What Would You Censor On Television?

[CrazyScientist]

Doh! I think i voted the wrong way on your poll. I clicked none of the above, meaning "censor none of the above" when the question reads "allow", not "censor".
I don't approve of censorship of any media, be it television, literature, or the internet.
Lets face it, if a kid wants to see boobies they'll find a way. It's perfectly normal for kids to be intrigued about sex. Better they get their kicks from some tv ads or internet sites then be kept in the dark and hence be forced to go try it for themselves for information. As long as parents talk to their kids about what they see, then it won't hurt them any.
The point is, as long as there is a segment of the population who enjoys seeing a given thing on tv, then it should be allowed to be shown. If it is unpopular, it will probably lose money and go off the air anyway. If that thing (be it sex, violence, or whatever) offends you or I, we should be aware of an invention called the remote control, which allows us to switch stations, or even (god forbid) turn off the set completely.
The ability to tell good entertainment from trash entertainment, right from wrong, to assess situations and make logical judgments, is one of the most important human abilities....but it takes practice. How can we continue to develop those abilities if we hand the decisions for what we can and cannot see over to some govt beaurocracy, or network broadcaster. Lets think for ourselves for god sake.
Ok. Rant ended.

 

[MrPresident]

Doh! I think i voted the wrong way on your poll.

So did I and it was my poll. I really should have thought the poll through more but hindsight is 20/20.

Might give people ideas.

Like someone actually watched TV and went "You know now that I have seen someone get shot I think I might do that". TV doesn't give people ideas, why do you think people call the idiot box. Anyway if it did, so do books, the internet, your neighbour, school etc. Information is good. Ideas are good. It is what you do with them that counts. If someone goes on a mental rampage I don't think you could ever blame tv (or computer games) because there is something wrong with that person that is totally unconnected with the kind of media. Also am I wrong but are we living in one of the less dangerous times in history. I would not even a generation ago people were going off to war. Surely that would have show more violence than tv could ever hope too. Yet that generation didn't turn out that badly.

 

[Hurricane]

Violence always creates violence. This has been proven in countless studies. I have read studies which proved that children who watch violent cartoons are more violent than kids who don´t. This is a fact. This is naturally not limited to children - adults who do fitness boxing also show signs of increased violent behaviour.

Of course, the extent of this increased violence is rather small compared to the role of parents, school and friends.

The same studies also show that the problem is not the violence per se, but violence which is glorified, as well as violence with underexaggerated (is that a word?) results. A human in real life can´t take a 10 minute beating and then stand up like nothing happened and promptly continue to kick the **** out the person who attacked him. Remember the small kid who killed a girl when he tried a wrestling jump on her. He clearly didn´t expect it to hurt her.

I think porn has the same effects. Guys believe girls are always willing, they think they have to do strange positions and that foreplay is for wussies. Girls believe all that is normal. People get the wrong ideas especially since softcore sex (particularly USA) is so rare. That should not be censored. Why do girls want silicone in their breasts? Because silicone-filled breasts are the only breasts shown on TV - everything else is censored.

However, both violence and sex can be shown in its real conditions without these effects. Violence and death be shown on the news without anybody taking example of it.

By the way, I also voted wrong.

 

[Greadius]

Like violence and sex didn't exist before television...

I just don't buy the blanket arguement... I think violent people LIKE violent TV, and people who want to have sex with silicon breast implants like watching porn. There is nothing more than a casual, anecdotal relationship... anyone that attempts to figure out why there is sex & violence in society and refers to TV Guide is just starting in the wrong place.

 

[Hurricane]

Originally posted by Greadius
Like violence and sex didn't exist before television...

I just don't buy the blanket arguement... I think violent people LIKE violent TV, and people who want to have sex with silicon breast implants like watching porn. There is nothing more than a casual, anecdotal relationship... anyone that attempts to figure out why there is sex & violence in society and refers to TV Guide is just starting in the wrong place.

Of course you are right. Partly. I don´t think these programs have much of an adverse effect on adult, normal, people. The whackos might get strange ideas, but they would get them from other sources anyway. But I do think that children and teenagers are affected, particularly those who can watch tv without their parents ever caring about what they see. And we all know that more and more parents don´t care, and just feel the tv is a great babysitter.

I´m not saying that we have violence because of tv. In fact, street violence is much smaller than 50 years ago. Tv is just a mirror of our moral values, and if violence is better than a naked body, something is screwed up.