Adult Censorship

[Torin Reahkari]

This is a touchy subject when in a crowd of adults because they see things their way, and we - and by that I mean the ones who are actually doing these things and experiencing them - see it our way.

Just recently, I was sitting on a bus listening to some music and if anyone's heard the remixed "Let's Go" by Trick Daddy, Lil Jon, and Twista (I'm not some tubthumping wigger, before you get any ideas) They say a word constantly throughout the song we all know and hear all the time. The "N" word. I won't say it here because it might offend members, and I don't want to do that.

Now, anyways, so I'm sitting there, and some lady from the back of the bus comes up to me, and when I listen to music, I tap to the beat and mouth the words sometimes, without really knowing it (A.D.D.), and apparently I was singing (without vocal chord assistance?).

This woman tapped me on the shoulder for about 5 minutes and I finally took off my headphones, wondering what it was she wanted. As soon as I took off my headphones she asked me if I could see the black kid - about my age - at the back of the bus, and that he could hear my music. I asked what the problem with that was as he had headphones around his neck playing some 50 Cent song.

She gave me a thorough lecture, almost the entire ride long, about how music containing previously mentioned word would put me on a track to hell, and that mouthing it was as bad as saying it, as I heard his music hit a new song and utter the same word. I pointed that out to the woman and she said it doesn't matter..because he's black.

And then she called me a racist when I put my headphones back on.

Another time, I was playing GTA: San Andreas. For those not familiar, you play as a black gangster guy. My friends mom came over and saw us playing, and we were fighting a rival gang, who also were black, and she took her son home right away and scolded me for exposing her son to the game full of, and I quote "Scandalous sex scenes (which were removed WELL before I owned the game), Drug abuse (the main character will not touch drugs the entire game), and that the game accurately depecited being carjacked, killed, and / or raped (There is not one rape in the entire game), and that it is a common and amusing occurance."

Now, I don't know about you, but I've never seen someone get carjacked, murdered, or raped, but if I did, I seriously doubt I would consider GTA: S.A. as a source for depiction of what I'd just witnessed.

Now I'm not arguing that these games or that these things are right or wrong, but simply that parents no longer let their children live their own life and make their own mistakes. Parents nowadays are fighting and fighting to ensure the children never get the chance to make mistakes. And that alone absolutely sickens me because mistakes are a part of life and always will be, so trying to stop them is all but productive.

A prime example is lawyer Jack Thompson. I'm not sure if anyone's heard of him here, although any Rockstar Game Co. followers will know his name for repeatedly trying to hold Rockstar and video games as a whole accountable for mental instability of children nowadays. He claims that anyone who plays Halo is training to be a sniper murderer, and will go on a killing rampage. Also, if he is proven wrong, he declairs the witness or opposing lawyer mentally retarded without a shred of proof, and refuses to speak to them for the remainder of whatever trial he's ruining that day.



Is this right? Should parents really keep their arms so tightly wound around children that they never make mistakes, and when they get out into the real world, are bombarded with problems and no solutions?

Should people be allowed to listen, watch, and play whatever they want? Or should there be a happy medium?

I'm kinda saying a lot of things in this post and I apologize, but I'd love to have some feedback on this.

[Caerah]

Personally speaking (as a 21 year old) I understand you're point. Considering the word in question, it's not difficult to see how a conflict could arise. Think about it. Our generation grew up listening to songs containing all these words used repeatedly without malicious intent. It no longer really holds the same meaning for us that it holds for our parents.

So because of that, I hope you can atleast understand where that woman was coming from when she was lecturing you, even if you think it wasn't particularly fair. As far as the question of parents being overprotective, well the reason for it is usually simple. Parents remember the stupid things they did when they were young and regret them. So naturally they want to try and spare their children from experiencing the same thing. It's kind of a silly thing to do, but it's not just to make life frustrating for the younger crowd.

My dad said it best the other day: "I was sitting there thinking about how you (you being me of course) go out drinking way too often, but then I remembered that when I was your age, I went out even more than you do."

[Cyrus the virus]

You don't go out to drink that often O_o Heh.

Jack Thompson's an extreme example of someone who has a good point. He himself is embarassingly ignorant, but that doesn't mean people like him are complete idiots, which a lot of us gamers would like to think.

Censorship, to be honest, is something I kind of miss. I don't enjoy hearing the N word thrown around. It makes me think that the people tossing it about don't realize the kind of hatred accociated with the word, and it's disrespectful to the black people in the world who are trying to move past that time in the world. Of course, it should never be forgotten, but referring to your buddy in that way is pretty much insulting to any black man or woman who lived back then.

Doesn't effect me, but I find it embarassing. As a human.

I think any kind of censorship towards children, any kind that's reasonable, anyway, is fine. It's a parent's right to protect their child from certain things, even if the rest of us don't recommend it. If parents only paid attention to the ratings of games, people like Jack Thompson would need to get a real career. Oh, wait, he was a lawyer who got his practicing rights revoked because he's an idiot. Oops!

[hamnat]

I agree with Cyrus...especially about the word......well, you know, "N%$$@#" I find the word extremely repulsive and sickening. The word refers back to the word "Negro"*shudders as she says it*which was used by most people, including tax collectors who would take inventory of a persons assets and would mark down the number of Negroes, instead of the number of slaves. The word implies that black-skinned people are not human, but a different species altogether, which is totally outrageous bull&^*$. However, the fact remains that in all other aspects, censorship and parental over-controlling is a heinous crime against the growing youth population. Video games are not the cause of violence, simply the creativity behind it. It is the same as the Romans with the Christians. The Romans would show very bloody performances of Christians being martyred in hopes that the Christians would abandon their faith. It did the exact opposite and strengthened Christian faith. Clearly, violence did not induce violence.

As I said, the only contribution to violence by video games is more creative methods of performing violent actions. As such, parental-inhibition is as bad as a crime.

[Ter-Thok]

Lemme describe my opinion of censorship thusly:

I may not want to see graphic depictions of sex, violence, and profanity, but the fact that someone out there, right now, doesn't want me to be able to view these things fills me with a seething, indescribably apoplectic rage.

I think that we, as ideas people, writers, should be ESPECIALLY opposed to censorship. Instead of censoring things, we should use ratings systems describing what is in it; that idea works for me. It doesn't restrict things from entering the artistic community, but it does allow parents to, oh, I don't know, take some FUCKING RESPONSIBILITY INSTEAD OF WANTING ALL THE WORK DONE FOR THEM.

That's what gets me riled up. Parents are simultaneously lazy, and overprotective. They can't bother to take a real interest in their child's life, but when the media informs them of a perceived threat, such as that ridiculous-ass GTA scandal, or "the hip-hop music", or the "gay agenda" or some bullshit like that, the parents guilt-trip themselves into sheltering their kids.

There needs to be some major parenting changes in this country. Knife-motivated, perhaps...

[Soveliss]

Censorship, to be honest, is something I kind of miss. I don't enjoy hearing the N word thrown around. It makes me think that the people tossing it about don't realize the kind of hatred accociated with the word, and it's disrespectful to the black people in the world who are trying to move past that time in the world. Of course, it should never be forgotten, but referring to your buddy in that way is pretty much insulting to any black man or woman who lived back then.

Doesn't effect me, but I find it embarassing. As a human.



...

Ok, I have pretty mixed feelings about this. I talk the way I talk (duh). I mean, I throw that word about myself, but as the talker and not the reciever I don't put any hatred, slurring or mean-ness into the word. It's just a word that gets said. Like C**t. The way I see it, these are just words and unless the person saying them "means" for it to be either a derogatory term or racist, the person who hears, or the person being talked to should not view it as offensive.

This is simple Political Correctness. Not too long ago near where I live in a place called Acocks Green, there was a big sign put up by Asian people saying "no white people after 7pm" literally.

Did the police do anything? Yes. They went in and took the sign down. Then there was a court case saying that the police were trying to stump down the Asian communities right to free speech. Headspin or what. Not once was it turned around to call the Asians racist.

Things like that bug me. A word should not be banned, or not said simply because it was at some point offensive. I admit, it isn't the greatest word in the English language, but none the less - it shouldn't be treated as a slur when it is just uttered by someone. In Birmingham, there was actually an attempted movement to change the name of Christmas (which as we all know stemms from religious ties) to Winterfest because it offended a section of the Birmingham Muslim community, when the reply was "ok, but you change the name of Rammadam" the white community was then called racist.

Political Correctness has now gone completely wrong and it is wrong of parents to enforce these new, over the top ideas to children. Children should say what they like. Teenagers should say what they like. So long as there is no specific offense meant in what they say. Only when the word in question, either the "N" word, or "C" word or "F" word or "S" word (so and so forth) is said with venom towards the reciever should it be considered derogatory, slurring, racist, sexist...um communist?

ETC blah blah so on and so forth.

...guna leave this topic now as i could actually keep going.

[Dead]

Parents need to sit the fuck down and think of the big picture. I assume that if you dont have fuck filtered, it doesnt offend you.

The meaning and weight for a word can change. If you called someone "queer" today, they would become offended and either start ranting about how they aren't a homosexual, or ranting about how the word is derrogatory to the homosexual community that they might or might not be a part of. If you as someone if they had a faggot for the campfire, they would think you a pig and a homophobe, not someone asking for a bundle of wood.

A hundred plus years ago, if one were to say that someone was acting quite "queer" lately, people would take notice and see if the antecedent was indeed acting oddly. But nowadays, the words queer, faggot, gay, et cetra have an entirely different meaning. I dont see why various racial slurs cannot change its meaning aswell. Nowadays "your nigger" (i'm not sure if I can or cant say this word, PM me if I cant and I'll edit, no need to get upset) is not your legally bound slave, but rather your companion, friend, dealer, comrade, whatever you wish. These words are trying to change their meaning, and I think they will. Of course their harshest meaning will be remembered, but not associated with such words. We just need to let the elders die off.

