Pros And Cons Of Censorship

What does censorship mean? The term comes from the latin word censere, “to give as one’s opinion, to assess.” Applied to modern times, it is the oppression of ideas or information found as obscene, therefore restricted from an audience. The United States has asserted to stand for the liberty of its people, along with the promise to protect them. The protection includes censorship in books, movies, etc. The first book to be ever banned in the U.S. was in the 1600’s, and the banning of books has not stopped since then. A long list of banned books has built up, including J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and John Knowles’ A Separate Peace.

Would you rather read a book of your choice or read a book that has been banned.”Often challenges are motivated by a desire to protect children from “inappropriate” sexual content or “offensive” language. The following were the top three reasons cited for challenging materials as reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom: content was considered to be sexually explicit, contained offensive language, and the materials were unsuited to any age group.” Banned books give people a sense of curiosity and excitement, which is why more and more people want to read banned books; to see what the hype was about.

Censorship in America is often debated. Erin Manning, texas-based writer explains that the American Library Association chooses to censor certain books because of “inappropriate content” and “second rate writing”(Manning 1). Parents attempt to protect their children from the outside world, by limiting their exposure to age appropriate language. When parents do this, their children’s knowledge of the outside world may be limited to what parents let their child view. Although some parents may feel that their child needs filtered information and entertainment, others believe that children and teens need to be shown uncensored content. Don Gallow, professor of English at Central Connecticut State, suggests that teens should be allowed to access

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”-Ray Bradbury. Censorship is the act of limiting information, ideas, or the freedom of thought, from life. Censorship can be used because of offensive, sensitive, harmful, or objectionable speech/ideas. In life, censorship is used a lot, more than people think. It also affects lives too. People barely notice it, or care for it, but censorship is there. Censorship has been used for a long time, it has a lot of history. Censorship is found in books, media, or any other form of expression. Censorship is powerful. Everyone should be aware of censorship. Censorship is a theme conveyed in the works of many, such as, I am Very Real by Kurt Vonnegut, Harrison

“The state of kids publishing is such that it’s perfectly reasonable to be concerned about what agenda-driven and/or prurient content they’re peddling.” (Hemingway) This means it is very reasonable for everyone to be concerned about what the kids and young adults are reading. If parents are not concerned about what their child is reading, their child will follow many bad influences from books they have read.There are many influential books such as The Outsiders, by S.E Hinton that should be banned. The Outsiders is a novel about a house broken gang that encounters life changing problems. The Outsiders should be banned because it sets bad examples like underage drinking and drugs. This is an important theme for this book, and the book teaches bad morals.

Throughout history, music has been a vital piece of culture. With music, censorship of it coincides. For America, this has been the case, especially with the invention of radios in the early 1900s which aided the development of widespread music in the nation. However, not all music is meant to be broadcasted for each and every listener of radio to hear. It is because of this that censorship of music on the radio is so necessary for a country with the potential it has to thrive.

Books are an essential way to gain knowledge whether they are controversial or not. Thousands of books have been banned from public libraries and schools due to being deemed ‘inappropriate’ by parents, administrators, or religious leaders. Whether Americans should ban books in public libraries and schools is an often debated topic. This censorship of books is dangerous, as it restricts the American people's’ ability to access information, leaving Americans ignorant.

There are countless reasons that everybody should know why books are being banned all over the world! One of the reasons is that parents do not want their children to be exposed to inappropriate topics. Moreover, some books discusses topics that people object to like dark arts and homosexuality. However, there are also reasons why books should not be banned. When children enjoy books, it improves their vocabulary, and it teaches them life lessons. Moreover, it takes away a citizen 's first amendment and the right to free speech. Lastly, the series, Harry Potter has inappropriate topics that led it to being banned like magic, sorcery, and witchcraft. Some books are frequently banned in schools because they contain profanity/slurs, and explicit content; however, some people argue that these precisely same books are worth reading because they teach extremely crucial life lessons, and defends the First Amendment.

Censorship can affect everyone in the world in many different ways. In the case of the book “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury, it has a negative effect on the city. The government banishing the books from society is taking away the power of knowledge from the people. Knowledge is a way of power and with that, the more knowledge one has the more power they will have. This is also the case in slavery in the U.S in the 18th century. Information is key to a humans life and it build their life. An example is the book “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” Information is power and if it is taken away from someone their power goes with it.

At one point in time, over 7,220 books have been challenged to be banned. Though these books have been removed for the safety of children, not all books should be banned for many reasons. These include the fact that banning books is infringing on the First Amendment, keeping children from understanding the real world, and, even though there are many reasons for book banning, not banning books could help a student’s education and can even work against itself.

What if your young child is looking through a book at your public library and comes across a topic that was way too mature for their mind set. Would you be okay with it? A big controversial issue that has been going on in the past year is if books should be banned. Now, no one is trying to banish libraries across the globe but people have requested to ban books that are inappropriate. This matter has grown to be worse because everyone has an opinion. In some cases books were banned from schools because parents believed there kids should not be opened to certain topic in the stories. Another issue is students have been sent home to read books for certain classes that talk about touchy subjects. For example, religion and magic. Parents

Historical truths are at stake. States and schools are murdering U.S. history by either changing it in textbooks or not teaching it all. They’re making it disappear. Censorship of history textbooks in the U.S hides important details and truths from the students. It also gives students false impressions of U.S. history. Censorship in schools concentrates on creating a non-beneficial and unhelpful learning environment for students.

Censorship is the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable,

Censorship in schools may not be the best choice for enriching the future minds of the United States of America. Children of the United States of America should have the right to learn about anything for it is there amended right. Taking knowledge away from them and censoring it should not be the answer to keeping our Children pure it should be what we teach our kids. We need to teach them right and wrong that is what will keep our child’s mind pure. Many books are being taken off shelves every day in student libraries because a couple people do not think that the book is suitable for children. Children just like us have a mind of their own and should be able to make their own decisions by themselves to either pick up the book or to leave it alone. Censorship does not exist in public places such as stores even though children enter stores everyday these kids have learned the decency of what they should or should not do they learned what they want and what they do not want what they like and what they do not like that should be a reason that children should be able to make censorship their choice.

The world gets crueler everyday. There are new crimes being committed daily, and sometimes it can be because of what people are subjected to. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, this topic is discussed. In order to create a more positive environment, the world needs censorship. Without it, kids would be surrounded by bad influences, people would always find topics to argue about, and lives can even be ruined without it.