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Censorship Before the 20th Century Rears its Ugly Head Even Today In Modern Society.

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Censorship before the 20th century in the United States began with the constitution, which forbid the enactment of laws that could regulate speech or the press and ensure one was not punished for speaking how they felt.

While there had been a variety of laws enacted back into early times in an effort to create uniformity and protect ones citizens through censorship, the laws have changed over time.

It was in 1920 that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that although the First Amendment would always remain applicable but there would actually be exceptions when it would not be unconstitutional.

While you may publically criticize or voice your opinion in print or writing about another such as the government it cannot cause the type of situation the government is able to control.

For example, you do not have the right to yell fire in a crowded building when there really isn’t a fire, you have no right to anger a mob to begin to riot, and you cannot put to print information the U.S. government deems to endanger the country.

Yet it never seems to stop there, instead leading to the abuse of censorship such as is the case with the pulling of printed material because of religious beliefs, or the censorship the U.S. Post Office took upon itself by refusing to send certain books through the mail.Still we’d have to believe we have come an awfully long way compared to censorship before the 20th century

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Censorship Covers All Types of Print

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Censorship of Obscenities in Early Days

Prior to the 20th century there were government policies that were very strict when it came to publications that were obscene. The U.S. was quick to follow the rules of Britain.

The problem was that these laws that controlled obscenity also controlled the flow of thoughts that might have actually had something to offer the mind in thought.

Some censorship before the 20th century eve had rules invoked to stop the printing of all types of obscenities but pornographic publications were by far hurt the worst hit initially.

Prosecution was common and so was the seizure of materials either by the police, the post office, or customs.

But it didn’t take long before religious organizations were quickly attempting to use the law to stop printed material that they did not believe to be appropriate from being distributed throughout the U.S.

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Censorship Before the 20th Century

It was during the 1920’s that the Motion Picture Association of America decided to implement censorship because of the demand by the public for stronger controls.

The Motion Picture Association of America began to classify films in 1968 with the ratings that we are so familiar with today.

There were a set of rules for each classification and the movie would have to meet that criterion to get the classification.

So for example, when a movie received a ‘G’ rating you knew there would not be any violence or sex so it was.

While this type of censorship has had its place and worked well for the most part, but as with everything it soon seeped outside of the movie picture industry into the television industry, and then it soon became complex and convoluted all with there own agenda about why something should be censored.

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Does the World Really Need Censorship?

Okay, perhaps not everything, but when it comes to print, television, or radio these days it’s fairly heavily regulated and while it may seem that freedom of speech remains in tact it may be the other areas of our life that need to be questioned.

When does censorship infringe on our personal rights? When can we no longer decide what is right for us and our family, and what is not?

When should religion or other special interest groups be able to dictate what you should or should not be able to see?

There’s a little thing called choice. We can choose what’s right for us, but if something is censored or banned our choice is gone. So is censorship before the 20th century really much different than now?

No it isn’t, it’s only more advanced. If you wish to know what is Debt to Success System? We stand for complete freedom, and no censorship.

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