Censorship

Introduction

Did you know that boosted people make up 53% of the population, 72% of the new cases of covid, and 61% of those hospitalized? No, you don’t, because it was censored by the government. Hi, I'm Daniel and I'm going to talk to you about censorship. Over the past few years, the government has made some questionable and even illegal decisions. A lot of us noticed but couldn’t digitally tell us about it, because the government censored it. In this speech, I will explain what censorship is, why it’s a problem, and answer why I believe we can minimize the effects of censorship by advertising the idea that our thoughts are being censored by the government.

What is censorship?

Censorship is the suppression or deletion of information that may be considered harmful to a person or group, in the past, censorship was mainly about deleting offensive material. Like, if a movie says a very racist thing and people keep reposting it, the government would censor it. This is usually done by the media departments of the government, but lately in New Zealand, it’s been about censoring information harmful to the government’s agenda. For example, a “unite against covid-19” post was encouraging teenagers to get their covid booster, and a person from voices for freedom commented, advising not to listen because he knows many people who have been gravely injured because of this vaccine. All of his comments were deleted and it was labelled as fake news! All because they wanted people to get a vaccine. This is the censorship I'm talking about.

What are the effects of censorship?

The type of censorship I'm talking about has many effects, but none are good. Because we have no voice in certain areas, in those areas the censors become all-powerful. For example, if your house is on fire and your brother is mute, he can’t tell you that the house is on fire, so you die. It's important to have a voice even if we don’t always like what the voice has to say. Going back to my other example of the man's comments, those kids could avoid the vaccine side effects if that man's comments weren’t censored. Also, Voices For Freedom have a youtube account that they used for podcasts which was deleted, I wonder why? This is how big the problem is.

Possible solutions

What are some possible solutions to censorship? Protests are an aggressive but sometimes a necessary solution to problems, let's review them. Protests send a message to the government and unite people, but they can easily get out of hand. They can be expensive, require a low amount of bravery, can get dangerous, aren’t very convenient, and overall, are averagely effective. Advertising, when I say advertising I mean, putting signs around town, and posting on social media. This can challenge the people and advertises the movement and what they stand for. This method is cheap, requires barely any bravery, isn't dangerous, is very convenient, and is overall super effective. Speeches like Martin Luther King's I have a dream speech can be highly effective. Speeches are great because stopping them would be illegal, as the law states “everyone has the right to peaceful assembly”. Anyway, speeches are free, require a lot of courage, aren't dangerous, are very convenient because they can be streamed online, and are effective.

In this inquiry we had to get a chosen text that shed light on what our inquiry was about, mine was “freedoms road” by John Mellencamp. One verse that stood out to me was, If you want to take a ride well you've got to pay the toll. This demonstrates the courage part of my solution, you can’t defy the government then just waltz around town as if nothing happened. You’ve got to pay the toll which is, publicity. Look at their courage, they're paying the toll for freedom which is, publicity. The last time someone was brave enough to stand up by himself, he was shot.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it seems that we are becoming a Totalitarian country, which is a country where one group or few people are supreme, all-powerful. This censorship isn’t about the country it’s about power and control. People like voices for freedom are standing up, but they can’t do it alone, in this inquiry I concluded that I can minimise the effects of censorship by advertising the idea that our thoughts are being censored by the government. So stand, stand tall, stand brave against the government, Tama Tu Tama ora, Tama Noho Tama Mate. He who stands lives, he who sits perishes.

Sources

Work Cited

McFarlane, Nick, and Nicholas McFarlane. Spinfluence: the Hardcore Propaganda Manual for Controlling the Masses: Fake News Special Edition. Carpet Bombing Culture, 2018.

Work Cited

Hendry, Ireland. “Leo Molloy criticises Brian Tamaki protest as video emerges of him questioning danger of COVID-19, promoting anti-lockdown protest.” Newshub, 25 July 2022, https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/07/leo-molloy-criticises-brian-tamaki-protest-as-video-emerges-of-him-questioning-danger-of-covid-19-promoting-anti-lockdown-protest.html. Accessed 17 August 2022.

Work Cited

“The data they don't want you to see.” Voices for Freedom, 10 July 2022, https://www.voicesforfreedom.co.nz/blog/post/data-they-dont-want-you-see. Accessed 17 August 2022.

Work Cited

“Censorship is the tool used when the lie loses it's power.” Voices for Freedom, 13 April 2022, https://www.voicesforfreedom.co.nz/blog/post/censorship-tool-used-when-lie-loses-its-power. Accessed 17 August 2022.

Work Cited

“Dr Sam Bailey On Censorship & The Covid Response.” Voices for Freedom, 2 August 2021, https://www.voicesforfreedom.co.nz/blog/post/dr-sam-bailey-censorship-covid-response. Accessed 18 August 2022.

Work Cited

“Freedom's Road.” YouTube, 30 July 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbYaFix0djY. Accessed 18 August 2022.

Work Cited

SHAFER, JACK, et al. “Why New Zealand's Press Just Put on Blinders for Its Biggest Story.” Politico, 1 May 2019, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/05/01/self-censorship-media-new-Zealand-white-supremacist-2019-226766/. Accessed 18 August 2022.

Work Cited

Menon, Praveen, and Michael Perry. “New Zealand plans stronger hate speech laws in response to Christchurch attack.” Reuters, 25 June 2021, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/new-zealand-plans-stronger-hate-speech-laws-response-christchurch-attack-2021-06-25/. Accessed 18 August 2022.

Work Cited

Peters, Tom. “New Zealand Government Introduces Internet Censorship Legislation | Scoop News.” Scoop NZ, 10 June 2020, https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2006/S00068/new-zealand-government-introduces-internet-censorship-legislation.htm. Accessed 18 August 2022.

And lastly, thank you to my expert, Mr Verschaffelt for his good info.

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