[586] Of censorship in Malaysia is an insult

I once told a friend before returning to Malaysia that I would feel restricted in Malaysia and would eventually miss greater liberty that I had enjoyed in the US. Nearly two months later, I still stand by that statement firmly.

One of the favorite publications is the National Geographic Magazine and my father subscribes to it. So, that basically means I get to read it for free. The magazine offers great articles with exhilarating photos from all over the world. Reading National Geographic sort of satifies part of my hunger. Unfortunately, today, that hunger turns into anger – the August issue has been censored. To be precise, the Zip USA section. I have a photo to prove it:

Other copies have also been “sanitized“. Another shot to prove my words:

Perhaps, the censoring process is the reason why the August issue only reached my home just today – late in the month – instead of the time it should have had, which is way doggone earlier.This is outrageous. While it is a picture of a naked person, whoever that ordered the censorship has no right to say what I – and truly we – can enjoy and what I can’t enjoy. I can think for myself and even if I were aroused by the picture, of which would be ridiculous, nobody has the right stop me from being excited. To make things worse, National Geographic is not even pornography.

It gets even worse when it gets to television. Sometimes, the censorship is so heavy that you couldn’t possibly make sense of a show. Alright, I’m exaggerating but the fact is most of the times, all those censored words are not meant to be expletives.

Hey, what are they saying?

They are saying “fuck fuck fuck, fuck fuck fuck fuck, bitch”.

Oh.

In truth, for instance, it’s a documentary about snails and the actual words go, “snails are bisexual”. The word bisexual is censored.

This just drives me nut. There might be subtitles but most of the times I find the translators responsible for subbing failed to accurately translate one language into another. And you can say goodbye to good comedy due to censorship. I mean, who would watch a comedy by reading subtitle?

And what good is a classification system if everything is censored?

The reason for classification in the first place is to tell viewers what they should expect from a show. There is no need for classification if everything is censored. Any classification system would be a farce if a program rated as matured content is censored and practically being transformed into “suitable for general viewing”.

Those that directed these censorships think consumers are stupid. I feel insulted by this. You should too.

If I were a true fan of George W. Bush, I’d already commit a either-you’re-with-us-or-you’re-against-us kind of fallacy – either you believe they are wrong, or you agree with those censorship zealots that you’re stupid.

Heh, imagine if PAS rules Malaysia…

p/s – racist UMNO MP in the Parliament. Keep this in mind the next time you vote. The saddest thing is, MP of Jerai clearly violated a rule but got away just because he is on the side of the majority. This is what we call tryanny of the majority. (via)