censorship/ratings in general

ok so i want to ask an open opinion what is everyone's thought on when things are censored(like blood, wounds, or yes even body parts) ? is it a good thing? can it go too far? also rating systems, do you agree with them? are there places they should not be? are people sometimes a but to sensitive when i comes to getting things censored?

I'm completely opposed to ANY kind of censorship. Censoring things have several negative effects. Making things hidden or taboo makes them more interesting, things that you would shrug off might infatuate you now that its "forbidden" causing unhealthy obssesions. I base this on my own experience following I shall elaborate. When I was a kid My parents actually woke me up and dragged me off to catch the midninght screening of Alien, they would also introduce me to Peter Jacksons old works of gore and zombies. I was raised on Anime from then on and as such came to accept and understand death and violence in a young age, thusly it never intrigued me to the point that i became a ridiculous vampire wannabe or a violent maniac, i had a good many years to understand these things and as such i didnt need to react with over-excitement and ignorance when confronting issues as a young adult. on the flip side, making kids have a brain early on prevents them from getting friends because they become arrogant, better knowing assholes ^^ trust me i speak from exerience. but no, censorship should NEVER be acceptable under ANY circumstances. There is no such thing as too true... thats like denying math, plain silly....

Agreed, I too was brought up the same way as Hikki, and I turned out just fine, maybe a little desensitized to horror movies and stuff to where I don't get scared by that stuff, but I think censoring is just a lame excuse for the government to get away with what they want and it let us have out freedom of seeing things they way they were meant to be seen. That's I just my thought on it tho.

Ultimately, you can't use children as an excuse to ban what you don't like. For example in the 80's, a group of political lobbyists and christian fundamentalists tried to ban 'porn rock' (all music with sexual lyrics, with the exception of country), using the excuse that children might listen to the music and get all perverted. ultimately, young people's sexual habits have stayed prettymuch the same (despite the right wing media moaning on about a rise in teenage pregnancy, there is little variation in the real statistics) Most age rating laws come from the old radio laws, where there was only a few legal channels avaliable, and so had to be careful what they said, so certain programs would warn listeners of it's nature, however we now live in a world of endless media, where one can simply change the channel if they dislike what they're hearing/seeing, so those regulations have little relation to the modern world. It is all political, certain views are banned from being expressed, certain words get you in trouble yet far more offensive phrases don't. How come grotesque violence is promoted instead of sexual content? By restricting what you can see/hear, the people at the top can control public opinion, and gear it towards their own 'moral' values, and manipulate it for their own agenda.

> Ducksfortea Hear, Hear. Preach the gospel Brother ^^

Amen Ducksfortea! also i want to add that why are the correct medical terms censored sometimes? i mean the main thing i can think of as an example is that in one song they say "testicles" but in the radio version they change it to vegetables... i mean why do we need to censor a correct medical term.

I don't believe in government censorship, but I believe in parents controlling what they want their children to see and experience. I hate these groups that say "I don't want to see/hear that, so that means that no one can see/hear that!" It's just immature and childish. Plus, it interferes with the freedoms of the people who want to experience these things or incorporate them into a work. I don't mind if some parents decide that their own kids aren't allowed to not see anything sexual or violent. They have a right to teach their own set of morals to their kids. The problem comes when they try to push their beliefs on the rest of the country. :/