Censorship: the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security. It can be found almost everywhere, from the internet to the media to book and movies. This is why it's a problem:
Censorship in 1984 Censorship is very present in the world of 1984, playing a huge role in the government's control of the state. It is used through changing history, in language, and in people’s thoughts. Firstly, Winston’s job in the novel involves manipulating facts by changing historical documents. He is sent jobs by the Ministry of Truth and upon completing them, destroys any past documentation as well as the instructions by depositing them in a memory hole. An example is when Winston creates Comrade Ogilvy to replace someone the government deem a non-existent person in a past news article. His created character, “who had never existed in the present, now existed in the past,” showing how easily he can manipulate and change the past to censor details the government wants to hide (Orwell 50). Additionally, language is also censored with the creation of new dictionaries. They come in editions and as a whole, the collection is known as “Newspeak.” The purpose of this new language is to “narrow the range of thought” and eventually make thoughtcrime impossible by eliminating words used in “Oldspeak” (Orwell 55). It effectively allows the government to control the thoughts of its citizens; if they do not know what rebel means, they cannot think about or do it. This leads to the last point of how the government of Oceania is able censor people's thoughts. It is through the change in history, new language, and governments hard-pressed ideas/facts that people can only think a certain way. Essentially, they are told everything they should and need to think in order to survive in Oceania under the watchful eye of Big Brother. They are taught that BB is always correct, and anyone against him will be vaporized. Altogether, the primary purpose of censorship in 1984 is to maintain control of the state by hiding everything they don't want citizens to see and teaching fake facts. The modern world today has a surprising amount of similarities of that of the world of 1984.
Censorship in modern society Censorship in the world today takes different forms than what's used in 1984, however the purpose is still very alike. It is used by governments on the internet, media, books, movies, video games, and much more, but I'll just be focusing on a couple of these, all in one of the world's largest countries, China. To begin, the largest scale and perhaps most relevant censorship happens on the internet. It's where people communicate, learn, and make a living. Censoring of the internet is relevant all over the world but is especially huge in China, which is controlled by its Communist Party. The government blocks all outside social media, excluding the popular Chinese messaging app, WeChat. VPN's that could go past "the Great Firewall" are also being removed from the Chinese Apple app store. The only reason why WeChat is allowed is because activity on it can easily be monitored, the government going so far as to not let certain words or stickers be sent through. These often relate to government officials and leaders, and are censored because they are seen as offensive, dangerous, or an act of protest against the government. Many websites are blocked as well, even Google cannot be accessed from the country as they rejected China's demand of censoring its search results. This just goes to show how serious the Chinese government is about controlling everything their citizens can see and their actions on the internet. Secondly, censorship controls what much of the media puts out. While citizens are allowed freedom of speech, there can be repercussions if what they say expose the countries secrets or endangers China. Censoring these journalists and activists typically mean jail time, public confessions, fines, or loss of job. As of February of 2017, 38 journalists had been imprisoned, but that number certainly doesn't show the full extent of censorship in the country. In conclusion, censorship in China is a huge threat to freedom of speech in the country, and furthers the problem by not allowing citizens to address many issues in the country. The reason for these actions all point towards the Communist Party maintaining control and power, similar to the government of Oceania in 1984.
The expert we contacted, Ms. Pragnell, strongly agreed with us that censorship shouldn't be used by governments. She noted that many clear examples can be found in North Korea, and Iraq, and suggested some possible solutions for censorship to be protesting and starting petitions. Below is a video on how the government censors the press: