Censorship: Simply Not Enough Essay -- Censorship

Not too long ago, an evening television program caught mine and my filles attention. It was a cute family comedy verging good to her bedtime. I was relaxed as we spent some quality time together, and out of nowhere I felt as if I had been punched in the face when a curse word came out of the so-called 15 year old actors mouth. Playing it cool, I glanced down at my young daughter who did not even flinch. I thought to myself, when were those words allowed to be uttered on television? Even worse, was my daughters reaction, or in this contingency non-reaction, because of desensitization or did she simply not hear it? Since then I have found myself immersed in the censorship dispute. Globally, media censors have loosened their grip importantly which have had a positive social impact, for the most part, but have they gone too far? I, for one, yearn for the mayberry days where life was simple and no one had to worry about what children were watching on TV. In 1973, Thomas Elmend orf, an emergency room physician, made a speech to the American Medical fellowship about the increase in violence behavior among young adults and its correlation to violence on TV. In it he cited that Murder is the fastest ontogeny cause of death in the United States. The annual rate of increase exceeded 100 percent between 1960 and 1974. He also goes on to explain that by the time a child graduates high school, they have spent an astonishing 18,000 hours in front of the TV, not to mention other forms of media, versus 15,000 hours in the classroom. Elmendorf also elaborates that inside those 18,000 television hours, a young adult will have witnessed 18,000 murders and countless highly detailed incidents of robbery, arson, bombings, shootings... ...All Aspects Of Tibet 45.5 (2010) 4. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Apr. 2012.Collins, Rebecca L.Elliott, Marc N.Berry, Sandra H.Kanouse, David E.Kunkel, DaleHunter, Sarah B.Miu, Angela. Watching Sex On Television Predicts Adolesc ent Initiation Of Sexual Behavior. Pediatrics 114.3 (2004) e280. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.Elmendorf, Thomas. Violence On TV. Vital Speeches Of The Day 42.24 (1976) 764. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.Jerome, Sara. Supreme Court Case May Dirty Down the Airwaves. CongressDaily AM 16 Nov. 2011 5. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 14 Apr. 2012.Katz, Paul. Funny $*. Entertainment Weekly 802 (2005) 23. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.TODD PITMAN - Associated, Press. Myanmar Relaxes Grip On Media, Vows culmination To Censors. AP Top News Package (2012) Newspaper Source Plus. Web. 14 Apr. 2012.