Most recent edit on 2005-11-30 14:13:48 by HimEros
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Edited on 2005-11-29 13:11:30 by HimEros
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Edited on 2005-11-29 13:10:24 by HimEros
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Censorship and slavery have many things in common. In fact, it has been said that censorship is slavery. This is for a few reasons. First, and foremost, I believe that ignorance is a main factor in this. Slavery uses ignorance to keep the slaves from thinking too much, and then realizing that there is a better place outside of the world they are currently living in. Certainly, censorship is used in slavery; however, to turn it around is another matter. In slavery, there is the desire to revolt. In George Orwell’s 1984 it is shown that most people are actually slaves of the government as a result of slavery, and this instills a desire to revolt in the few conscious people (Orwell, pg. 25). In closed societies, ignorance is also used as a tool to keep the population from rising up against the government. The plantation in slavery is compared to these closed societies. The plantation uses its population, the slaves, to do all of the work, for little, or nothing, as does the closed societies, much like the USSR. The United States is not an open society, and does not fit into this comparison. This is because censorship actually causes the inverse effect on information. Ignorance is one of the main tools for both slavery and censorship.
Ignorance has been used over the centuries as a means of keeping a population, or simply a group of people in control. Even before the slavery in America, the feudal lords in Europe kept their townspeople unaware of everything that was going on outside of their small town. This helped delay many revolutions. The lords hoarded any books that may have come into town, decrying that only the privileged have the right to knowledge. Also, Ignorance squelches the desire to revolt. This is because the one being enslaved does not know that life is any better than it is on his plantation. In George Orwell’s 1984 the main character finds an aged notebook, and starts to write his terrible thoughts in it. Being able to see what he is actually thinking in printing, on a page, eventually leads to his ultimate attempt of betrayal of the state. The closed society in this particular book is much like the former USSR.
The former USSR and the book 1984 have many similarities. Both the governments enslave the intelligent, prosperous citizens, and put them to work with little or no pay, leaving them with the burden of society. This shows how censorship is actually slavery. In truly censored societies, we can see the similarity become almost frightening. In the best selling book Fahrenheit 451 all of the citizens are truly ignorant, and those who are not, and wish to revolt, have their books burned, and are sent away. Throughout the entire book, there is a war taking place, which eventually obliterates the town that the main character formerly resided in. Ironically, there had been no evacuation, or even warning that the bomb was coming. Censorship in this sense is a pure and total form of slavery, because the citizens are at the mercy of what they do not know.
Overall, today’s form of censorship and true slavery has much in common. However, it was the censorship that occurred in our pasts that actually is slavery. We must realize that this censorship is true slavery and we need to ensure that we will never relapse on our old ways. I believe that 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 could come to pass, if not in the United States, but in other countries, and we need to ensure against this.
Oldest known version of this page was edited on 2005-11-28 17:12:58 by HimEros []
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