2. Should all forms of
entertainment be Censored?
Censorship is a term often associated with
totalitarianism, socialism, or anything but
democracy.
While the definition of censorship has
changed over centuries, the basic idea
behind it is simple and has gone
untouched: the protection of the most basic
civil institutions of the family, the
church, and the state
3. History of Censorship
In Ancient Greece, where democracy was
founded, the Ancient philosopher Socrates
fought against and eventually gave his life
rather than adhere to the Athenian
government’s censorship of his teachings.
With the Age of Enlightenment, the idea of
intellectual freedom began to encompass
political and economical thought as well –
The American Revolution.
4.
5. The Supreme Court Versus
Censorship
The issue of censorship is one that
strikes the Supreme Court at many
angles with regards to the first
amendment rights.
Roth V. United States
Texas V. Johnson
Reno V. A.C.L.U.
6. 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.
Obscenity is not protected under the first
amendment, however, a penumbra falls over
the exact definition of the word.
7. Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA), enacted in 1966, was the first
law that gave Americans the right to
access the records of federal agencies.
The FOIA applies only to federal
agencies and does not create a right of
access to records held by Congress, the
courts, or by state or local government
agencies.
8. Public use of the Freedom of Information
Act continues to rise, with 1,965,919 FOIA
requests filed with federal agencies in
fiscal year 1999.
The intent of the FOIA is to prevent
agencies from having “secret law” and to
make the government accountable to the
public for its actions.
9. The Privacy Act
The Privacy Act of 1974 provides safeguards
against an invasion of privacy through the
misuse of records by Federal agencies.
The act also permits an individual to gain
access to most personal information
maintained by Federal agencies and to seek
amendment of any inaccurate, incomplete,
untimely, or irrelevant information
. Agencies subject to the Freedom of
Information Act are also subject to the Privacy
Act
10. Survey Results
Most people felt censorship is necessary
for our society and that age restrictions
for certain material is needed
They didn’t want government
involvement when it came to
censorship, they also didn’t want
government to censor history books
11. Older Population- Generally agreed with
all forms of Censorship
Younger Population- Did not agree with
censorship
Females also seemed to support
censorship more than males