Controlling Society with the Power of Censorship

by Jordan Clanton

What is censorship? 

As a textbook definition, censorship is the suppression of information.  Commonly, it is used to prohibit parts of books, films or media that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable or a threat to security.   

Censorship can be broken down into many categories including political, government secrets, religion, economic, educational sources, self-censorship, reverse censorship and media censorship.  These censors can be in the form of redacted text on a government document, blurring out a person’s face in a photo or video, supplying students with textbooks that only discuss one side of history or even the prohibition of showing certain films in conservative areas.   

Content that can be controversial or radical are most likely to be the first pieces of information to be censored.  Opinions are never shared among all people, so statements or ideas that are seen as “dangerous” are in danger of being censored for their “out-of-the-box” thinking.   

Is it successful? 

The purpose of censorship ranges from good to bad, but the more positive goals with censorship have to do with protecting individuals from public slander.  Censorship can reduce the amount of hate speech used on social media as well as protect younger users from viewing unhealthy content.  Films or TV shows with mature ratings are not typically advertised for children, and parents have power to censor their kids from watching shows on Netflix that may be too crude or violent.  Censorship can also protect the public from information that they do not need to know.  Sometimes people spend too much time looking into issues or topics that should be none of their concern, and censorship helps to prevent anyone from becoming too involved in solving problems that are out of their control. 

The groups most likely to favor censorship are those who can twist it to use it to their advantage.  People in politics often use censorship to hide the opinion of the opposing side.  Information is often withheld from the public and bold statements are left to interject knee-jerk reactions from the public.  Sometimes, this political strategy works so much that the public begins to believe the misleading information being broadcast on all media platforms.  This, of course, is how “fake news” takes over and the truth gets stuffed under the bed so that reality can get hidden behind an idealistic society.   

Who does it benefit? 

Some forms of censorship are necessary when it comes to protecting younger generations and those who are wrongfully involved in issues.  For example, hiding the identity of jury members protects themselves and their loved ones.  Prohibiting individuals under the age of 18 from attending certain films or nightclubs is another positive outcome of censorship as forcing children to grow up so quickly today is tempting poor mental stability for the future. 

Everyone always has an agenda.  No matter how much power you hold – or do not hold – there is always a reason for doing something in this world.  Unfortunately, hidden motivations usually have negative impacts on one or all parties.  A mom censoring her six-year-old from rated R movies is a hidden motivation behind a “kids” account on Netflix, but a government official hiding secret information from the public can be a sign of a hidden motivation to avoid conviction of a federal crime.   

How does censorship affect society? 

From my perspective, censorship is often used to make a statement about an individual’s agenda or message.  Social media pages often post pictures of people or ideas that are blurred out to diminish their value or importance.  Other times it is to protect the identity of the people in the photo, however, most of the time censorship is a tool for making political statements against the opposing party. 

The most important thing to keep in mind that censorship has a wide spectrum of purpose and impact.  Some use censorship to protect those they care about from the harsh realities of life, while most others abuse the power of censorship to fulfill a personal agenda.  Unfortunately, it seems to me that there are more selfish people in this world than there are selfless people.  One can only hope that the more educated and humbled society becomes, the more respectful we will be towards media and those who use it daily.   

Sources:
Facts about Censorship - Censorship - LAWS.com
Media, Censorship & Propaganda (cuny.edu)
Forms of Censorship; Censorship As Form › electronic book review
censorship | Definition, History, Types, & Examples | Britannica
What is Censorship? - National Coalition Against Censorship (ncac.org)

Censorship Assignment: Is Censorship Necessary?

  Is Censorship Necessary?

By: Natalie Wong 

What is Censorship?

    Censorship is the suppression or prohibition of speech and media. Typically, things that are censored are seen as a threat or unacceptable. The government plays a huge role in censorship along with private institutions and higher authority. Censorship blocks the viewing of certain media. Censorship can have an effect on speech, politics, religion, education, etc. 

