Friday, September 2, 2016
Censorship
During the research for my project, I found it very upsetting how none of the writers got to have a voice at the time. Having to leave your own country just to be able to write is insane to me. I applaud Milan Kundera for sticking up for his beliefs because it could not have been easy to leave his country and have all his works banned. He probably lived in the fear of being arrested for writing against the communist regime. I cannot even imagine how he must've felt. I understand why many authors chose to not write against communism because I personally would've been too scared to. It is very sad that censorship is still going on today in some parts of the world.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I agree with this perspective on censorship. Upon first reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being, I had little idea of the actual situation that Kundera went through as a writer. Now, this knowledge provides me with a new perspective on the novel and helps me appreciate the difficulties that Kundera went through simply to publish this novel. Thinking of this on a personal level, I could never imagine being forced to leave the United States solely for the reason of being able to publish a work that some consider controversial. Also, if forced to leave, I would feel lost and wouldn't even know where to flee to.
Censorship is a very difficult topic to discuss, since none of us live in a country in which the government censors us. Bailey and Joseph are correct, it is very difficult to understand exactly how difficult living through that situation is. While working on my presentation, I was able to study in-depth two examples of extreme censorship in Czechoslovakia. The first, the 2,000 Words, the second, Charter 77. Both works did generally the same thing. They criticized the government for the lack of human rights in the country. Everyone responsible for these two documents was harshly punished. They were fired from their jobs, their licenses were suspended, and they could be imprisoned. Given these harsh circumstances, I would never be able to protest against the government. In the United States, we have the freedom to peacefully protest. In Czechoslovakia, they did not. I feel very privileged to live in a country that treats its people as well as the United States.
I agree as well, in sympathizing for those writers. Those who did publish content against the Communist Regime must have been extremely brave to risk punishment in order to speak out for their country. In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, we see Tomas lose his job and end up being a window washer simply for speaking out. Tomas was also pressured by the Communist Regime to retract his statement and make a pro-Communist statement. I can see how many writers and journalists would fall under the pressure and publish content in support of the Regime, even if they were strongly against it. I could not imagine having freedom of speech taken away, and not allowing people to speak their mind. The circumstances must have been extremely difficult under the regime and I can see how people became frustrated a spoke out. Writers like Kundera showed courage in speaking out, and definitely had an impact on public opinion and helped to fight the Communist Regime.
Honestly it is ridiculous how much censorship there still is in the world today. A startlingly large amount of countries STILL do not have freedom of the press. If you look at this map , you can see how truly widespread the problem is. The worst part of this censorship is that not only are intellectuals not able to express themselves, but the average person just doesn't get the information they need about the world.
Post a Comment