Stop Literary Censorship

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Recommended: Censorship in modern society

Stop Literary Censorship

Censorship is becoming more and more common all over the world today. The online Encarta Encyclopedia defines censorship as, "supervision and control of the information and ideas that are circulated among the people within a society. In modern times, censorship refers to the examination of books...for the purpose of altering or suppressing parts thought to be objectionable or offensive." Henry Reichman from the Education World website defines it as, "the removal, suppression, or restricted circulation of literary, artistic, or educational materials . . . on the grounds that these are morally or otherwise objectionable in light of the standards applied by the censor" (Cromwell). Definitions aside, great literature is being banned by many people for a number of reasons and shouldn't be.

The First Amendment to the Constitution states that:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances (Daniels 9-10). This means freedom. . .freedom for whatever reasons, but it's freedom. People are trying to take the freedom of choosing, choosing what books we each want to read, away.

Stephen Gottlieb states that, "censors tend to fall into three groups: 1) Parents who hear about or see material that troubles them; 2) Community members or parents who react to a book without having read it; and 3) Local, state, and national organizations, some of which have specific lists of titles which they consider objectionable." Encarta En...

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2002. http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr031.shtml.

Daniels, Walter M., ed. The Censorship of Books. New York: The H.W. Wilson

Company, 1954.

Dunne, Diane. "Challenges are Widespread." Education World. 20 February 2002.

http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin157.shtml.

ENCARTA Encyclopedia. 18 February 2002.

http://encarta.msn.com/index/conciseindex/1F/01f74000.htm?z=1.

Gottlieb, Stephen S. "The Right to Read: Censorship in the School Library." 10 February

2002. http://www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec/ieo/digests/d53.html.

Staples, Suzanne Fisher. "What Johnny Can't Read: Censorship in American Libraries."

Jersey City State College. 20 February 2002.

http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/winter96/pubCONN.html.

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