censorship from reality (Are Britain's censorship laws too strict?)

Member Name: jesika_jay

Product:	Are Britain's censorship laws too strict?
Date:	19/07/02 (231 review reads)
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Censorship laws in this country are, in my opinion, way too strict and should be brought down a touch before this country gets a reputation as being too stuffy (Oh sorry, I forgot, we already had!)

I don't think there is any point in trying to hide things such as swearing and violence, because there is so much of it about in real life, that it can't be escaped. Hiding violence in films seems, to me, trying to hide from the amount of violence which exists in this day and age, and in real life.

What is the point in the censors cutting a violent scene? Do they think it is going to stop all the violence in our society? Do they think it is going to reduce crime rates? Do they think it is going to improve the state of the world? All it is going to do in reality is make people angry as they are being deied the opportunity of seeing things that other countries' laws permit them to see. And would this not, in fact, encourage violence?

If people really want to cut down on violence and anger, then why not put more coppers on the streets? Why not reduce petrol prices? (but I won;t go into that- that is another issue entirely!)
Surely these sort of things would make people more content with the country we live in, rather than editing a few measly scenes in a film, and therefore not rebel against it. If we want to discourage violence and aggression in our country, we need to look at its causes and I doubt that all this anger stemmed from a few lousy films!

Ok, so there may be scenes which are just too revolting or offensive to show, by every countries' standards, but why does Britain have to go that step further and censor just too much? It's not like any good comes out of our strict censorship laws- this country's crime rates are hardly better than those of other countries, infact we are probably one of the worst!

It is just a cop-out blaming violence on films and television. If someone has a pscholo
gical problem- as many killers do- their killing frenzies aren't a result of television. If someone is violent towards someone, it is usually triggered off by provocation, not watching a film. I mean, how many people come out of watching a violent film in which someone was murdered thinking to themselves "I'm going to murder someone tonight!"? I can understand why children should not be allowed to watch such things, because they are impressionable, and do not know what's right and wrong, but htere's no point in trying to sheild adults from something that is evident everywhere we look.

Back to the point of it being a cop out blaming violence and crime levels on films- those who make those accusations need to look at REAL LIFE reasons why so many people rebel against the law as most of us don't live in a fictional world and can distinguish between fiction and non-fiction.
Maybe people dislike the way that this country is run and the things it does. Maybe b;aming it on films is a way of covering up the fact that a lot of people disagreee with the way the country is run and that is why they rebel against it.

On a whole, I just think that there is no point attempting to hide things which happen every day from people; if they don't see violence in one film, they are jsut going to see it in another, or probably even in real day-to-day life. In a way, it is a good thing to show violence, sex and drugs in films as it opens up people's eyes to the world we live in and can act as a warning for us to be aware that we, ourselves, may have to face violence, drugs etc., and that we can avoid it if we know the consequences.

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