[Censorship Propaganda]

What is the Purpose of Censorship?

    The purpose of censorship is the filter out ideologies or speech that hinders or goes against the general belief. People use it as a way to control what people know and think. Censorship also can be used to protect the world from harmful or inappropriate speech and other forms of media. It prevents the exposure of some ideas or material to the entire public.     

What Information Has Been Censored?

    A lot of movies have been censored due to the fact that the government deems them as highly inappropriate or fear that they could influence the public in a negative manner. Some governments, outside of the U.S. don't allow citizens to speak out against the government. Typically, censorship is popular amongst dictatorships or communist. They want everyone to abide by their rules and to never question authority. Censorship is used to limit outside thoughts or ideas that threaten their security. 

[China Censors Speech]

Does Censorship Violate the First Amendment?

    The First Amendment in the U.S. Constitution protects the freedom of speech, religion, and press. It states that all Americans are guaranteed this freedom and right. It ensures that the government cannot control or take away the freedoms from their citizens. All U.S. citizens have the right to speak freely, practice whatever religion they please, and press. Censorship does violate the first amendment because it dictates what people see and what they're allowed to share.  The amendment forbids the government from taking away the freedom, and censorship is a direct violation of that right. It bans access to material that goes against the government's beliefs. 

[Government Controlling Media]

[Internet Censorship Around The World]

Is Censorship Necessary?

    Personally, I don't think any forms of censorship are necessary. I understand there are things that might be on the internet or in the public eye that go against a country's beliefs or may be deemed as politically or socially unacceptable, but censorship prevents people from even knowing about other ideas or outlooks. It shelter's people in a way that isn't necessary. Everyone should have the freedom of speech, press, and religion according to the First Amendment. There are other ways of influencing the public rather than banning or suppressing certain ideologies or speech. For example, propaganda has played a huge role in society and time after time has shown how impactful it can be. I think there are hidden motivations behind censorship that cause certain powers of authority to want to censor certain parts of the media. In a way, I think it could indirectly brainwash people because it blocks off certain ideas or the spreading of ideas that contradict what a government wants their people to believe.  

Propaganda assignment-Catherine Santiago

    A campaign for the government that took on this step towards propaganda. An iconic poster known all across America, “We Can Do It” was designed in 1943. Presenting her arm as the focus dispensing her strength while attired in a work outfit. A face of strength and no hesitation. A face marked and brought to the world’s recognition about women being strong. “Rosie the Riveter” was a symbol to other women of motivation and devotedness of women that didn’t get the right acknowledgment towards them. At the time during World War II, she helped women that did work around the house feel voiced and motivated them in different ways. 

    Although in today’s world most people are able to identify this poster, during the time this poster was out, not enough people were aware of what it represented and what it stood for. In the 1980s people began to recognize what the significance of this poster was for and the relevant aspects it had on the world. 

    With this, we learn that people wanted unity and equality. Their goal was to feel as important as one another and not feel lesser. Their group of focus when realizing this poster was for people to feel seen and for people to work harder. They focused more on women to recruit them into the munitions industry. This was noticed by working women that we’re able to recognize and have access to seeing this poster. This poster gave women the ability to become more involved with work outside of the home which was very empowering at the time. With the lack of equality between men and women, this sort of propaganda stood out for lots of women due to the importance of women it represented for them.

