So, I waited a few days to write my blog for this week. I usually type up my blogs on Monday so all of you can have the opportunity to read it (only if you want to, of course) and leave a comment but I altered my schedule a bit this week because I had a feeling that Wednesday’s debate would be an interesting topic to discuss on here. I chose to join the side with my fellow classmates who shared the belief that advertisements should NOT be regulated, controlled, or censored. Now, before I propound my thoughts on the debate, I just want to let the opposing side know that I learned a lot from all of you (much more than I thought I would upon entering the debate). You all did a wonderful job at expressing your thoughts to us and providing thought-provoking rebuttals to the thoughts we expressed to you. I also could easily discern that some of you were very passionate about your beliefs relating to advertisements which made the debate that much more exciting so thank you. However, I still remain with my anti-censorship buddies when it comes to advertisements. Freedom of speech is one issue that concerns me. All advertisers in the U.S. possess the right to express their ideas freely in order to amass profits (this was established in the U.S. Supreme court case called Bigelow v. Commonwealth of Virginia). It does not matter if you believe that advertisers evoke racism, sexism, degradation, vulgarity or any other negative sentiment since, in the end, they have the unique right to do so. Simply ignore the advertisements that you deem offensive and displeasing. Control the advertisements you encounter and do not allow them to control you negatively (if you succumb to the negativity of some advertisements then, unfortunately, that is your problem to deal with). The situation pertaining to children and advertisements is another issue that concerns me. I completely understand the opposing viewpoint about children being threatened, impacted negatively, and possibly abused. I just believe that it is the responsibility of the parents to control what their children see and do not see. True, they cannot be monitored all the time which leads me to my next point: parents need to be prepared to discuss important topics with their children (that is part of being a good parent). It is the parent's fault if their children become influenced negatively by advertisements. In the end, it is the parent’s duty to educate their children and not that of the advertisements. Parents need to mold their children and not allow the advertisements to have any influence. For instance, I remember a long time ago when I was a little boy that my mom and dad warned me of all the dangers related to smoking. To this day, I have not smoked despite viewing numerous smoking advertisements in magazines. So, as of right now, I still believe that any regulation, control, or censorship of advertisements is wrong and not needed. I’ll end this post with one of the many quotes relating to our debate topic: “The first condition of progress is the removal of censorship.” – George Bernard Shaw
Even though I wrote my essay in support of censorship you bring up a lot of good points here that make me want to qualify my essay. However, we are unable to do so I will stick to pro-censorship. After all, if censorship did not exist then children and everyone else would be seeing ads for cigarettes on Television. In this case even though a parent teaches the idea that cigarettes are bad a child may still let curiosity convince them to try it.
ReplyDeleteHey Dominique! You bring up an interesting point about curiosity getting the best of children when it comes to contentious issues such as smoking. Nonetheless, the biggest influence on a child's life, in my opinion, is the mother and father. Not advertisements. I mean, I remember seeing countless smoking ads when I was growing up but I refrained from trying them simply because my parents butchered it into my little head that "smoking was really, really bad." I was, of course, curious about cigarettes but the words of my parents meant so much more to me than some ad. True, advertisements do have an impact on children but the parents always have the opportunity to correct it since it is the parents, and not the ads, who possess more influence.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that parents should and most of the time are the main influence in a child's life, but sometimes they aren't. Some kids just don't want to listen. I guess we were just two good kids! As I think we (meaning the entire class) have killed this advertising topic to death, I'm going to agree with you on this point and move on to bigger and brighter things! YAY!
ReplyDeleteOh, I agree. This debate is endless and we all have butchered it pretty well. But I love your idea of moving on to bigger and brighter things! I'll definitely accompany you! Let's go! =P
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