blog task 2

Consider the merits and demerits of censorship and state your reasons why you think it is necessary/unnecessary

Censorship is everywhere. It is used to remove or withhold information from the public. The question is, to what extent is censorship necessary?

The advantages of censorship are conspicuous. Censorship serves to remove taboo topics such as death, violence, horror, sex, politics, race, religion, etc. These topics are sensitive for discussion and may arouse anger should a particular group of people be subjected against. Unnecessary tension may then ensue followed by riots or demonstrations. Therefore to safeguard both public and the national interest, censorship is necessary.

We should also not forget that the audience of the media ranges from a child to the elderly. Censorship can therefore help to remove topics like sex and violence which an average child should not be exposed to. This protects their mind from corrupted information. It can also save parents the trouble of having to answer questions related to sex or the trouble of having to wake up in the night to tend to their child’s nightmare after watching a horror show not meant for their age group.

Also, censorship is necessary especially for Singapore’s multi-racial society.
Many of the elder Singaporeans have yet to forget about the 1964 race riot which was believed to be caused by a rival political party of the People’s action party (PAP), Malaysia’s United Malay National Organization (UMNO). What UMNO did was to rouse the anger of the Malays in Singapore through the Utusan Melayu, a newspaper written for the Malays, by claiming that Malays were ill-treated by the PAP. This triggered a series of riots in Singapore then. With this incident deeply imprinted in the minds of the leaders of Singapore, it is no wonder that censorship is largely exercised to ensure that no negative message is sent to the citizens, in prevention of another large-scale riot.

However, critics have been swift to lash out at the use of censorship. They believe that censorship is not necessary as reality should be shown to us audiences. The truth to every piece of news should be known instead of beating around the bush and avoid releasing the truth. This, they believe, is freedom of expression.

Furthermore, censorship is not useful to a certain extent as there are other sources in which people can refer to to know the truth of a particular matter. This other source can come from the internet which is wildly used by all today. By just doing a simple search, one can gain assess to the different sources of information which they want to acquire. Hence, why should censorship be necessary if it fails to keep the truth from the people?

In my opinion, after examining both sides of the arguments, I believe that censorship is still necessary to a large extent to protect the interest of the nation. The merits of censorship far outweigh the demerits of it. One would rather choose to be kept in the dark rather than to discuss sensitive issues. As the adage goes, ignorance is bliss.