I’d like to bring up a conversation I had with my friends (I’m the red one, but I’ve obscured everyone’s icons/handles just in case)
This is why censorship in media is bad. When you start drawing lines about what is and isn’t allowed, you’re walking a very, very, thin line (and also denying people ways to deal with their trauma—this is a fact, you are denying someone’s ability to cope in a healthy manner).
For example: “Pedophilia is banned”, alright. But someone else pipes up and says “No violence or abuse against minors, either!” Okay. But someone else adds in their two cents. Why? Because the line people have for “tolerable” and “intolerable” is never the same for each person. So now the third person adds: “Violence and abuse against people in general shouldn’t be promoted.”
Now you’ve done it. No violence? The spectrum for that is so broad! That targets action anything: action scenes with violence of any kind are now banned. Crime stories? Those often depicts violence, so that isn’t allowed either. Traditional media like Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth are now all banned because those include suicide, violence, and revenge.
Someone else hates vampires, so they speak up: “Vampires are dead, this is promoting necrophilia” Well, that’s awful, and we don’t want people promoting necrophilia! And obviously what the author writes = what they believe. So that has to go.
Do you see? The line you’ve drawn has become a slippery slope because everyone has a different threshold for things that make them uncomfortable or that they find ‘bad.’
You cannot JUST ban one. Once you start, more people will push that line further and further. Until you’ve censored everything worth enjoying. Even things you liked, things you found completely harmless? There is always going to be someone that has thought or felt otherwise.
The things you enjoy will be censored if you demand censorship. If you don’t like something? Or if it makes you uncomfortable? Then that’s on you to avoid that specific media, because otherwise people are going to find the things you enjoy and find harmless, and demand that is censored too.
"The easy fix is just to define the worst things only! Severe things! Pedophilia, rape, etc."
"But murder is just as bad."
"Abuse is bad too, even if the person isn't killed they can be left with lifelong trauma. That's just as bad in some ways."
"Violence in general is bad. Have you watched the news? I bet if we stopped promoting violence in media, we'd see less violence."
"There are studies that say violent video games promote aggression. Maybe we should stop promoting violence in games as well."
"Have you seen those crime shows? The ones solving cases, like Criminal Minds? Some of the episodes are really disturbing and I can't help but think that it'll give somebody an idea of something they can do."
"Yeah the crime shows can show so much abuse, and there's almost always murder."
Congratulations. You've eliminated the action genre and the crime genre by trying to justify censoring it. Learn that what is written =/= what the author condones. Learn to use the back button and navigate away from a page/story/show, that you dislike. Exercise restraint and learn to back away from media that makes you uncomfortable rather than trying to get rid of it.