Propaganda Assignment-Cigarettes

Cigarette Propaganda

Cigarette marketing was extremely prevalent in the early-late 1900s. Advertisements were placed all over the internet and television. Within these advertisements, there always seemed to be a perception that cigarettes were good for you and your health. There was never any data or evidence supporting this theory, so people just went along with it because advertisements were being thrown at their faces. In fact, in the 1940s tobacco companies hired doctors and dentists to promote their cigarettes in an effort to mask public concerns about smoking risks. In these advertisements’ tobacco companies were misleading people by showing them that physicians are smoking cigarettes and that cigarettes were perfectly fine for their health. If people see a doctor doing something, they will absolutely think that there is nothing wrong or unhealthy about it. Below are examples of propaganda used for doctors and dentists:

Moving on to the 1950s and 1960s, tobacco companies used celebrities to promote their cigarettes. Tobacco companies bought and sponsored their own TV programs and paid A-list celebrities to make an appearance in their ad campaigns. Professional athletes were also used to endorse cigarette products. People idolize celebrities and when they see them doing something such as smoking, people will want to mimic them. Below are examples of a celebrity and some of baseball’s best stars such as Joe DiMaggio being used as cigarette propaganda:

On April 1, 1970, President Richard Nixon placed a ban on cigarette advertisements on television and the radio. This caused tobacco companies to shift to promoting cigarette advertisements through print. In the 1990s and 2000s, tobacco companies started targeting the youth, sports and event marketing, and video games. A cartoon character such as Joe Camel was created to attract the interest of kids. This type of propaganda has been banned but is still prevalent with colorful cigarette packaging. An interesting fact is that tobacco companies place cigarettes and their advertisements directly at the eye level of children. In sports such as NASCAR, a tobacco company called RJ Reynolds sponsored the Winston Cup for 30 years. RJ Reynolds also sponsored “Girls’ Night Out” events and allowed women to get free cigarettes, jewelry, and massages. In video games people are left uninformed as 42% of them contain images of tobacco, but only 8% contained warnings. Below are examples of tobacco companies targeting youth, sports and event marketing, and video games:

Today, smoking advertisements are no longer on television. However, it is not uncommon to see an advertisement of someone who smoked throughout their life and showing all the negative effects that it brought into their life. For example, tooth loss, cancer, lung issues, etc. These advertisements are much different than the ones before because they drive people away from smoking by showing bad side effects, rather than trying to reel people in and attract them to cigarettes. Cigarette advertising has changed significantly over time, finally putting people first and looking out for their health.

Sources

https://stopswithme.com/history-tobacco-marketing-scary-story/

North Korea Propaganda

 History of Propaganda In North Korea

The usage of propaganda in North Korea began around the 1950s when the Soviet Union appointed Kim Il Sung as the leader of the country. Back then the North Korean propaganda showed a good relationship between Soviet Russia and North Korea with Russian soldiers being depicted as paternal figures to North Korean children according to many sources. Once the relationship between North Korea and Soviet Russia became negative the narrative switched and the media started to depict Russians negatively. Americans are also depicted very negatively in North Korean propaganda according to several sources Americans are shown as an "evil race" and that the only relationship possible with America is a "hostile one". Similar to Russia and America, Japan is a nation that is constantly shown in a negative light in NK propaganda. Throughout history Japan was shown as a dangerous nation in this propaganda.

Current Propaganda

The current propaganda in North Korea is less focused on making other nations look bad and instead focused on making itself look great. The poverty rate in NK is reported by many cites to be a whopping 60%. NK propaganda tries to make the country seem extremely wealthy and rich and show scenes of people enjoying extreme wealth. Another aspect of the current propaganda is the idolization of current and past leaders. Current leader Kim Jong Un and past leaders Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung are basically made out to be god-like figures and are shown in the media to be worshipped by the North Korean public. Media use in North Korea is also heavily censored to prevent citizens from having a glimpse at the outside world 

Examples

This is an anti-American piece of propaganda from North Korea showing the capital building in DC surrounded by ripped up American Flags being attacked by missiles

This piece shows a former North Korean leader as some sort of godly figure up in the sky being worshipped by many different kinds of people

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kim-Il-Sung

https://www.vox.com/2016/1/6/10724334/north-korea-history

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/19/world/asia/north-korea-posters.html

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/north-koreas-power-structure

