Dangerous Things In Some Artwork And Television example essay topic

Censorship has been a touchy subject for quite some time now. Weather it be in television, art, literature, or other mediums, censorship is always a factor of our daily lives, whether we realize it or not. Take television for example, in our country, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is responsible for looking over all the programming that comes on Canadian television. Let us think, for a moment, if this council did not exist, if there was no television censorship in Canada. If this were the case, a few weeks ago, on TSN, a reputable Canadian television station would have shown video of a World Wrestling Entertainment employee climbing into a casket with what was supposed to be the dead body of a teenage girl. While the body in the casket was obviously fake, and the video was part of a television storyline, this is not something that belongs on television for all to see.

This is an ideal example of why we, as a society, need censorship. Currently, stories of murder, rape, child pornography and other deplorable acts dominate the news, and are seen by nearly everyone. We as people are subjected to hearing these stories time and time again, and while many of us have the ability to shrug them off, a select few people let these stories deeply affect them. Some people even go so far as to use images of these horrendous acts in their so-called artwork. This artwork can then go on to be displayed for public consumption, whereas, if someone were to actually commit these deeds, they would be subject to many years in prison.

While we as rational people see this so-called art and are able to dismiss it, some unstable or easily influenced people could see this art and think that it is ok to commit acts of murder, rape or child exploitation. What's worse is the fact that these artists seem to always be pushing the envelope, continually trying to produce more shocking art. This artwork is glorifying terrible acts, and it is for this reason that there should be greater amounts of censorship. The fact is: anything can be called art, and this is where the problem lies.

Unfortunately, increased censorship would likely lead to lower creative leeway for legitimate artists, but that is a sacrifice that must be made in order to protect the children of the world, and ourselves. Young people are very easily influenced; if they see deplorable acts used in art they may not realize the social repercussions or the level of punishment that these acts would entail. Censorship can protect these young people, if given the chance. While art is used by many as a means of self-expression it should not be something that people have to be concerned about, art should be viewable by all.

Think about the type of society that we have become where some parents will not allow their children into an art gallery because they are afraid of what they might see. There are so many bad things in the world; we see the stories on the news every day at 6 and 11. We do not need artists or television executives making the bad things of the world even more evident, and accessible to children. Censorship is more necessary now than it has ever been, and if we must put tight constraints on art in order to protect our society, then that is what we should do. There are dangerous things in some artwork and television, and just like other dangerous things, we must protect ourselves from them..