Which brings me to the original point of this message. Yes, I can see why parents want to spare their children of embarassing, traumatizing, or life-ruining things, and I see it in me just telling my friends that you can be arrested for doing something and the consequences so they dont go through the same things I've been through (I'm no stranger to the 5-0). But lately, I've thought about it, and I think alot less emphasis needs to be placed on one's life. Not to throw it away, but if you think: Life is so pointless. You live for a while, then you die. You dont leave behind anything besides some immediate pain for your friends/family, which heals in time, and then you're forgotten and the world goes on. People should be allowed to do whatever they want in life, short of kill or assault and unwilling person. If two parties wish to solve things with their fists/bats/knives/guns/etc, then let them. If someone wants to smoke crystal methamphetamines and look and feel like shit, let them. Indeed, if this same outlook of nihilism is taken on by everybody, then I dont see why you shouldnt be allowed to kill another any time you please. What do they have to live for? their children? they have the same things to look foreward to. their spouse? the pain will heal with time. the future? in today's culture, we fear, toil, suffer, and then die, and all are equal once more.

Thats about it.....

[Cyrus the virus]

Okay, so if I walk up to a black dude and call him a nigger, but I have no venom or malice behind the word, he shouldn't be offended?

[Chiroptera]

I'm partially in agreement with Dead. I hate that good words are being perverted to imply negative things. Bitch, ass, cock, queer . . . all words that, in the proper context, aren't insulting. But now even the word "negro" gets taken the wrong way. Then again, I sometimes feel odd using the term "black," afraid that some people will be offended. But I'm not going to run around calling people African Americans all the time . . . Words are simultaneously too powerful and utterly meaningless.

[Dead]

Nicely put Chiroptera. And someone else who had mentioned political correctness. African American is a pointless statement. What if the person in question came from Haiti? Now I think that they had originally come from africa (not to up on my Haitian history), but we dont call them Haitian Americans or African Haitian Americans. Hell, if we do that why dont we just list the entire locational history of the person's family. Perhaps we should call negroes (I'm not a racist, even though I use all these fringe-offensive words. Maybe they should call whites blancos) African Louisianan Californian Compton Americans? Maybe I should be a European American. Maybe at least part of me should be American American (part N.American). But then again my indian ancestors arent REALLY orginating in america. Therefore, I am Dead, the African Middle-Eastern Mongolese Russian Siberian Alaskan Canadian American / African Middle-Eastern European Irish/English/German/Italian American.

To respond to Cyrus, I dunno. Maybe the Black in question should be. Maybe he shouldnt. Being offended or not offended by a word deals with both sides interpretations. If I shout "Damn you!" to something while not expecting to call God's eternal damnation upon 'it', someone could still interpret it that way and be offended, or could just simply be offended by calling upon ancient punishments of a celestial being. Why, I suppose someone could be offended by the word "cake" if they really wanted to.

[LordLeopold]

The backlash against the term "african american" is usually based on a flawed understanding of the term. The term African American was formed because African Americans are ethnically, historically and culturally distinct from any one African ethnicity. It's a pretty good term for the body of African-descended people whose live in America. For that reason, I don't think any black people in America are going to be offended by someone calling them African American, even if their parents just moved here from Nigeria last year, or if they immigrated here from Haiti as a kid. (Unless, of course, they're a Negrito.) I would say that calling a Haitian expatriot an African American is perfectly justifiable, because he is part of the African diaspora in America.

Ultimately, the line in the sand when it comes to language is a pretty common sense gauge - will a sensible person be offended or irritated by the fact that I am saying this? I have a feeling that a black person is going to be angry if a white person calls him a "nigger" because the word "nigger" was invented by white people to be an insulting and dehumanizing term. The fact of the matter is that language doesn't exist in a vacuum; if it did, none of the symbols we write or noises we make would make any sense, because language has only the arbitrarily chosen meanings we give it. Nobody in their right mind is going to be offended by the word "cake" because "cake" isn't used to mean something offensive. People are going to be offended by the word "fag" when applied to gay people or "Shylock" when applied to a Jew, because they're meant to be offensive. Babbling about how everything is ultimately meaningless and we can only apply individual meanings to things is all well and good, but it's just not the way that societies work, and for good reason. If we all had to reinterpet everything anyone said to try to find their own idosyncratic intent, language would be more trouble than it's worth.

If you want to insist to a Chinese guy that he shouldn't find "Mr. Chinky-chinky-buck-tooth-ching-chong-chang" to be any more offensive than "blanco" because words only mean what we want them to mean, go ahead. But don't whine about it when he kicks your ass.

[Cyrus the virus]

...Should I feel bad at laughing at this insult to the imaginary asian man?

[He'll Scream]

I think it's less about the words and more about the context. There is pretty much no word that really offends me. You could curse all you want waroundme and I could care less, they're just words. But if you were to use them in a way that is intended to provoke me or make me feel bad, THEN i might be offended. I think society puts too much focus on the words and less on the people nowadays.