John Stuart Mills and David Miller

In their respective works, John Stuart Mills and David Miller offer contrasting perspectives on this issue of content restrictions on Canadian television. Mills' work, On Liberty, celebrates the principle of freedom and individuality. On the other hand, Miller's work, On Nationality, highlights the importance of protecting national culture, even at the expense of individual liberties. Thus, Mills would regard the requirement that Canadian broadcasters restrict their amount of foreign programs to 65 percent as a gross invasion of individual freedom. In contrast, Miller would agree that this regulation is necessary to prevent further erosion of the Canadian culture through American programming.

The basic premise of Mills' position is that individuals should have the freedom to think and act as they wish, as long as they do not hurt others. Society has no other right to intervene with the activities of individuals: "His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant� Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign" (9). In its effort to regulate television content, the Canadian government has infringed on the liberties of three groups of individuals: 1) Sellers of American programs, 2) Canadian broadcasters who purchase programs and 3) Canadian consumers of television programs.

First, Miller would argue that the principle of free trade between the sellers and the buyers is violated. In his opinion, the market is an ideal mechanism for r

Related Essays

John Stuart Mill and David Duke John Stuart Mill was not an absolute libertarian. .... According to Mills, "The peculiar evil of silencing .... The speech of David Duke, one-time Klansman and American .... (280 1 )

JOHN STUART MILL .... on the writings of Adam Smith and David Ricardo .... Mills concluded that the skilled classes were not just .... Some of the impact of John Stuart Mill resulted from his .... (3736 15 )

History of Women's Rights .... become operatives in shops and mills," and in .... From 1867, when John Stuart Mill petitioned Parliament for .... and politics--among them philosopher John Dewey, actor .... (6448 26 )

Network Radio, TV, Dragnet & NYPD .... Blue]- cops who could easily pass for John Le Carre's .... DeLuca, Stuart M. Television's Transformation: The Next 25 Years. .... Fornatale, Peter and Joshua E. Mills. .... (2237 9 )

Expressive Individualism in America .... narratives of white and black women on the line at the mills tighten realities .... New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1980. .... Olson, James Stuart, and Roberts, Randy .... (5294 21 )

heir nation confronts an external aggressor that threatens the existence of their nationhood. Essentially, an individual's loyalty to their nation contributes to the nation's capacity to provide security for its people to pursue their life (Miller 165). The state's regulation of television contents in order to ensure the adequate inclusion of Canadian programs is extremely important in the contemporary society. With the decrease in the face-to-face contact between people from all walks of life and the increasingly pervasive presence of the electronic mass media, individuals of a nation are increasingly dependent on television as a means of transmitting information about their society and the world (Miller 87). The Canadian producers of shows with Canadian content are one of the key instruments for presenting the Canadian national culture. Canadian producers who are not able to compete successfully with American producers risk being shut out of the market without state regulation. Thus, their existence should be protected from the unfair encroachment of the American culture that has come to dominate the global market. Although liberalists believe that this archaic nationalist perspective should be replaced by cultural pluralism,

Category: Government - J