One of the things I find the most confusing about modern chatting and writing methods is the censorship that comes with it. Thanks to social media and its strict guidelines about certain forms of content, people have been forced to cautiously pick their way around certain things, all to make sure that they can push some narrative without having their content taken down by the system.
And as a result of this, people will go to any and all lengths to avoid censorship, even though it directly impacts the message that they’re trying to send. And to be honest, I totally understand why there is a need for censorship, because just as people have a right to free speech and to share whatever they like, others also have the right to come online and not be greeted by insensitive material.
But then, where does it all end? How long can this be pushed? How far should this censorship of a thing be taken? It’s understandable when risqué and nude posts are taken down. I can understand smut, blasphemous, and highly controversial posts, intended mostly to cause conflict or harm people, and I can understand their need to be taken down. But what I won’t understand is the need for us to censor the words themselves.
Thanks to social media, we no longer have words like Kill or Murder, we have to use Unalive. We can’t say Rape anymore, it’s now Grape. We can’t say pedophilia, it has to be p3do. On and on it goes, and the sad thing is that most of the things that we can’t say are heinous crimes, crimes that need more outcry and more noise so that people will be more informed about them. But no!
And even worse, I just don’t see the point of censoring something at all. It’s just like when there’s a naked lady on my TV screen and the breasts and groin areas are blacked out or blurred out, it just doesn’t make sense. I still know she’s naked, not seeing her breasts doesn’t make her any less naked. If you really want to make a clean video, then put some clothes on her! It’s that simple!
Thanks to censorship, people will write K!ll, Murd@r, Gr@pe... All to bypass the algorithm. Because if you don’t, your account could be taken down. But here it is, it still doesn’t change anything. Because if words like Kill, Murder, and rape trigger you, you’d still be triggered by unalived and grape. Why? Maybe because the words are not really what carries the power here, but the acts themselves.
Take movies, for example, there are people who still think that because a movie is rated 18, it means that there will be nude scenes in it. But no, it can mean that there are adult themes that will be raised by the movie, topics that won’t be appropriate for those younger than 18. These can be movies that, if you’re not mature enough, can make you question your religion, identity, and even traditions. So, censorship shouldn’t be limited to images or words, but more importantly, to the message that they pass.
So, forcing people to censor their words is just not it. These are heavyweight words that carry a lot of gravity, and due to all these changes, the impact reduces. I don’t know if this is a psychological attack, but it would be better if we’d be able to speak more freely and stop this need to always clean up our write-ups. Imagine being a victim, and as you’re trying to tell your story, you have to also consider the algorithm and all that.
This is what social media has turned us into. But of course, this is only a side-note and an observation because the major problems are still the killings, the rapings and murders that still happen. Hopefully, social media will learn to focus more on the act and not the words used to describe it.