Native American Deculturalization: Propaganda

 By Jordan Clanton

From Colonization to Deculturalization

    Prior to the early 1600s, Native Americans were the sole proprietors of the North American region.  Once Jamestown was established as the first permanent English settlement, the colonization of the entire continent was inevitable.  Since then, the threat towards Native American land and cultural values has been extreme and crippling.  From the Trail of Tears to full blown genocide, the history of colonial America has been nothing short of mortifying.  So, how did this happen?  How can a society get away with destroying an entire culture and lifestyle over the course of hundreds of years?  Part of the answer is correlated to the propaganda that was used to spread the message of intolerance towards Native American people. 

The Indian Experiment

       A man by the name Thomas McKenny interacted with several southern tribes, who were thought to have been among the more "civilized".  McKenny was delightfully surprised with how capable the Natives were to adapting to English ideologies.  He decided he would experiment with this idea by inviting two sons from the Creek tribe to join him in Washington DC so that they could attend white schools.  McKenny played a vital role in introducing an Indian education system to the United States through the Civilization Fund Act, which provided government legislation for the building of Native American boarding schools.  By the end of the 19th century, there were numerous schools up and running specifically for the transformation of young Native American tribe members.

White Washed Schooling:

        McKenny and other white leaders believed that through schooling - especially starting at a young age -  Native Americans would be able to conform to western ideologies and lifestyles.  From the hair, to the clothes, jewelry and even the language they spoke, students were expected to transform themselves both physically and mentally.  Schools established by the Civilization Fund Act used portraits of before and after photos of their students to prove that Native Americans could conform to white society after all.  

Taken just one year after their school opened, these portraits demonstrate how clothing and hairstyle played a major role in the transformation process.

 

The deculturized picture (right) takes place only a few years after the original (left).

Here is an example of an older student who has enrolled in Indian education system.

        All of these photos were taken at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania.  This school focused particularly on the rapid assimilation of its students; meaning they prided themselves on a quick "turnover rate".  Carlisle was founded in 1879 by Captain Henry Pratt and the US Federal Government.  It is at this very school where the famous phrase "Kill the Indian: Save the Man" was coined by Pratt himself.  The school was eventually shut down in 1918, but enrolled approximately 10,000 Native American children during its four decade run.  

Entertainment Turned Propaganda

         At the beginning of the 20th century, Native American struggles took to the screen; but not in the most fairly represented way.  Western cowboy films showcased white cowboys as the heroic adventurers, while the Indian savages served as a villain to overcome.  One of the most famous of these adventurers was Buffalo Bill.  His fictional and ahistorical sequence of events paints a picture of rogue Indians trying to stir up trouble for westerns every chance they get.  Each episode involves a fight between Buffalo Bill and the Native Americans, and not surprisingly, Buffalo Bill always comes out on top.  People who viewed these films and pictures were given fictional depictions of Native American culture, that caused a negative light to be forever shined upon them.  Because we all know, if it is on a screen or on paper, it must be real.  

    World War II Association

            While the Native Americans continued their struggle against white oppression, the rest of America discovered a more distant threat: Nazis.  New propaganda posters were being created that combined two societal issues in a creative way.  This advertisement shows Native Americans leaving their horses to go buy war bonds.  After everything they have been through, somehow a world war is supposed to bring all of America together to prevent a foreign genocide.  Quite hypocritical of a country to do if they are performing cultural genocide on their own land.  

Time to Fight Back:

        After all they have suffered and faced as a society, it is only expected that the Native Americans across the US fight back with their own propaganda.  Especially in modern society, powerful images and statements are the ones that get the most retweets and likes.  Though the issue of deculturalization may be over 400 years old, the damage it inflicts continues to affect the Native American generations of today.  The truth is, unfortunately, that the fight is not over for them.  Reservations continue to get destroyed or taken over by big corporations, healthcare options are limited to residents of reservations and career opportunities are lesser than with a reservation education.  The oldest relationship in our nation's history is weaker than it was in 1607, and the constant banter back and forth with the use of digital propaganda is not helping either side win.  

