The society we live in is fairly free and unrestricted. We have access to ideas and items that suit our personal interests, such as religion, careers, and entertainment. We are used to freedom, justice, and knowing what is actually true. We are the lucky ones. People in the past, present, and future have to live with censorship and propaganda. This has been proven to be true in the news, documentaries, primary sources, and books. Times like World War II and places like North Korea have dictatorships with brainwashed citizens. They can’t freely read, listen to music, or speak without fear of persecution. These facts should be a dystopian fantasy. People should be afraid of living in a world that is censored, that restricts uniqueness. I believe that governments and societies should not restrict their people, but rather, give them freedom.
Censorship is not good for a country, especially a relatively large one. It restricts how people think. It makes citizens think in one certain way. It inflicts identical morals and thoughts on every person in society, when in reality, people normally have different thoughts and opinions on things. There’s a documentary where a doctor goes to North Korea to give hundreds of people a routine eye surgery. After they can see again, they praise their Supreme Leader, Kim Jung-Il, instead of thanking the doctor. They were all forced to believe that Kim Jung-Il blessed them with eyesight, like how he blesses them with everything else. They’re not allowed free thought, and that’s not okay. Censorship also violates the rights of citizens. Citizens of any country should be entitled to free speech and thought. As long as it’s not harming anyone else, people should be able to do what they want without the government constantly looking over their shoulder. These two arguments go together, because if you are restricted, you don’t have rights.
An argument can be made that censorship can help a country because the people will follow the leader blindly. Citizens wouldn’t be confused or violent, but calm and obedient. This is true, having a society that listens to you and respects you is crucial to running a government, but it should not be obtained through lies and deception. If your country has free thought and loves you for you, you’ve done an amazing job. An aware-enough society can see that their leader is being tyrannical, and they can get rid of them. A censored society will follow their leader into dictatorship, because they’ve been taught to always love their leader.
Governments should not censor their society. If the government is good enough, their people will love them. If the government is not good enough, the people will change the government. The changing of a bad government can only happen if the society is uncensored.
