Discussion Module 7

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School

Louisiana State University *

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4471

Subject

Law

Date

Jan 9, 2024

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docx

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1

Uploaded by CoachAntelopePerson1868

In the recent years, there has been an unprecedented increase in book challenges and restrictions across libraries throughout the United States, 1,269 in 2022 being the highest number of attempted challenges since the ALA began collecting censorship data 20 years ago. (ALA.org). The litany of motivations for individuals to challenge access to a book include vulgar, explicit or potentially traumatizing content or simple disagreements in message of either the book or the author. Content including political viewpoints, sexual education and identities, religious and cultural expression, and many books on the teaching of race and racism have frequently been the target of challenges in the past 3 years. (ALA.org) In fact, there have been 1,500 and counting books banned in the past year across 26 states affecting over 2 million students (Soken-Huberty, 2022). Arguments on both sides of the issue center around the exposure of children to such powerful and perhaps inappropriate content in such a nascent and vulnerable formative period, with some claiming exposure is a critical component of building one’s identity and others citing these books as malicious attempts to indoctrinate children through implicit messages within literature. Critical legal studies would likely take a cynical view of the authorities restricting what manner or medium of information that teens and pre-teens are allowed access to within their educational institutions. This would potentially stand in contention with liberalist legal doctrine’s more formalist allowance of personal, ideological and political influence within the judicial process concerning the legitimacy of these books. One could speculate as to what course CLS would take in addressing the efforts of state and personal entities engaging in the restriction of information in the name of preservation of a set of moral, religious, and/or sociopolitical beliefs, in all likelihood a wholly disparaging characterization as use of law to secure social and political control. Liberal legal doctrine may view the restriction or challenging of these titles as an ironic exercise of personal freedoms of groups of people in the age of majority in order to protect themselves and their communities from what they see as destructive, contrarian and incendiary works aimed at seeding the minds of their children. In either viewpoint the cases made are of utmost importance to both sides of the argument and the best course forward is unlikely a quick or simple solution. Anon. 2021. “Book Bans and Their Impact on Young People and Society.” ADL. Retrieved May 4, 2023 ( https://www.adl.org/resources/tools-and-strategies/book-bans-and-their-impact-young- people-and-society?gclid=Cj0KCQjwr82iBhCuARIsAO0EAZwbxlisar4zuZmb- rKIh7SpvrxXlR9T2ZPDhViJ3VL7j08tVtbJFz4aAj5WEALw_wcB). Anon. 2022. “Critical Legal Theory.” Legal Information Institute . Retrieved May 4, 2023 (https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/critical_legal_theory#:~:text=Critical%20legal %20studies%20(CLS)%20is,those%20who%20create%20the%20law.). Collis (2023) Censorship by the numbers , Advocacy, Legislation & Issues . Available at: https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/by-the-numbers (Accessed: May 4, 2023). Soken-Huberty, Emmaline. 2022. “10 Examples of Social Issues in the US.” Human Rights Careers. Retrieved May 4, 2023 ( https://www.humanrightscareers.com/issues/examples-of-social-issues- in-the-us/).
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