Why is YouTube Censoring the word, "r**e"?
I’ve been trying to wrap my head around a new and unusual phenomenon, youtube is censoring the word, “rape”.
I already have a problem with the Orwellian act of removing words from our vocabulary, but who in their right mind made the decision to remove the word, “rape”?
In trying to find answers, I made the usual attempt at online research, other than a few perspectives from a small handful of people, very little was found on the subject.
There was certainly no official statement from youtube.
The first explanation was, “YouTube won’t pay video creators who use slurs or cover certain topics and creators want to get paid.”
But that’s not a reason, it's a consequence; people are simply doing what they need to do to protect their careers, and in this case, their careers depend on following a list of forbidden words.
“Advertisers don't want to see their products sandwiched between words like that.” was next.
Let’s not be confused, advertisers have the right to refrain from advertising on videos that cover subjects they don’t like, but they certainly don’t have the right to censor the public in order to more comfortably display their ads. Not to mention that this implies that censorship is, corporately financed. But that’s a subject for another article.
In all of the comments I found, there were only two that caught my attention. I don’t believe either of them are the actual reasons, but they’re the only ones that might be considered, ‘viable’ justifications.
The first was, “It's traumatizing for some people”
and the second, “…there are places like support groups where the admins are charged with keeping the place emotionally safe for all participants.”
And it’s these two statements that helped me pinpoint the exact problem I have with modern-day, politicized, ideology…
First: Since when has the emotional well-being of one segment of the population become the enforced responsibility of the whole?
And second: who’s made the decision as to which group's emotional ‘stability’ takes precedence over all the rest?
In my research I found something even more troubling, complaints by actual rape victims who’s videos were taken down, by youtube, for using the very word reserved for the heinous act they’ve had to endure.
What should they have said instead… “I’m a non-consensual-violent-sexual-act victim”?
There's a word for that, it's, rape.
And that word is how we identify, bring awareness to, and attempt to prevent this unacceptable act.
I stumbled on an online discussion once where the analogy of a broken plate was used to describe the result of emotional trauma.
The conclusion reached was that even when glued back together, those repairs will always be there, and that plate will never be whole again.
They are absolutely correct, that plate will never be whole again, however, there’s one important detail they failed to acknowledge, each and every single one of us is a broken plate.
No one has ever managed to get through life without breaking.
Ever.
In fact, may I suggest that the very act of growing within a family, a community, a city, or a country, could be defined as a constant breaking, and re-gluing, of that fragile plate.
It’s how we mature, it’s how our personalities are formed, it’s how our characters are strengthened and it’s what every single living being on this earth has to endure.
The roots of a tree battle thick earth to reach their destination, they don’t glide down on rainbows surrounded by butterflies.
But it’s only because of this struggle that it’s able to withstand a typhoon.
And how deep those roots go is directly proportional to how strong a wind it can take.
There are horrific acts people have perpetrated on one another and the resulting trauma is tragic and deeply heart-breaking. But I guarantee you that you are surrounded by people who are way more broken than you.
You don’t get to enforce that they be obligated to put your pieces back together again.
You don’t go to a bar and forbid the bartender from serving drinks for the duration of your stay because you’re struggling with alcoholism, there are people there who can actually enjoy a drink without compulsively finishing the whole bottle.
Perhaps you’re going to the wrong places?
Since my father died, listening to the songs we enjoyed together has become a painful experience for me. I skip ahead any time one of them comes on. Demanding that youtube censor those songs, so that I can more comfortably surf their platform, is simply unacceptable.
You have the right to place yourself in an environment which feels safe for you, what you don’t have the right to do however, is impose your ‘safe-environment’ onto all of society; onto people who have different traumas, and who are in need of a completely different safe-environment than you.
The Japanese art of, ‘Kinsumi’, is the act of breaking clay pottery then gluing it back together again using solid gold.
A repaired vase is not a pretty thing to look at, but line up 100 Kinsumi vases and your attention will be fixated on where they’ve been broken and put back together again, it’s where they’re most beautiful.
No different than people who have gone through hell and have returned to tell us about it.
They don’t inspire us because they’ve never been broken, they inspire us because through endurance, painful self-reflection and triumph over injury they were able to put themselves back together again. Still scarred, but whole again.
Stronger, and more beautiful, at the points where they’ve been broken.
It’s their stories that sell books and fill theaters, not the finger-pointers who blame everyone around them.
In the more lucid days of the Greek Philosophers, painful introspection was not only a suggestion, it was a moral obligation. It’s why they came up with the phrase, “ Know Thyself ”, and it’s why that phrase endures to this day.
Tell you what, find those who love you and want to be there for you, depend on one another, help each other, but don’t demand that everyone around you walks your path.
The onus is solely on you to take the steps necessary to become functional again, because you’re the only one who can see the steps you need to take.
And those exact steps don’t apply to anybody else.
Try this instead, walk your hard and solitary road …and send out a helpful hand to those you find on your path…I’ll be glad to do the same, while I’m walking on mine.
You’ll be surprised to find, most people will.
Six thousand years ago, a mythical Sumerian woman by the name of, Inanna, traveled to the underworld.
And it was a difficult journey.
Through each of the seven gates, not only was she forced to give up an item of her clothing, but the gates got lower and narrower, until at the last gate, Inanna was naked and crawling on her stomach.
When she finally reached the core of the earth, she was killed and nailed to a wall, only to rise from the dead three days later. And, like a phoenix, she rose back to the earth, stronger than she ever was before.
It’s the noble, higher purpose of every human being to crawl through their dark places, naked, and on their stomachs; and it’s the noble, higher purpose of every human being, to then rise above them.
It’s the only reason given as to why Inanna became a goddess.
Passing the blame on the other hand is not a reason for becoming a god or a goddess, it’s a lack of emotional maturity and a denial of your ethical responsibility to better yourself, not just for your own benefit, but for the benefit of everyone around you.
For society as a whole.
And now I feel obligated to shed some light on the one detail no one seems to mention when discussing the subject of rape, and that is this, the vast majority of rape-victims are children.
Go tell a deeply traumatized child they’re not allowed to use the very word reserved for the horrific act they’ve had to endure.
Or perhaps censor it so they’re not even aware that it’s wrong.
Maybe you should look into the powerful, lobbying organization NAMBLA and see what their goals are, then take some time to research who’s involved, what they’re up to and who’s financing them.
Are you sure, that by removing the word “rape” from our vocabulary, we’re not helping organizations like this? Because it sure seems to me like we are.
Should we censor the word, “pedophilia” next? Rumor has it, that’s exactly what they’re trying to do.
At the end of the day, society has not given the authority to youtube or any other corporate entity to remove words from our vocabulary. Not to mention full vetoing power as to which words should be removed.
Was anyone informed that this subject was even up for debate? I didn’t see any notifications anywhere.
And where’s the report on the people who were in charge?
In an act as ethical and as important as this, one which affects every segment of our population, not only should we have been involved in the decision-making process, youtube should have been forced to listen.
I said it two articles ago and I’ll say it again, “Welcome, to the Ministry of Truth”.
It’s even more diabolical than we thought.
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I had no idea about this until today . I don't think anyone who has been raped wants the word to be censored, this seems like a choice to honestly just make us stop talking about it and make rape victims or people who care shut up about it. Infuriating