Sources: 

Buffalo Bill Advertisement Analysis - 1130 Words | Cram

White Wolf : 140-year-old pics show Native Americans before and after "Forced assimilation" (whitewolfpack.com)

deculturalization.pdf (illinoisonlinehighschool.org)

Thomas McKenney and the Indians | Glover Park History

A Condensed History of Christian Nationalism and Propaganda

 

By Aubrey Vosburg

Anyone who attended a public school in the United States as a child will remember the watered down, sugar-coated story we were told about the first American settlers: a group of fed-up Europeans immigrants who wished to practice their own religion without consequence. Centuries later, these values were permanently affixed to our country’s constitution; considering the freedom of religion an inalienable right. Although the contributors to the constitution were predominantly Christian, nowhere was it stated that that there is a national religion. In fact, one of Maddison’s proposed amendments stated: “The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, infringed”. For years, this belief system held true and, particularly during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, the United States was generally perceived as a land where science and rationality prevailed over religious mandates.

So what happened? As most of us know, current social tensions in the United States are the highest they have been in decades. This tension has no single root cause, but rather is the result of a wide array of vastly different thoughts, beliefs, and opinions amongst the masses. Every individual has a moral compass that drives them to think and behave the way that they do. Often these morals stem from experiences that we have had throughout our lives and, as decades pass, the consensus on what exactly “moral” is changes. In the early 20^th century, a swell of social change began sweeping through the US and, in 1925, the Scopes Monkey Trial had managed to sour the public opinion of evangelical Christianity for the next several years.

It was not until radios became common household items that Christian nationalism as we know it began to gain traction. Extremely charismatic preachers, such as Billy Grahm and Rex Hubard, would travel and broadcast sermons, accruing massive audiences. Eventually, these radio broadcasts would develop into the first televised sermons, known as ‘televangelism’. As televangelism popularized, another movement was also getting some attention: the conservative movement. By the late 70’s, in the wake of the Vietnam War, Watergate, and rising tension with the Soviet Union, many Americans felt as though liberalism had failed them and saw this new ‘neoconservatism’ as an attractive option. Many evangelical Christians were also upset at the way of things, but, rather than blaming Liberalism, they blamed the loss of Christian family values. As a result, the conservatives and Christians began to unify to form the Moral Majority.

Once Reagan took office, Christian Nationalism began to really work its way into politics. Reagan was a religious man who openly endorsed the Christian church; his beliefs influenced many of his decisions, including an attempt to constitutionally outlaw abortions and attempt to overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling. The narrow loss of these rulings fanned the Christian nationalist flames, and the movement began to actively target anything that appeared to go against their values.

Today, Christian nationalism is still fiercely prominent in our government, using a variety of scare tactics to remain relevant. Their focus, however, has changed multiple times throughout the years shifting from homosexuals in the military to transgendered people using the bathroom to Muslims and everything in between. Christian nationalism has also staked its claim into a wide array of mass media including television shows, blockbuster movies, and particularly social media. Websites like Facebook and Parlor have greatly increased the area that their messages can reach, while simultaneously making it difficult to check the validity of their statements.

Works Cited:

1.  Nagin, Rick (6 February 2012). "Christian nationalists recruiting "child evangelists" in public schools". People's World. Retrieved 26 June2020.
2. ^ Whitehead, Andrew L.; Perry, Samuel L. (2020). Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States. Oxford University Press. pp. 7–10. ISBN 978-0-19-005789-3.
3. ^ Bean, Lydia (2016). The Politics of Evangelical Identity: Local Churches and Partisan Divides in the United States and Canada. Princeton University Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-691-17370-2.
4. ^ Greenberg, Udi (22 October 2019). "Can Christian Democracy Save Us?". Boston Review. Retrieved 5 August 2020.