Censorship Essay

Although we, as citizens of this country, are guaranteed freedom of speech and press by the first amendment, we are encouraged to “watch what we say”. In order to avoid unnecessary violence and to keep people from being offended, it is recommended the certain things be censored. While many may look at this censorship as a well-needed percussion it can reversely be seen as going against one's first amendment rights, in itself causing controversy.

There has recently been a renewed interest and passion in the issue of censorship. In the realm of the censorship of books in schools alone, several hundred cases have surfaced each year for nearly the past decade. Controversies over which books to include in the high school English curriculum present a clash of values between teachers, school systems, and parents over what is appropriate for and meaningful to students. It is important to strike a balance between English that is meaningful to students by relating to their lives and representing diversity and satisfying worries about the appropriateness of what is read. This burden often falls on teachers. The purpose of this research paper is to discuss

Book censorship today in America isn’t quite as drastic as that, but still is reflecting the same concepts. I remember in junior high school when we would have banned book week. This was where the school celebrated having the right to read censored and banned books. Written word is one of the most important aspects of free speech. In no circumstance whatsoever, should any piece of writing be censored. Writing thoughts and ideas and whatever else comes into someone’s mind has been a practice of humans ever since historians know that man existed. Telling people what they can and cannot read is an invasion of not only the reader’s rights, but the author’s as well. If someone doesn’t like what an author of a piece of literature has to say then that person has a right not to read it, or better yet form their own opinion and write about that. Book banning is and ungodly practice and the people of this world should learn from the mistakes of the past and not allow the censorship of written material. The only opposition that I can find to the censorship of books would be taking the same mindset on the topic as the Nazis did when they burned all of the Jew’s books. Trying to wipe out an entire race or group of people’s ideas and beliefs should never be done anywhere for any reason.

Censorship has been a big topic in America since the birth of its modern government. There are things that go on around the world that the media would never show its American viewers. This has also been seen in places like the military, where if a soldier were to send a letter back home, he or she can not disclose information such as their location. While it is a way to protect the American people from potential threats, it also restricts our freedom of speech. Everyone has the right to speak his or her mind; whether you agree with an idea or not is always a conscious choice. An

Censorship has evolved over time in America, from TV, books, and even the internet. America has prohibited specific things from citizen’s beliefs. The role that censorship plays in America is taken from personal beliefs, such as voting for certain things to be banned from books, TV, internet, and articles. This allows and denies things that are used for public use, due to personal preferences on things that are appropriate and inappropriate for public users.

Political figures control society and the perspective of others. The perspective of others is important to the government that's basically the reason why they censor it. The government has been enforcing censorship on things that could harm society. They do this in order for people not to realize what is happening in civilization. Some of the restrictions that the government enforce are necessary because they do not want our nation to view the improper behavior. In Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag has never questioned his job until Clarisse McClellan has opened his mind. Montag later questions his job and his doing of burning books. No one ever questions what the government hides from the nation everyone goes along with it.

In order to gain a better knowledge of this subject, I searched the internet to read about others sides of the issue. I typed the keywords “government censorship” and “stances” and found a number of articles. The first article that caught my eye was written about the rights to freedom of speech. I opened the article, took a few minutes to read it, and realized that censorship may not be the right answer. By censoring television, the First Amendment of the United States

travesty. Government organizations, such as the FCC, routinely and systematically subjugate and suppress the freedoms that we have to express ourselves as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. Censors edit radio broadcasts, discriminately place “black-bars” over televised images, and even try to refine works of literature and art so that they meet "acceptable standards.”

Censorship has been adopted in many societies as well as the governments of our world. As the history of the world expands we see many countries try to censor what their citizens see. When the countries do this they are not assisting the country, they are leading it into a self-destruction. A good example of this would be America in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. This nation is destroyed in a futuristic war that only lasts a couple of minutes, if not seconds. Other fitting examples include the Nazi regime and the Soviet Union, both governments censoring their population in what they could read, write, and see. As we know both of these governments did not succeed and ultimately were obliterated and the countries were punished. Government censorship not only wounds the ability for people to grow and expand in their thought process, but it eventually causes the ultimate self-destruction of the nation.

