03.27.07
Censorship - Get Them While They’re Young
Censorship is a way to keep the public from knowing the truth. Although we all like to believe in freedom of speech, the reality is that administration and compliant media determine the “facts” given to the people.Sadly enough, I recently read about a high school in Wilton, Connecticut that decided to create an original play about the war in Iraq, which was ultimately canceled and prohibited. The high school is located in a well-off town that frequently features state-of-the-art performances in its $10 million auditorium. The principal, who is also a former student of the school, Timothy H. Canty, said he was worried that the play would hurt families in the community who had lost a loved one or had someone serving and felt there was not enough classroom and rehearsal time to ensure the play would provide “a legitimate instructional experience for our students.”
Students say otherwise, citing that the principal said the material was too inflammatory and only someone who had served in a war could actually understand it. A junior whose brother was serving in Iraq was said to have complained about the play and even after the script was changed in consideration of this fact, the principal refused to let the show go on. Further, when this junior’s mom was contacted for comments, she had no idea about the play or her daughter’s involvement in it.
A father of one of the students felt it was outrageous and said, “Here these kids are really trying to make a meaningful effort to educate, to illuminate their fellow students, and the administration, of all people, it shutting them down.”
One of the students was more aware of the power administration has and how they want relevant issues hushed up, saying, “Our school is all about censorship. People don’t talk about the things that matter.”
Social conditioning is one way to get people to stop talking about what matters, especially when it is drummed into our youth.
Apparently the script contained things that reflected poorly on the Bush administration, such as how long it took for certain countries to get bullet proof vests. Critical references about former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld were considered unacceptable, as well as a line from Cpl. Sean Huze, saying of soldiers, “Your purpose is to kill.” Is everyone employed by the administration required to defend it, whether right or wrong? Is silencing, rather than encouraging, the youth part of a greater plan?
A Wilton graduate, Pvt. Nicholas Madaras, died last year and the town intends to honor him by naming a soccer field for him. In a letter to a local newpaper, Madaras wrote, “…I miss being in high school. High school is really the foundation of the rest of your life, whether teenagers want to believe it or not.”
When that foundation is checkered with censorship and inaccuracies, how can there be hope for the future? Though the principal claims he didn’t discourage the students from continuing to do work independently on the play, the teacher, Ms. Dickinson, says otherwise. She claims he told her “we may not do the play outside of the four rooms of the classroom.” She adds she can’t have anything to do with it because she has to “stand behind her building principal.” Apparently the security of her job would be in question without blind loyalty to his dictates, whether reasonable or not.
A student mother seemed to sum it up best. “The sad thing was a missed opportunity for growth…” Her son was in the play and considering his age she said, “if we ended up in a further state of war, wouldn’t they be the ones drafted or who choose to go to war? Why wouldn’t you let them know what this is about?” Perhaps because knowledge is power and that is exactly what the administration wants to monopolize for their own benefit. MamaSaid there’d be days like this…
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ron tyler said,
May 1, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Lets educate kids today about the stupidity of war and how to get out of this draft.
I flunked my SRP physical to Iraq. Its easy, tell them you cant see, hear or move right, have asthma, gay, suicidal, dizzy, or heart troubles.
Stay OUT of war !
I and many of us Vets regret what we saw and did and will for the rest of our lives. Military makes robots out of people.
Tomatoeworm said,
May 14, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Apparently power comes from knowledge, so censorship only makes them more powerful. With all this censorship going on, it seems the US is trying to unite the will of the people towards one opinion(the supreme world order you mentioned), just in a younger stage of developement.
Although I am very young, I am also skeptical when it comes to government and politics, and I believe that this blog and website really helped me before the years of the foundation of my life(high school). I sure wouldn’t like it if my foundation was for government in the future, with all of the lies flowing through, in and out, of the media.
In the past I used to argue against these kinds of things on forums, mostly because I never realized how much power the goverment possessed. I always thought the president of the United States had little power to begin with. Would I be incorrect by saying something like this, or does the president just use other methods for gaining power?
King Bushwick the Toity Toid said,
September 2, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Let’s Face It,Both Sides Would Love To Wipe Their Asses With The constitution!!
That’s Why Theyr’e Scared Of John McCain In Washington!!
John McCain’s A True Anmerican Hero!!
Which Is More Than I Can Say For Most Of Them in DC!!