Essay on Censorship is Not the Answer

The revisional author, Alan Gribben, said he worried that the N-word had resulted in the novel falling off reading lists. He believes his sanitized edition will please more readers and teachers. Gribben has plowed over Twain's freedom of speech in the process. After all, Twain isn't around to comment(Dawkins 1). The responsibility of this book belongs to no one. Banning or sanitizing Huckleberry Finn should not be a topic of discussion because Twain had every right to write the book however he desired. Offensive terms and words are being invented right now. We should not pick on historical terms when others are being invented everyday.

According to “Freedom of Speech” by Gerald Leinwand, Abraham Lincoln once asked, “Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the liberties of its people, or too weak to maintain its own existence (7)?” This question is particularly appropriate when considering what is perhaps the most sacred of all our Constitutionally guaranteed rights, freedom of expression. Lincoln knew well the potential dangers of expression, having steered the Union through the bitterly divisive Civil War, but he held the Constitution dear enough to protect its promises whenever possible (8).

Censorship can take different shapes depending on the public school system: Schools can give teachers a list of acceptable books to teach, just provide guidelines, or leave it up to the teachers to judge which books are appropriate (Agee, 1999). Teachers are often very nervous about including texts that are not traditional or specifically approved by the school, especially because of the highly publicized cases of teachers whose careers have been ruined because of censorship debates in courts and school systems (Agee, 1999).

Many of the eminent author Mark Twain’s books have been banned from school reading lists and libraries all over the country. These books, like The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn are iconic and give readers an insight into just what life was like in slavery. Although some people think The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be banned, it should not because in the book readers get to experience a character grow in morality and the book shows the history of the country but in a fictional way that is interesting to young readers.

     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.

"All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

“If we may collect the sentiments of the people of America, from their own most solemn declarations, they hold this truth as self evident, that all men are by nature free. No one man, therefore, or any class of men, have a right, by the law of nature, or of God, to assume or exercise authority over their fellows. The origin of society then is to be sought, not in any natural right which one man has to exercise authority over another, but in the united consent of those who associate.” (Brutus

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.

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

"There is more than one way to burn a book," (176) says Ray Bradbury when explaining the reason he wrote Fahrenheit 451. Bradbury at the time was upset about "condensed books", or books which had been simplified for easier reading. Luckily, this fad seems to have passed. However, he was also upset about people who wrote asking him to change the role of women or African-Americans to make them more or less dominant in some of his works. One of the major themes in Fahrenheit 451 was just that; a society where everyone got what they wished and literature was eliminated entirely so it wouldn't offend anyone. Sadly, this still continues to happen in the United States. Many books have been banned from school and public libraries because

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain has been called one of the greatest American Novels and considered a masterpiece of literature. The book is being taught by teachers across the country for years. Now, Huckleberry Finn, along with other remarkable novels such as Of Mice and Men and To Kill a Mockingbird, is being pulled off the shelves of libraries, out of schools and banned from classrooms because it has been considered unsuitable and racist for today's youth. An classic American novel like this book should not be banned from schools; it shows history, growth and friendship.

Censorship is a dirty word to information professionals. Attempts by individuals or groups to restrict the public from reading, hearing or viewing certain materials due to their content, is enough to send librarian's and organizations such as the American Library Association, to the proverbial battle field. However, information professionals from all fields have to make choices about what to include and what not to include in their particular library's collection. How are these selections made? What causes one item to be selected instead of another? The distinction between censorship and selection is infinitesimal, dependent mainly upon the role of the individuals involved. As an information professional, who inherently is

Remember the day when you could say anything you wanted without worrying about someone telling you, “That’s not correct”or “don’t say that.” Yes? Everybody does. Many long to live in that era once more; they long to be able to speak their mind in public without anyone thinking they are weird or crazy. Lately it seems as though you have to retain your thoughts inside your mind and not say anything. Many college campuses and websites have started to establish rules which prevent people from saying what’s on their mind and writing or saying something which may harm others.