After reading “The Betrayal of History”, I realized that a lot of things that I was taught as a kid about the history of the U.S. was manipulated. This article talked in earnest about how the history of this great country has been reduced, exaggerated and transformed to suit certain interest groups. It amazes me that the publishing companies are only interested in making money rather than print true historical happenings The first thing that caught my attention was knowing that pressure groups such as the religious rights and the multicultural left could dedicate to the publishers what should and should not be written in text books. And in trying to satisfy them both these publishers had to privately solicit the view of various pressure groups
His readers now see his perspective and why books should not be banned. It is clear the Conroy used the rhetorical devices in a planned way. This allowed him to create a letter designed to persuade the readers in a way that appealed to their emotions. He used positive and negative diction, positive and negative imagery, and conjunctions in a way that would grab the reader's’ attention leading them to believe banning books is ultimately censoring students from the harsh realities that the world has to offer. This is leaving them censored and ignorant to the truth of the
Tindall, George, and David Shi. America: A Narrative History. Ed. 9, Vol. 1. New York: WW. Norton & Company, 2013. 185,193. Print.
James Loewen wrote the book ?Lies My Teacher Told ME? to help the students of the United States become aware of their true history. This book attempts to show how and why American history has been taught the way it has without regard for the truth. Mr. Loewen had compared twelve different history textbooks they are: The Great Republic, The American Way, Land of Promise, Rise of the American Nation, Challenge of Freedom, American Adventures, Discovering American History, The American Tradition, Life and Liberty, The United States ? A History of the Republic, Triumph of the American Nation and The American Pageant. Loewen has argued his cases for Heroification, Euorcentrism and the first settlers, and Racism in our history. He has done this knowing fully that most people do not want to know the harsh realities of our nations past. The United States has tried to maintain a positive image throughout history. Unfortunately, it has many skeletons in its closet that need to come out to heal this great nation on many levels. If the public at large new the real role of racism in our nations infancy and how men tried to pursue their way of thinking as opposed to what is good for the country they would be ashamed at what the United States has stood for in the past.
Imagine a world of uniformity. All people look the same, act the same, and love the same things. There are no original thoughts and no opposing viewpoints. This sort of world is not far from reality. Uniformity in modern day society is caused by the banning of books. The novel "Fahrenheit 451" illustrates a future in which the banning of books has risen to the extent that no books are allowed. The novel follows the social and moral implications of an over censored society. Even though the plot may seem far-fetched, themes from this book are still relevant today. Although some people believe that banning a book is necessary to defend their religion, the negative effects caused by censorship and the redaction of individual thought are reasons why books such as "Fahrenheit 451" should not be banned.
Wall, James M. "An Ominous Threat to Books." Speak Out Against the New Right. Ed. Herbert F. Vetter. Boston: Beacon Press, 1982.
America is a nation that is often glorified in textbooks as a nation of freedom, yet history shows a different, more radical viewpoint. In Howard Zinn’s A People's History of the United States, we take a look at American history through a different lens, one that is not focused on over glorifying our history, but giving us history through the eyes of the people. “This is a nation of inconsistencies”, as so eloquently put by Mary Elizabeth Lease highlights a nation of people who exploited and sought to keep down those who they saw as inferior, reminding us of more than just one view on a nation’s history, especially from people and a gender who have not had an easy ride.
“It’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written, the books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers” (Blume 1999). Judy Blume can not explain the problem of book censorship any clearer. The children are the real losers because they are the ones that are not able to read the classic works of literature which are the backbone of classroom discussions all across the United States.
Something else that must be mentioned in order to understand the evils of school censorship are facts censors ignore; the first being literary quality. When they chose to censor a book they do not take into account the educational value of the book. How can one say a book does not belong in schools if they do not know what lessons it teaches? The second key element ignored is the manner in which teachers lead students to interact with texts. They g...
Literature often covers real-world controversial topics such as “multiculturalism, sex-role stereotyping, religious tolerance, and racism” (Blair 1998, pg. 57). While these topics may not want to be approached by certain teachers, the students are still confronted with them on a daily basis. The teacher as a mentor in the students’ life should help the student learn how to properly deal with real-world issues in a safe environment, one way of safely approaching this topic is through Literature.
The audience of this text would best veer toward passionate readers that read books on a daily basis. According to
America loves it’s ancient documents. Whether it be The Constitution or The Declaration Independence, a politician can proclaim that these documents that are more than 200 years old are still efficient documents that the government should stringently obey. Regardless of how obsolete these documents may become, they seem to still hold immense power in American politics. Perhaps we continue to venerate these seemingly obsolete documents they provide comfort in any of America 's foreign endeavors. The Declaration of Independence can be used as justification in many of America 's seemingly heinous actions. America’s foreign policy has consisted of the most calculating and deliberate acts of genocide in World history. Multiple instances of America’s
Siegel, Jason. "The Plot Against America: Philip Roth’s Counter-Plot to American History." Oxford University Press (2012): 130-51. Project MUSE. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
...the way they were written rather than changing them. How all of this relates censorship and suppression of ideas is because when you censor books and your ideas you controlled and suppressed. You conform because you don’t think and that is why the biggest themes in the book are censorship and conformity because when the two things censorship and suppression are combined you are scared, dumb and have no sources to change other than pure hearts and a bunch of Montags and Clarisse’s and Faber’s.
An abounding amount of classic titles is being removed from teaching criteria and school libraries in fear of vexing someone. “Many professional educational organizations and individual school systems have articulated the principles that should ideally govern selection and retention of materials.” (NCAC) The guidelines for removing these books from the school are typically for obtaining abhorrent material.
Education was always thought to be a vital tool to all people, but in today’s world many consider it a way for the evils of the world to tant the young. This of course is known as the “Banned Books” debate. One side that believes books should be limited to prevent the children to be exposed to information that they believe to be inappropriate. And the other that believes in the total opposite and continues to point out the importance of the primary focus of literature, in which is education. Overall what makes this debate so difficult is the fact of what makes literature so valuable to the future generations, in being: at the end of the day education is a natural right given to every American citizen, they provide valuable lessons, and of course