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In Reply to: censorship posted by susie on August 04, 2004 at 00:31:16:
I tried speaking up, susie, (see my post below re The Manchurian Candidate) but no one replied. I understand the reasons given for the ban by the coordinators, which is why I was careful not to criticize or undermine their decision. Instead, I was trying to point out the difficulties that can arise when censorship is imposed. Perhaps that film is an exception, perhaps not, but it can be very difficult to determine where to draw the line when attempting to censor speech. The subject of mind control is extremely relevant to ex-cult members. The film is very provocative in that regard, and I think worth discussing. Yet, as I pointed out, I don't see how you could separate that subject from the other main subject of the film, current U.S. politics. Anyone who has seen just the trailer for the film will understand what I mean. John Voight's character, a senator, says: "They [a corporate entity] want you to be the first fully owned and operated vice-president of the U.S.". The film-makers claim they did not intend to make any comparisons to Dick Cheney, former chief-executive of Halliburton.
Given the prohibition against political discussions, even this post may be viewed as a violation of the ban, which just emphasises my point. Btw, I recall that several months ago one of the coordinators expressed eagerness over the pending release of the film. Surely, I'm not the only one here who was interested to see the film, and so the silence around this is puzzling to me. Perhaps people are just waiting to see the film before commenting. Or maybe it's just the holiday season and no one's around. But in the hyper-sensitive stage I'm in right now, I can't help wonder if there's more to it than that. Especially given the fact that a few people I "met" through this site and communicated privately with stopped once I revealed my religious and/or political views.
