Censorship and Book Banning Essay - 1817 Words

Censorship cannot eliminate evil. It can only kill freedom. We believe Americans have the right to buy, stores have the right to sell, authors have the right to write and publishers have the right to publish constitutionally protected material. Period. (â€Å"Banned Books and Authors†). Harry Hoffman, president of Walden Book Co., Inc., is accurate in this aspect. When books are censored or banned, they are not eliminated from society; however, their message emanates to create an impact. Even if the public conceals the content in these books, the victims that these censors sequester from these works are rarely unexposed to what is being censored to them. By challenging or attempting to ban a book, more attention is drawn to that distinct†¦show more content†¦In United States v. Random House, Inc., they ruled that the book â€Å"Ulysses† provided a new literary method, even given the vulgar language that it contains. Also, in Stanley v. Georgia, they ruled that states cannot limit what anyone wants to read or watch. (Agrawal) Nonetheless, there is a separation between challenged and banned books. Challenging a book is an attempt to remove the book in question, based on a person’s opinion of it (ALA). To challenge a book from a library or a school, a committee must be formed, made up of a principal, librarian, teacher, complainant, parent and/or student who would discuss the book, file a recommendation, and notify the compliant with the superintendent (Simmons). An actual banning is the removal of the book from library shelves and a school’s curriculum, in the attempt to restrict a group of people from having access to it. Each year, hundreds of books are challenged. In 2007, over 420 books were either challenged or banned, the lowest it had been for a while (Pitner). Censorship Violates the First Amendment For starters, the First Amendment states â€Å"Congress shall make no law†¦abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;† if this is true, how does that make censorship legal? Censorship is the almost exact definition of abridging freedom of speech. â€Å"Freedom of speech† is an essential right for any human to help preserve a kind of peace and order. The idea of being free to express opinions and viewpointsShow MoreRelatedEssay on Censorship and Book Banning1838 Words   |  8 Pages 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 individuals belief is violated by the codes of cens orship that our society instills. Book banning is aRead MoreEssay on Censorship - The Negative Consequences of Book Banning1501 Words   |  7 PagesThe Negative Consequences of Book Banning If you were to ask a teacher what they thought the most important source of knowledge was they would probably answer: reading. When I think back to every classroom I sat in at school, I remember at least one poster on the wall promoting reading. Throughout my school years, teachers have pounded into my head how important it is to read. In high school I had a list of books that I was required to read over my summer break so that I would continuouslyRead MoreBanning Books in Schools Essay983 Words   |  4 PagesThe practice of the censorship of books in schools has been prevalent due to the explicit content of them. Parents have been complaining to schools about books that count as required reading because they disapprove with the points made in the book. If a book consists of offensive or sexually explicit material, then parents would challenge the schools about them in order to prevent their children from reading them. Censorship in general has been an intensely debated is sue because it is consideredRead More The Controversy Around Banning Books Essay852 Words   |  4 Pages 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 quot;evilsquot; of many classic books and works of art because they can be deemed quot;indecentquot; 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 whereRead MoreThe Controversy Around Banning Books889 Words   |  4 PagesThe 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 justifiableRead MoreIts Time to STOP Banning Books Essay1383 Words   |  6 Pagespast to make it easier for people to talk about sex in a more mature manner. Banning books that contain sexual content, vulgarity, and violence give children and young adults a reason to snicker about these topics when discussed in class because we are taught that these topics are not appropriate to talk about publicly. There are many factors that play a major role in how an individual perceives certain topics in books. If taught at an earlier age that these topics are suitable for mature discussionRead MoreLiterature Be Banned1227 Words   |  5 Pages Literature shouldn’t be banned because literature inspires, advocates, unites, entertains, and informs. By banning books from the classroom, we prevent students from learning about controversial topics in a safe environment. The Menifee school district banned the dictionaries from the students because of one parents complaint. I believe this was a terrible idea because many students need a dictionary to look back at when they think they’re wrong. Dictionaries are helpful in many ways such as learningRead MoreThe Banning of Certain Books in School Libraries/ Classrooms848 Words   |  4 Pages People read books about dystopians all the time, you know those books that have everything possible go wrong. Books like The Hunger games, or Fahrenheit 451, Ect. Some people look at them as just stories, just fictional books. Those books are all about censorship and having the government controlling and watching your every move. What most people dont realize is that there is censorship happening right now, every time you send a text or make a phone call, the government can see/hear itRead MoreBook Burning in Nazi Germany1237 Words   |  5 PagesB ook burning is the ceremonial destruction of books or any other written works by fire. And it is done in public. Also it is a representation of censorship. The drive behind such acts can either be political, cultural, or religious resistance to the material in question. The purpose of the Nazi book burning was to destroy all ideologies that were considered to be un-German. In 1933, university students were on a mission to cleanse Germany of Jewish intellectual ideas (Fishburn, 2007). They believeRead MoreEssay on Is Censorship Unconstitutional?919 Words   |  4 Pages Censoring knowledge is unconstitutional. Censorship had been going on since the beginning of the written word. This means that is not hard to say that it has been used as a manipulation tactic since the first man, or woman, placed their coal to a piece of dried goat skin. So does this make it wrong? To understand censorship, you have to start at the beginning. Censorship, no matter the definition, is when people who have power, wish to limit the knowledge of what we are receiving, or