One of the key principles that make the country great is our freedom to say, write, and read whatever we want. Despite this, countless public figures and schools have chosen to restrict access to certain books, whether it’s in order to protect political correctness or explicit sexual content and violence. Rarely do these people stop and consider the dire effects book banning might have on both students and society as a whole. An author does not write because they are looking to offend someone, they right because they have a story to share. The First Amendment of the Constitution not only works to protect this right to the fullest extent possible, but also serves to protect the rights of the people that choose to be offended by these stories. …show more content…
It is true that racism and prejudice is neither morally or logically correct, but unless people are able to competently contest those views without resorting to the destruction of other opinions and thought, those issues will continue to prevail. The famous treatise against bigotry, To Kill a Mockingbird, has been criticized and banned for its use of racial slurs, despite accurately portraying the America of that time. Forgetting our past, no matter how shameful, only ensures that it will be repeated – books help us not to forget. How can we improve as a society if we do not even allow ourselves to remember the mistakes of previous generations? Harriet Beecher Stowe 's Uncle Tom 's Cabin created outrage in the South due to its "anti-slavery" ideas, resulting in it being banned. As the ideals of the country changed, it was later challenged due to "undesirable racial language.” Free speech is not the enemy of social progress – censorship is the enemy of social progress. Our libraries, schools, and internet must remain a haven for liberties and freedoms. If society continues to allow educational institutes to display and teach materials deemed worthy enough to allow students to think critically and learn from the mistakes of the past, no matter how “politically incorrect” the books may be, America will be stronger because diversity of opinion exists and freedom