Censorship And Banning Books

Censorship Is Important

More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982 according to the American Library Association ("About"). Censorship, official prohibition or restriction of any type of expression believed to threaten the political, social, or moral order ("Censorship"). Censorship is used in many places such as books, such as songs, and such as films.

One place that censorship takes place is in music. Censorship of music in the United States has been around since the 1800s (Newton). One reason music is censored is to protect minors from hearing offensive, inappropriate, and violent lyrics (Wagner). These types of songs can have a negative effect on children, such as making them become more violent and inappropriate (Wagner). The main argument for censoring music is because it causes young children to use inappropriate language that they have heard in a song (Wagner). One example of a song that is censored is "You Don’t Know How it Feels" by Tom Petty (October 1994) because of drug related content (Morrison). Another example of censored

Every year in the United States hundreds of books are either removed or challenged in schools and libraries (Banned Books Week). There are many reasons for censoring and banning books. Some reasons for book censorship such as racial issues, such as hurting someone's lifestyle or reputation, and such as inappropriate for age group ("LibGuides: Banned Books: Reasons for Banning Books"). An example of a censored book is the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain because of it's racial word choice. Also, the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury because of it's inappropriate language. Finally, another example of a censored book is the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe because of the way slaves were treated ("Banned Books That Shaped America"). These books are great examples of why many books across America are censored and