Category Archives: Censorship

BEIRUT, Lebanon At the entrance to the March Lebanon office in Beirut there is a well-stocked bookshelf. Its contents include classics like "Of Mice and Men," "The Diary of Anne Frank," "The Da Vinci Code," "Sophies Choice" and the slightly less classy "Little Book of Big Penis."

Crack the covers and youll realize this isnt any ordinary book collection. The pages are all blank. The Lebanese government has banned them. Turn it over and you might be surprised to read why. The reasons range from homosexual references and politics to religion and vague connection to things Jewish.

On an adjacent shelf sits an eclectic CD collection including Frank Sinatra (Banned: Zionist tendencies), Lady Gaga (Banned: Offensive to Christianity), The Buddha Bar Compilation (Banned: Religion) and Bad Religion (Banned: Offensive name).

March, a Lebanese NGO and the owners of this bizarre collection, have been documenting these obscure and arbitrary censorship practices in Lebanon via their Virtual Museum of Censorship since the group was founded in 2011. To describe their findings as bizarre would be an understatement.

1. "Puss in Boots" Censored Reason: Obscene and immoral. The name "Puss in Boots" was changed to "Cat in Boots" for Lebanese audiences /2. Nirvana Banned Reason: witchcraft, Satanic. While every Nirvana album has been banned in Lebanon, the Nirvana best-of collection strangely passed inspection. /3. "Nutty Professor" Seized during a security services raid on the Beirut Virgin Megastore along with numerous other movies because the films "undermined religions, contravened good morals and Israeli boycott laws, or included texts inciting young people to commit suicide". /4. "The Nanny" Banned Reason: Jewish.

The laws of censorship are so vague that it allows the people in charge to censor anything they want, said Lea Baroudi, a founding member and general coordinator of March. And what worries me is that I think it is getting worse.

Baroudi said many of the inconsistences exist because there is no centralized censorship body. Various ministries, commissions and general security can all legally ban material while religious authorities, political parties and even foreign embassies wield their influence on censorship decisions.

Criteria for censorship listed in one of March's publications seem unhelpfully broad:

- Offensive to the sensitivities of the public

Link:
Why Lebanon censors Frank Sinatra, Puss in Boots, and The West Wing

#indexawards2014 Advocacy Nominee: Shahzad Ahmad
Shahzad Ahmad leads the fight against online censorship in Pakistan. He has sued the Pakistani government over their suspected use of surveillance software, ...

By: Index on Censorship

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#indexawards2014 Advocacy Nominee: Shahzad Ahmad - Video

Rant - Censorship (Skype, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and Harvest Moon: A New Beginning)
Censorship has been an issue for some time now, but just recently, Skype has added censorship where they dont let you say anything bad about DRM. DRM (Digita...

By: brandi myers

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Rant - Censorship (Skype, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and Harvest Moon: A New Beginning) - Video

Uncensored Censorship - Tangled

By: Evil Ice Cream Pictures

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Uncensored Censorship - Tangled - Video

Unnecessary Censorship - Care Kids Commercial
Unnecessary Censorship - Care Kids Commercial.

By: Joe Cappiello

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Unnecessary Censorship - Care Kids Commercial - Video

Left For Dead 2 - Unnecessary Censorship Edition
Unnecessary censorship.. in L4D2!

By: TheMakkaraMan

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Left For Dead 2 - Unnecessary Censorship Edition - Video

You Tube Caught RED HANDED Stealing Truth! REAL TRUTH Exists Beyond the Censorship Veil
You can #39;t shut this channel down because of shocking content (and we promote LOVE not violence), so now you try by stealing views? 10000 DOES NOT equal 700....

By: Enterthe5t4rz

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You Tube Caught RED HANDED Stealing Truth! REAL TRUTH Exists Beyond the Censorship Veil - Video

Fukushima Day 1086 Fukushima Liars EXPOSED + The Kevin D Blanch Censorship Treatment
More INFO Donation http://www.connectingdots1.com/viewtopic.php?f=0 t=1577 Fukushima News: http://www.connectingdots1.com/ Massive die-off of oysters and s...

By: connectingdots3

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Fukushima Day 1086 Fukushima Liars EXPOSED + The Kevin D Blanch Censorship Treatment - Video

Fukushima Day 1086 Fukushima Liars EXPOSED + The Kevin D Blanch Royal Censorship Treatment!
More INFO Donation http://www.connectingdots1.com/viewtopic.php?f=0 t=1577 Fukushima News: http://www.connectingdots1.com/ Massive die-off of oysters and s...

By: connectingdots2

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Fukushima Day 1086 Fukushima Liars EXPOSED + The Kevin D Blanch Royal Censorship Treatment! - Video

Thats right, Americans and Canadians, this is content that wont be in your version of South Park. The humorous screen below takes the place of material censored from the European version of the title.

We recently reported on the censorship of the console versions of South Park: The Stick of Truth. The versions releasing this week in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Australia will (in varying degrees based on territory) be missing minigames and scenes related to alien anal probes.

Ubisoft commented that this was a "market decision." South Park: The Stick of Truth will be out tomorrow for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

[Source: Reddit via Joystiq]

Our TakeThis form of censorship acknowledgement is respectful of the audience. Its clear that South Park fans want this kind of humor, and giving them something amusing in place of content that might not be acceptable in those territories is better than simply leaving a hole where the material was.

Go here to see the original:
You Wont See This South Park Censorship Screen In North American Versions