The parents of our communities tend to fall on either side of the issue, divided into pro and anti-censorship groups. The big question that everyone is asking is if a student were to open a book and read about drugs, sex, or violence will this make a child more susceptible to this kind of behavior? Our United States board of education believes so, and has installed censorship safety precautions in the literature that is available in public schools and libraries. According to the American Library Association between 1990 and 2000 6,364 challenges against books were brought to Office of Intellectual Freedom by parents, teachers, and different pro-censorship organizations. The grounds for these challenges were that the books contained sexually explicit material, offensive language, satanic references, violence, homosexuality, or promotion of a religious belief. Some books that were on this list include The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (for incessant use of the n word), The Catcher and the Rye (Depicts teenage depression, prostitution and use of the f word) and Go Ask Alice (Instances of Drug Use, sex, and suicide. People that are pro censorship argue that no books are being banned. That, in fact, you can buy those same books in many bookstores or other places. They argue that is their right, as taxpayers to decide what their children should have

Kristol (I 972) claims that "very few words of real merit ever were suppressed" (p. 649). This is a difficult statement- to agree with because among the literary giants that have been repeatedly censored are Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl, and John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath. Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn has been frequently attacked on the basis of racial prejudice. J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, the coming-of-age novel loaded with profanity, leads all of these as far as censorship votes are concerned (Donelson, 1997). ) While these and hundreds of other books continue to show up on ban lists in libraries across the country, activists like Kristol (1972) have asserted that "in the U.S., censorship has to all intents and purposes ceased to exist" (p.645).

Censorship is definitely a thing in a lot of parts of America; however, it’s not all bad censorship. For example, anti-abortion groups protest at public and private colleges using large, noticeable, graphic signs which most either ignore or attempt to take them down by force, which, although it sounds like illegal censorship, is legal because the 1st amendment does not protect provocative speech. In the video, a private college was shown which limited certain groups’ flyers and posters to one corner of the whole campus; they are completely within their rights to do that because they do not receive state funding so the first amendment does not apply to them. Finally, when Charlie Hebdo was attacked, a writer held a “Draw Muhammed” contest in Dallas which led to a shooting and her disappearance. Many people believe the things they do can not be censored because they are protected by the first amendment, but they are not because they are either provoking, the place they are at is not state funded, and people they are intentionally offending are not going to leave them alone.

Censorship has been a touchy topic over the past few years. Everyone has their own opinion on the topic, but the fact is censorship is way more damaging than people may notice. First off, the definition of censorship is to restrain, block, and censor ideas and information that some may find offensive. The basic definition of censorship completely violates the First Amendment. We, as Americans, have the right to Freedom of Speech. Censorship blocks that by blocking anything some may find offensive. It’s not fair because they’re blocking out how people feel/think just because someone found it “offensive” or wrong. It completely contradicts the First Amendment. People have the right to know about the world and what’s happening. Keeping the

Censorship may be protection from inappropriate materials, but it also limits free speech. For the limitation of free speech, it is reasonable why people are emphatically against censorship. It is understood that there is a need to filter some of the materials released in today’s society, but too much is being done by people who have no right meddling with everyone’s rights. Civilization has always been plagued by a never ending battle being fought over what is deemed right and wrong. In today’s culture, censorship oppresses everything in the media. From movies and music to television and even news stories, most of the content viewed today has been filtered one way or another. Restrictions have been in place since early societies have been

The Constitution guarantees us the right to Freedom of Speech. Nowhere in the First Amendment does it state that we have the right to freedom of speech as long as everyone agrees with us and likes what we say. Quite the contrary, it states that “Congress shall pass no laws abridging our right to freedom of speech.” Censorship does exactly that, severs away our right to freedom of speech. Censorship is Government telling us what we are to approve of and disapprove of. It is Government abridging our right to freedom of speech.