Censorship In Libraries

The word censorship is from the Latin word root of censere, which means to give an opinion or expression to be judged upon. Censorship is the restriction of certain material, and due to its expression it is seen offensive to someone else. The origin of expression of censorship can be tracked back to the Roman Empire when Roman officials assessed the conduct and attitudes of other Roman citizens. The Roman government viewed that in order to have a strong government, the behavior and conduct of the peopled had to be changed according to what they thought was correct. Censorship continued to be a controversy over time. It remained a controversy over time, through many empires, the age of Enlightenment, World War II, and even today. As censorship progressed through the ages it still continues today. Today, censorship occurs at schools. It occurs in libraries, classrooms, and even in student publications. Even though censorship can occur to a certain extent at schools, students’ First Amendment rights are still protected at school. The First Amendment protects freedom of expression, speech, press, religion, and assembly. Students are allowed to express themselves freely at school as long as they do not affect the education and as long as it is not an activity supported by the school system.

Futhermore, another reason that items shouldn´t be censored in libraries, is simply based off of the fact that, parents and teachers should have trust and faith in there children. Thus meaning that if students are to pick up something that has bad and or vulgar things,

The subject of censorship is a very controversial one, especially the banning of books. Many people believe they must protect themselves and others from the "evils" of many classic books and works of art because they can be deemed "indecent" in one way or another. Many believe that this is absurd and censorship in its current form is a violation of our First Amendment right to free speech. Personally, I align myself with the latter, however I do feel there are occasions where censorship is justifiable. The censorship of books is a division of censorship that, apart from Internet censorship, receives the most publicity. Banning books is the most popular form of such censorship. Many banned books are literary classics, such as The Catcher in

The American Library Association defines censorship as the removal, suppression, or restricted circulation of literary or educational materials. Censorship can be subtle, almost unseen, as well as blatant and overt, but nonetheless, harmful. The abilities to read, speak, and express ourselves freely are core values. Throughout history many different governments and people have tried to ban books for many different reasons. People attempt to ban books because the material conflicts with their own beliefs. Some people believe that a child’s parent should be the only one able to censor what a child reads. Librarians and governing bodies should maintain that parents and only parents have the right and responsibility to restrict things from their children. According to the challenges by initiator, institution, type, and year, parents challenge books more often than any other group. The subject is very controversial causing many disagreements. Some people may believe that a book is wonderful, while others believe that it’s corrupting the youth. Books are banned to protect people, mainly children, from difficult ideas and information. Nudity, drugs, religious viewpoint,

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

Some would argue that if you censor books, it prevents youth from gaining access to books that are not age appropriate. Age appropriate is different for each age and person so you can't always tell what is and isn't age appropriate. It is impossible to know whether or not a book is appropriate for someone. This goes against the other claims about not censoring books in schools and

Harry Potter. The Giver. To Kill A Mockingbird. And Tango Makes Three. Of Mice And Men. The Witches. The list goes on forever. These are all books that have been banned for profanity, references to the occult and witchcraft, references to drugs and alcohol, and many other reasons. Censorship could have started as early as 339 BCE in Rome, when Socrates, a renowned Greek Philosopher, was sentenced to drink poison for his corruption of youth and his acknowledgement of unorthodox divinities (Newth 1). This was what modern censorship evolved from, the punishments becoming less and less severe from the poison drinking. Censorship is the act of limiting access and knowledge of ideas and materials, enforced by a higher official. Censorship should not be a concept used in society due to lack of civil rights, limited knowledge, and how censorship affects everyone.

Some assert that censorship is not necessary because it violates the First Amendment of the Constitution which guarantees the right to free speech. In an article titled “Banned Books” it states, “According to the ALA President Carol Brey-Casiano, ‘Not every book is right for every person, but providing a wide range of reading choices is vital for learning, exploration, and imagination. The abilities to read, speak, think, and express ourselves freely are core American values.’” (Brunner 1). In this quote, the ALA President explains in her point of view why the use of censorship is unnecessary.

The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas,” (Griswold). Human instinct is to disagree, when disagreement occurs the opposing party is convinced that they are correct and want all resistance eliminated. In history whenever one disagrees they go head to head in a challenge to discover which argument is accurate, but in the end who is to decipher what ideas are wrong? Ideas should not be stifled because of disagreement; each idea has a place in society. In the course of history has the banning of books had more losses than success? What codified censorship was the 1873 Comstock Act, which called for the banning literature deemed sexually arousing, even indirectly. The Comstock Act banned transportation of any printed material including private letters that contained lecherous or lascivious material. Beginning in the 1950s, a series of U.S. Supreme Court cases helped change the scope of censorship laws in the United States (“Books Censorship”). Books have been banned from the beginning, before and after basic rights were established. The act of banning a book is extremely biased in the case of something offending one person might not offend another. “The invention of the printing press in Europe in the mid-15th century only increased the

An excellent example of a book in question containing sexual content is The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier, which ranked number 5 on the ACLU's list. Now considering the fact that this frequently banned book is written for young adults of middle and high school age, I'm sure the author included this content, and the often graphic language associated with such content, because it made the book more realistic and possibly because it made the novel more appealing to the age bracket. Fiction is not the only genre faced with banning and censorship. Educational books such as the sex education text It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris and The New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsmanare under attack because they discuss sex-related topics. All I have to say about this is sexuality is a fact of life, not some forbidden subject.

Some people may think that it is reasonable for materials in the library to be banned because they contain information that some people are against or disagree with.

As the new generation has a fill of new technology and new ways of communication, some argue that these new forms of technology could be harmful to the youth of the world; however, many people argue that the media being portrayed is harmful and vulgar for people who are either watching or listening to some sort of media. This has developed to the argument that censorship is important to shield certain groups from being exposed to raunchy or inappropriate material, but is that always what is best? Shielding certain groups from a show or movie constantly due to something controversial could take away a moment of learning and could possibly stop the group from learning about morals and what is right and wrong. This problem of people hiding material

What would you do if you went to your child's school and saw that they were looking at inappropriate material on the internet? Would you react the same way if they were in a public library? Who decides what is okay for your children to view? Who decides where they can view it? What can you do about them being able to view these things? Are there any laws that can prevent this from happening? What are some schools and libraries doing to help prevent children form looking at such material? These are all issues that will be discussed in the next few paragraphs, along with my opinions on the matter.

“What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.” (Rushdie) As of late, the censorship of the "offensive" materials made available in public libraries is a common topic of discussion. Should a few opinions dictate what everyone else has access to? Censorship of the songs, movies, and books that are available in libraries is pointless, biased, and unconstitutional.

I will be talking about my opinion on the censorship is that you should not remove books from the library. If it is offensive to you then don’t read the book because there just books. Another reason is if you try and remove the book from one library the what is that doing there is still books that have the same meaning and it’s not like you are never going to see the book again. Some people like reading the different kinds of books removing them could offend people right there so there is no point in removing the book. By removing the book, you are giving people the right to complain and think that they can do whatever they want. That’s so dumb to say that the book offends you unless it has your name in there, then you can’t say it offends