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Censorship and freedom
Censorship and freedom
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To Censor Literature is to Censor Life
"All that mankind has done, thought, gained or been: it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books. They are the chosen possession of men." Thomas Carlyle spoke these words in the early 19th century. Two hundred years later, it seems we still do not understand the breadth and magnificence of the written word. Americans have forgotten the magical experiences that can be found in the pages of books. Instead of respecting the chosen possession of men, they wield it as a tool to achieve their own ends. If we lose our respect for knowledge, we lose our respect for ourselves; indeed, as Milton so eloquently wrote, "As good almost kill a man as kill a good book"
Despite First Amendment rights, censorship abounds in the United States. One of the most popular targets for censorship is literature. Of course, this is nothing new. As long as writers have been publishing books, censors have been burning them. Perhaps not always literally, but as author Ray Bradbury points out, "there is more than one way to burn a book"(545). Special interest groups, be they secular or religious, left or right wing, politicians or PTA's, all feel they have the right to "burn"or otherwise obliterate, destroy, edit and censor material they feel is subversive according to their specific agenda or belief system. One of the genres that especially comes under the often misguided blaze of these groups is youth and adolescent literature. For a myriad of reasons, most of which are based more on emotional reactionary ideals rather than actual fact, incredible books written for our nation's children are targeted, dissected, and then discarded like so much garbage on the ru...
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.... 11 September 2001. Digital Library and Archives. 1 October 2001.
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/winter96/pubCONN.html#About Author
Hunt Steinle, Pamela. In Cold Fear: The Catcher In the Rye, Censorship Controversies and PostwarAmerican Character. Columbus: Ohio State Press, 2000.
Oboler, Eli M., ed. Censorship and Education. New York: The H.W. Wilson Co., 1981.
Reaves, Jessica. "Book Banning Hits a Road Block: The First Amedment." Time. 20 September 2000. 1 October 2001. www.time.com/time/education/article
Trelease, Jim. "Censorship and Children's Literature: Watch Dogs or Mad Dogs?" Trelease on Reading.com. 20 September 2001.
http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/censor_entry.html
West, Mark I. Trust Your Children: Voices Against Censorship in Children's Literature. New York: Neal Schuman Publishers, 1988.
In the article censorship: a personal view by Judy bulme she discusses and touches on censorship in literature in children and young adolescence books. Now in article there are a lot of possible exigencies listed threw out the article one of the main exigencies is that Judy bulme has personal experience with censorship as a little girl, with that personal account she has familiarity that compels and gives her credibility to write this article. With exigencie their also comes a purpose bulme’s purpose in the article is trying to convince parents that you should not coddle a young teen or an adolescent from literature that may not be suitable for them, but let their mind wonder and explain it after they read it. Also she communicates that censorship
In her essay, Pamela Steinle asserts that The Catcher in the Rye is a mundane novel and is confused as to how it gained a great deal of popularity, both positive and negative. She argues that, “[i]t is this fear of nuclear holocaust,... that I believe is at the
Lancto, Craig. “Banned Books” World & 1, Vol 8 (Sep 2003): 258. Literature Online Reference Edition. Web. 7. Feb. 2011.
Books are banned for many reasons but more times than not it is because of the sensitive information found within the novel that agitates the reader. As long as people have been able to develop their own opinions, others have sought to prevent them from sharing. At some point in time, every idea has ultimately become objectionable to someone. The most frequently challenged and most visible targets of such objection are the very books found in classrooms and public libraries. These controversial novels teach lessons that sometimes can be very sensitive to some but there is much more to challenged books than a controversial topic. What lies within these pages is a wealth of knowledge, such as new perspectives for readers, twisting plots, and expressions that are found nowhere else. For example, To Kill A Mockingbird, contains references to rape, racial content, and profanity that have caused many to challenge the novel in the first place. The book was banned from countless
Foerstel, Herbert N. Banned in the U.S.A.: a Reference Guide to Book Censorship in Schools and Public Libraries. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1994. Print.
