Censorship in the US Essay

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

President Herbert Hoover once said that, "Children are our most valuable resource." Everybody knows the saying “The children are our future.” If everyone knows this saying than why are parents exposing our future to inappropriate and explicit content. This is because most people do not realize the explicit content their children are being exposed to. The shows, movies, and even commercials children are watching effect not only their actions and thought process but can also effect the future decisions and choices they make. From the day we are born to the day we die we have seen many different movies and seen many different TV shows; while we are watching and hearing these through our own eyes and ears we do not truly realize what our brains are consuming, because in reality we are viewing and hearing much more than we can naturally see.

     Since this country was founded, we have had a set of unalienable rights that our constitution guarantees us to as Americans. One of the most important rights that is mentioned in our constitution is the right to free speech. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the

Censorship is defined by Caso as the suppression of speech or any other public communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive politically incorrect as determined by the government or any other control body (3). Censorship may be justified from the conservative view whereby the free speech can be maltreated where it undermines the customary principles and communal solidity as withheld by a particular community.

Censorship is a concept with several different meanings. To each individual censorship has its own meaning. Is it a violation of our rights or is it a protection for our well being? Censorship in the generic sense refers to the suppression of information, ideas, or opinions. It occurs in all forms of communication from technological media to print media. Each society, culture, or individual's belief is violated by the codes of censorship that our society instills.

Censorship within the United States is not only an immoral and "big-brotherly" practice, but also an insult to each and every one of those who call themselves US citizens. Every day, censors attempt to sanitize TV, radio, music, print, and even the Internet. In their infinite wisdom, they deem what should and should not be viewed by John Q. Public. Censors succeed in suppressing our free spirits and restraining our thoughts in virtually every medium.

You may not realize this but our government plays a large role in governing what sort of information America’s children are exposed to. The average American child receives the majority of their knowledge and education from school, so the information that is allowed to be taught is a very delicate and controversial issue. Literature is often altered or banned from public schools and libraries because they contain of vulgar language, excessive violence, or connotations of drugs and sex. The reasoning behind this is that these are potentially dangerous ideas, and if children were to be exposed to them that they would be corrupted and manipulated by them. There is a contradictory school of thought on the

In a perfect world, student publications wouldn’t be censored, but as many people know, the world is far from perfect. Censorship is an unfortunate reality for many student publications across the nation and although it is perfectly legal for them to be censored, many advisors and publications staff members are unhappy.

Have you ever heard the word, censorship? If not, this is what it means. Censorship is the practice of officially examining books, movies, etc., and suppressing unacceptable parts. That is what people are trying to do to videos of stunts on YouTube, and they shouldn’t.

landmark cases for future legal actions. One of the most famous of those cases was Pico

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States protects the people of the country from censorship. This document says that people have to be free to say whatever it is that they feel the need to say, even if that statement is controversial. Actually, it is promised that people can say things especially when they are controversial. People who want to censor others do so because they do not agree with what it is that is being said. Only be protecting the First Amendment completely, and by not allowing censorship in any form can we continue to be completely free.

Today, censorship is in place in more ways than you can imagine. As mentioned previously, movies, music, television, and more are filtered one way or another. Some people go to such lengths as illegal means of spreading materials deemed inappropriate for a certain viewing audience.

The increasing amount of violence, foul language and sexuality available to children on TV is harmful to their development. What was once a time for children to watch TV with content suitable for their age is now directed for an older audience, Family Hour. Statistics show that this is the time most children are watching television with their family members. Despite knowing this, “Since 2000-2001, the amount of sexual content during the Family Hour has increased by 22.1%” (Parents Television Council 55). A poll done later in March of 2007 asked the general public if they thought there was too much sexual content on television. 79% of those that participated in the poll stated that there was too much.

Censorship as defined by Wikipedia is “the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which

The parameters of the term censorship have been changed and manipulated very much over the years. Television and movie ratings have become more lenient against violence and indiscretion because these things are now seen as entertainment. Is this appropriate for our youth? Should children be exposed to these images so early on? How does censorship in the media affect adolescents? Children are the future of our society and need to have some understanding of real world occurrences. Ultimately, censorship can only be determined by the parents. The media cannot filter every bit of controversial images. What rights does the media have in this situation? How are their First Amendment rights applied here? As an aspiring political science