“The ‘what should be’ never did exist, but people keep trying to live up to it. There is no ‘what should be,’ there is only what is,” says – comedian, satirist, and prophet Lenny Bruce (Green 1).
For some years, critics of public schools have zealously attacked literature assigned in classrooms and available in school libraries. Censors and critics ban literature by saying that books are “anti-religious, and humanistic” this is not the only way they attempt to ban literature. Censorship violates the artist’s right to fully express themselves, it impinges access to information, limits our use of public establishments and thus should be abolished. The censors are on the prowl, and they are determined to dictate what you and your children may or may not read, says Candice Morgan a writer for the Midland Daily News.
This shows true most in literary works from the classics to the newly written books. Mark Twain, Stephen King, and Alan Schwartz are three of the artists that have made the “top ten most challenged book” lists (Morgan).
Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huck Finn was challenged because he uses the term “Nigger” 39 times in the first 35 pages. While living, Twain had said, “I wrote Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer for adults exclusively and it has always distressed me to find that boys and girls had been allowed access to them.” (Morgan) This merely shows that people are trying to ban books from children that were never intended for them. The courts have made it clear that censoring books violates the first amendment, on several accounts.
The Term Paper on Book Banning
Each year, libraries across the United States report hundreds of challenges. The leading causes for contesting a book are sexually explicit content, offensive language and inappropriate subjects for minors [source: American Library Association]. Only a minority of the requests actually make it through to banning the book from its respective library. The Catcher in the Rye. The Scarlet Letter. ...
The courts ruled in favor of Ben Gitlow, who was a member of the communist party. After publishing A Left Wing Manifesto, he was charged with criminal anarchy (Green 112).
The beliefs in this book are those same ideas taught in a high school history class. The reason he was dismissed of the charges is because Justices Holmes and Brandies said that Gitlow’s book showed no clear and present dangers. They also said that if free speech was to remain free then opinions such as Gitlow must be allowed to be heard. (Green 112-113) In a similar case a man by the name of Pico was taken to court by a junior high school board and accused of writing anti-American, anti-Christian, and of writing anti-Semitic literature.
The board, which was comprised of parents and teachers, reviewed the books and then proceeded to remove them from their school and local libraries. They had deemed these books not suitable for children. Another book that were attacked by this council was, the best selling, The Naked Ape by, British pop socio-biologist, Desmond Morris. His books were said to have references to homosexuality and masturbation (Green 24-25).
However, these things that are said to be accepted in today’s society. There were four other books challenged by the board of education.
One was The Best Short Stories By Negro Writers, by Langston Hughes. It was said to have sexually explicit content. The second of the four was Black Boy by Richard Wright, it was said to be anti-Semitic. Slaughter house five was said to be anti-Christian.
Last was A hero Ain’t nothing but a Sandwich, by Alice Childress, and was considered “plain filthy.” A group of collage students started a lawsuit against the board members saying their constitutional rights had been from them based on grounds of no more than supposed insults to their political, social, and moral tastes (Green 25).
The Essay on Anti Virus File Internet Computer
Erik Serna Business Computers Period 4 Trojan Horses A numerous amount of people depend on using remote access tools every day weather its to monitor other computers, Help people in large classes that cant get personal assistance, or even just for chatting with them. Every day a back door utility, otherwise known as the Trojan horse, infects hundreds if not even thousands of people over the ...
All of these books were in a library, a place where you go to read books that interest you not to pick up a book you feel will offend you. The library is the easiest way to get information, and that’s changing fast. In Detroit, Michigan a public library took The dictionary of Witchcraft and demonology off the shelves (Morgan).
Demonology is the study of demons and evil spirits, nothing sick, wrong, or grotesque. Witchcraft is a religion to some, therefore taking a book about it off the shelves of a library is a clear violation to their first amendment right.
The courts seem to think this too. In the spring of 2001, three judges ruled that the Children’s Internet Protection Act is not constitutional (Biskupic).
This act was an attempt to take more potential information away from those who really want it. The filters block sites that have political, scientific, and other non-offensive topics.
They do this by blocking text, not graphics (Biskupic).
In 1997, the high court struck down two filter laws that were written to boldly, and restricted the free speech that we are entitled to. (Green 25) The courts are not one hundred percent in the favor of the oppressed. There have been incidences where the courts have passed bills. In most states you must have a filter on the Internet, or the government considers revoking the funding given by the state (Biskupic).
The Internet is the most censored area of information known to man.
It is also the easiest one to acquire information. “The filtering turns the Internet into something fit for a 5 year old, and not even that. It blocks enormous amounts of protected speech. ‘Congress cant seem to get it right,’ ” says first amendment lawyer Charles Sims. John Woods, creator of web said it best when he stated: To put it bluntly, we are fed up, disgusted, offended, and pissed off about having our First Amendment rights trampled, ignored, desecrated, and pissed on by spineless politicians that have sold out this country to corporate interests, religious zealots that seek to turn this once free nation into an intolerant theocracy where we all MUST worship THEIR God, THEIR way, or burn in Hell for all eternity, and the so-called liberal sentries of political correctness in which nobody can dare utter a single word that might be construed as something that might offend someone.
The Essay on Internet Censorship
There is nothing more frightening than active ignorance, the German poet Goethe stated. Ignorance is alarming, no matter what good intentions it is hidden behind. Today, an ignorance of the issue of Internet censorship has left a threat to free speech, our constitutional right. Even worse, many of our lawmakers are the ones feeding this fire. The first major law concerning the matter was the ...
Like it or not people have the right to say what they want. If it’s through the way they express them selves then it must be respected. Censorship is one of the most vile ways to restrict the mind, no matter how it’s done. 1.
Biskupic, Joan. “Courts Consider Library Filter on Internet Porn.” USA Today 13 November 2002: 5 A 2. Green, Jonathon. The Encyclopedia of Censorship. New York City: Fact on file, 1990 3.
Morgan, Candace D. “Censors are Challenging What You Can Read.” Midland Daily News 18 September 1994. 4. Shackelford, Amanda Payne. “Link to Censorship in Literature.” Censorship in Literature. University of Mississippi.
12 November 2002… 5. Woods, James. “Rock out Censorship.” 5 Dec 2002.