Trelease, Jim. "Book Banning Violates Children and Young Adult Freedoms." Book Banning. Ed. Ronnie D. Lankford. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. At Issue. Rpt. from "Censorship and Children's Books." Trelease-on-Reading.com. 2006.Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
Aliprandini, Michael Sprague, Carolyn. "Banning Books: An Overview." Points Of View: Banning Books (2013): 1. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
Scarseth, Thomas. "A Teachable Good Book: Of Mice and Men." Censored Books: Critical Viewpoints. Ed. Nicholas J. Karolides, Lee Burress, and John M. Kean. Scarecrow Press, 1993. 388-394. Rpt. in Novels for Students. Ed. Diane Telgen. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 11 Jan. 2012.
Censorship is the practice of concealing parts of a book, movie, show, or any other form of media. Media can be censored in many ways; one of these is to block out the offensive sections of the content. This is generally done when the content of said media is not considered overall offensive or inappropriate but has derogatory and/or blasphemous language. Another way Media can be censored is to have it banned completely. For a book to be banned, it must first be challenged. According the American Library Association, a challenge “is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group.” The question over censorship has been debated for years: Should we be allowed to ban Medias we deem unfit and/or inappropriate from our children?
“It’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written, the books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers” (Blume 1999). Judy Blume can not explain the problem of book censorship any clearer. The children are the real losers because they are the ones that are not able to read the classic works of literature which are the backbone of classroom discussions all across the United States.
The common image that comes to mind on the topic of censorship is that of book burning. Dating back to ancient times, the easiest way to deal with unwanted writings has been to get rid of them, usually by heaping them into a blazing pyre. In his most famous science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury warns of a futuristic society where all literature is destroyed under a kerosene flame and the citizens' freedoms are kept in check by the lack of written information. In fear of this kind of totalitarianism, many bibliophiles have fought against all manners of censorship, wielding the first amendment and the rights recognized by our fore-fathers. But with the technological advances of this the last decade of the twentieth century and the up welling of a new informational medium comes a new twist to the struggle for freedom of expression.
From the years 2000 to 2009, 5,099 books were challenged in school libraries, classrooms, and public libraries. Most of the books on this list were banned because of objectionable content such as sexual references, profanity, violence, and the fact that the book was considered “unsuited to age group” (American Library Association). Even prior to the year 2000, censorship and banned books had become an issue for schools in particular all across the country for these very reasons. While the The Color Purple by Alice Walker does contain the objectionable content mentioned prior, it should not be banned because objectionable content found in the book is accessible through the internet and social media, one person’s complaint should not determine another’s choice, and high school students should be mature enough to handle the adult content.
Baldassarro, R. W. "Banned Books Awareness: The Call of the Wild." Banned Books Awareness. Deep Forest Productions, 24 July 2011. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Censorship in School Libraries The most debatable and controversial form of censorship today is the banning of books in school libraries. Banning books that educate students is wrong and selfish. Censorship of books in school libraries is neither uncommon nor an issue of the past. Books with artistic and cultural worth are still challenged constantly by those who want to control what others read. The roots of bigotry and illiteracy that fuel efforts to censor books and free expression are unacceptable and unconditional.
Every day, teens across America face a plethora of issues, some more obvious than others. Now, just because a problem is not well-known does not mean it is any less potent than the widely publicized issues most teens are familiar with. In fact, hidden problems are often more dangerous than those that are widely known. Amongst the ranks of the obscure issues is the censorship of books, the Internet and speech in schools; a problem that effects a large majority of the student body, often unknowingly to the students. In recent years, countless books have been removed from school libraries, an innumerable amount of websites have been blocked by school officials, and social sharing websites are regularly monitored for any activity the school deems inappropriate, even if the activity was posted before or after school. The unfortunate result of this widespread censorship is the number of ideas that are suppressed in the name of education and the subtle, negative social conditioning that occurs in schools as well. School administrations’ overuse of censorship on literature, the Internet and speech, both in and out of school, creates an authoritarian environment in which teenagers are conditioned into accepting a society where freedom of speech is suppressed, people are unable to stand up for their beliefs, where particular topics are banned for their content; this is a growing crisis that has alarmed many American intellectuals who believe the only remedy for this predicament is to make teenagers more aware of the problem with censorship.