, nobody watches movies on TV. Especially when they can always download good-quality uncensored editions.
  • Media presented in foreign languages are often localized to countries such as the United States. Companies who purchase the rights to distribute these products will change character names, plot, and dialogue. While the intended effect is to prevent children being exposed to certain elements, the irony is that children already know about the changes beforehand, due to the Internet. They will then download a torrent of fan-produced translations rather than deal with a new set of names and altered plot.

• • Music broadcast stations will often substitute certain words with creative sound effects. In recent years, censors have avoided using outright beeps and blanks, instead opting for sounds that are similar to the word in question. For example, "Move, (breaking glass), get out the way!" Another example is simply removing one letter out of a four letter word. This tends to be the most popular form of censorship, as clever listeners can even "figure out" what the intended word is.

[edit] Wikipedia And Censoring

can you hear me now ?

How can we prove that Wikipedia never censors its content?

• Article on Penis.

Of course, there is this, but ignore it completely.

[edit] An Important Announcement

Censorship at its best.

If you wish to see what was censored out by the authoritarian regimes in this article, click the "[Edit]' tab at the top of the page. Anything censored out begins with and ends with the doubles, like this: {{User:Walter Humala/C|Censored message}}.

Example: Fuck the Ministry of Truth!!! I'm gonna take an M-16 machine gun, find out where the fuck they are, and I'm gonna FUCKING KILL™ THEM, just like fucking Steve Ballmer. Screw you, Big Brother!!!!

You can also select the censored words by highlighting them and then viewing them. In most browsers hit CTRL-A to select all text, removing the black boxes; doing so will also turn your browser window a funny color. If you are using Opera, as opposed to, e.g. Internet Explorer or Firefox, you can press Ctrl-F11.