CENSORSHIP AND PERCEPTIONS ON THE WORLD
In a world where the only consistence is diversity, people can’t help but impose upon the outré visions, ideas, and even facts of such diversity. Rather than accepting the ranges of humanity, through many eyes, it is easier to force conformances or even hide perceptions of people, places, and ideas. George Washington once said, “Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institution for the general diffusion of knowledge, in proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.” Within that statement the first president of the United States of America advocated for pure and uncensored knowledge. However, the changes within society since President Washington’s time show the opposite of his wishes; rather a world of altered knowledge, expression and perception.
“One of the primary purposes of art is to challenge and provoke and question. Debating works of art, as opposed to censorship of those deemed controversial, is what a free society should support,” stated Ian S. Thompson author of the article, “Censorship at the Smithsonian”. The article concerns the 2010 Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, in Washington, being the first major museum to portray the works of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender peoples (LBGT). The exhibit featured a video titled, “A Fire in my Belly,” produced by David Wojnarowicz, at the height of the AIDS epidemic. The film was created to expose the effects of life with the disease. The video however, was removed due to complaints on behalf of a religious group because of a possible sac religious scene. Thompson stated that, “Labeling the exhibit as somehow anti-Christian or anti-Catholic seems like more than a convenient excuse to attack the exhibit’s unambiguous embrace of LBGT artists and their works.” Whether or not the group found offense within a related or unrelated topic isn’t necessarily the largest problem, but rather the fact that the video was showing an honest and real portrayal of life and its challenges, yet was removed from the public’s eye. This censorship, however, can’t take away reality: no matter how much it is wanted, or how far people will go to cover it up doesn’t matter; when it comes down to it not even religious taboos can conceal reality. How is there supposed to be an understanding of people and the honest world, if art isn’t there to give a unique explanation or a raw depiction of it? Blake Gopnik form the Washington Post, explains that if these pieces of work are removed from the museum then classic works of art such as Goya’s great nudes, will be removed as well. The article begs whether or not a piece is offensive is inevitable; however the truth of the world and its people must be known and attempted to be understood.
Not only do the censorships of art, like in the Smithsonian, leave museums increasingly empty and minimally daring, they also confuse people, specifically younger people. Simone Timberio explains this confusion with the perception of differences between sensuality and sexuality. Timberio explains in the article, “Are We Too Prudish for Our Own Good,” that when the media pixilates or covers up a scene including body parts, and treats it the same as a scene of love and mood, people start to believe that any form of nudity is inappropriate and people should be ashamed of a body. Said Timberio, “That is why young adults in America go directly from puberty straight to pornography- because they do not have anything between, such as public art or other forms of healthy nudity- things that would help them develop an understanding of sensuality.” Censorship is a corrupting force of not only the venerable minds of the youth but every other demographic as well.
Common knowledge and a sense of being aware are found through news and scientific reports for many people today; however, not even these legitimacies can escape the wrath of censorship. In 2007 the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released confirmation of altered scientific processes by the government. “For science to advance, Knowledge must be shared. Without the free exchange of ideas, science as we understand it cannot exist and progress.” responded nih.gov to the idea of censoring scientific processes. Scientists’ are being censored through the altering of speech and writing or even the marring of research results, explained the article, “Censorship and science: A threat to science, the Constitution and Democracy. “The Purpose of science is to produce knowledge, If science is corrupted, what flows from it is not knowledge, but something else- misinformation, propaganda, and partial-truths.” further explained the article. These misinformation’s sway the opinion and knowledge of people, distracting from reality, creating an inaccurate and misunderstanding of the world.
Alissa Miller, CEO of public Radio International, states in her Ted Talk, The News About News, that, “The news shapes the way we see the world.” In the presentation a map is shown of the entire globe as it is geographically, the next map shows what the world looks like to Americans based on news coverage of other countries. In the second map the United States and Iraq are enlarged, and most recognizable to say the least. This is because twenty percent of news coverage in the US was based out of Iraq in 2007, while seventy nine percent out of the US itself and the remaining one percent from China, India, and Russia combined; this absents of international information is due to the fact that local news only dedicates twelve percent of its coverage to international news. These disproportional numbers can also be explained by the United States not having any network news bureaus in all of Africa, India, or South America. Miller reveals that, “even while society becomes more globally inter connected, Americans seem to know less and less about the world around them.”
The complexities within our world are hard to understand let alone express. No matter how perilous reality may seem, it’s important to accept it because it is real. Behind the paint within an art piece or the numbers of a statistic, the entity that they represent is what really affects humanity. The sculptures and reports are just the way we understand it, yet popular censorship’s today hinder that acceptance. By hiding reality for the sake of religion or to save money and protect the government, we alter the honesty and corrupt people’s perception of the world.