What is censorship? That might be hard to explain. For every person a “word” can mean many things. Yet at the same time can have a similar overall idea. Take these two examples of the definition censorship. The American Civil Liberties Union claims that it means the suppression of words, images, or ideas that are "offensive." The Global Internet Liberty Campaign states it is the control of the information and ideas circulated within a society. Just by these two definitions alone you can find similarities and differences in their meaning.
Censorship comes in many forms, but I find that books are the most targeted. The reason that is-is that it is the purest form of knowledge. Now you could argue that speech would be that. It is true that speech was here before written word, but speech can be manipulated, especially in this day of age. Books, however, transient all lies, biasness, and distortions. Though to be fair, there are those who try, and sadly exceed. There have been over four-hundred formal attempts to remove books from our libraries and schools every year. Captain Underpants, Tango Makes Three, and Scary Stories are just some of the most demanded children books to be removed over the years.
But why do the masses allow to be controlled by a selective few? That is a complicated answer, and it based on individual reasons.But you can generalize it with the idea that pro-censorship groups use ignorance by influence. All you have to do is get a general stimulus, like well like actor or expert, and then have that stimulus use your unawareness to push their agenda. If you like or trust someone enough, you tend to believe it, and quickly spread that information to the next person and so on. You would think that anyone could see t...
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...eedoms and of course, that irreplaceable knowledge.
Works Cited
Beck, Frank. "What Should Our Children Read?" Lion and the Unicorn 13.1 (1989): 151-57. Project MUSE. Web. 27 Oct. 2013.
Chapman, Diane. "Defense Tactics: Combating Censorship." Children's Literature Association Quarterly 9.2 (1984): 76-81. Project MUSE. Web. 27 Oct. 2013.
Grinberg, Emanuella. "Banned Books Week: 'Captain Underpants' Tops List of Challenged Books." CNN. Cable News Network, 24 Sept. 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
Hentoff, Nat. The Day They Came to Arrest the Book: A Novel. New York: Delacorte, 1982. Print.
McClure, Amy A. "Limiting the Right to Choose: Censorship of Children's Reading." Children's Literature Association Quarterly 7.1 (1982): 39-41. Project MUSE. Web. 27 Oct. 2013.
Saunders, Keven. "Censorship for Children?” American Journalism Review. Apr.-May 2004. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
In the article censorship: a personal view by Judy bulme she discusses and touches on censorship in literature in children and young adolescence books. Now in article there are a lot of possible exigencies listed threw out the article one of the main exigencies is that Judy bulme has personal experience with censorship as a little girl, with that personal account she has familiarity that compels and gives her credibility to write this article. With exigencie their also comes a purpose bulme’s purpose in the article is trying to convince parents that you should not coddle a young teen or an adolescent from literature that may not be suitable for them, but let their mind wonder and explain it after they read it. Also she communicates that censorship
Aliprandini, Michael Sprague, Carolyn. "Banning Books: An Overview." Points Of View: Banning Books (2013): 1. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
"Book Banning." Current Issues: Macmillian Social Science Library. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 31 Jan. 2011.
Trelease, Jim. "Book Banning Violates Children and Young Adult Freedoms." Book Banning. Ed. Ronnie D. Lankford. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. At Issue. Rpt. from "Censorship and Children's Books." Trelease-on-Reading.com. 2006.Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
Banning Books “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.
Book banning is a prime target for censorship. Censorship in print media, notably book banning, occurs across homes, schools, stores, and other facilities daily. Censorship in the schools is the most widespread and exposed place for book banning. Do administrators and school boards have the right to ban books? Are we taking away the rights of children to read? In case of Island Trees Schools District V. Pico in New York, the Supreme Court gave the school board broad discretion to frame curriculum and teach civic and moral values. This case resulted in the school board removing ten books from the school library for being "anti-american, anti-christian, anti-semitic, and just plain filthy." Another case involving book banning was Hazelwood School District V. Kuhlmeier. In this case the Supreme Court again gave school officials the broad discretion to control curriculum. This time the court left open the question if this affects the school libraries. In Olathe, Kansas, the district's superintendent made the decision to remove all copies of Nancy Gardner's Annie On My Mind because of it imposing views for gay actions. This standpoint resulted in a public book burning by a homophobic community group. At Hempfield High School in Western Penn...
Simmons, John S., and Eliza T. Dresang. School Censorship in the 21st Century: a Guide for Teachers and School Library Media Specialists. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 2001. Print.
We live in an overprotective society, where people try to control other people’s lives from things that they find explicit. Many parents believe that by sheltering their kids from offensive things it will keep them safe. But, trying to live life as if there is always sunshine and no rain turns out to be a big disappointment. The banning of books has a negative effect on children and adults alike, as it can shelter children from real life situations, and revokes the rights of the people. Although people believe in banning books that contain vulgar language and profanity to help their children, it can actually hurt the child and can be considered unconstitutional.
Issues of censorship in public schools are contests between the exercise of discretion and the exercise of a Constitutional right. The law must reconcile conflicting claims of liberty and authority, as expressed by Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter in Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 1940 in “Banned in the U.S.A.: A Reference Guide to Book Censorship in Schools and Public Libraries” by Herbert N. Foerstel (23).
Censorship has been a big part of the world’s history and especially America’s history. One of the most quoted amendments to the United States constitution is the first amendment; “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ...” This amendment guaranteeing free speech, press, and religion is still heavily debated and contested today. Censorship, as a challenge to free speech and press has been allowed many times and has been heavily debated itself. Many people censor for many different reasons and in many different forms. Censorship itself is not always a bad thing and has in some cases been used for protection of the general population.
Censorship is the practice of concealing parts of a book, movie, show, or any other form of media. Media can be censored in many ways; one of these is to block out the offensive sections of the content. This is generally done when the content of said media is not considered overall offensive or inappropriate but has derogatory and/or blasphemous language. Another way Media can be censored is to have it banned completely. For a book to be banned, it must first be challenged. According the American Library Association, a challenge “is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group.” The question over censorship has been debated for years: Should we be allowed to ban Medias we deem unfit and/or inappropriate from our children?
Books like The Chocolate War, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and Of Mice and Men have been placed on the controversial bookshelf of many school libraries.
What is censorship? According the American Civil Liberties Union, censorship is defined as “the suppression of words, images, or ideas that are "offensive."” This is a very broad definition because any part of anything put out for the world, while you may not be offended by it, someone around you may. Instead of just ignoring the words or the images, many people try to force their ideas and beliefs on others. This falls into the “If I don’t like what I see, then no one can see it” category. This is the same for books. Certain people found the Harry Potter books, for example, offensive and wanted them banned because they allegedly promoted witchcraft and the devil. They were unsuccessful in getting them banned, but it just shows how groups of people wish to stifle creativity and art simply because they do not like it for whatever reason. (Index On Censorship) Many people think censorship currently is a good thing because it stifles others as to not offend the status quo. I would like to enlighten others by showing that having free flowing of ideas and opinions is what makes our country great.
Coatney, Sharon. "Banned Books: A School Librarian's Perspective." Time. Time Inc., 22 Sept. 2000. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
Retrieved December 2, 2002 from Lexis-Nexis/Academic database. This article addresses some of the reasons that censors attempt to remove books from the curriculum: Many censors feel that works are not age appropriate for students. Staff, Wire Reports. (2002 October 3). Book banning spans the globe.