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Examples Of Censorship In America Today

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Censorship in Todays America Censorship has been a topic of debate for decades. Despite the existence of the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech, the United States has a long history of censoring literature. Most Americans believe that it is unethical to stifle freedom of expression, but often some of the First Amendment’s biggest supporters are its worst enemies. It shocks many to see how rampant it still is in the present day. This paper will show examples of how governments, religious institutions, and schools try to limit first amendment rights through censorship. Before 1952, censorship in America was local and unorganized (Speer, 2). The main force behind it in the United States was the strict moral standard of the Victorian …show more content…

According to the article “The First Amendment: Censorship,” speech is routinely censored due to bias, or personal issues with the content (First Amendment, 3). Also, in the article “Censorship Goes to School,” Nancy Day discusses how advocates for removing “hurtful and dangerous” books believe that they are protecting children, and that is more important than access to free speech (Day, 4). Because integrity in education is important, teachers should stay within the bounds and follow the requirements of education (First Amendment, 2). Author Zibby O’Neal said “We try to teach young people the first amendment rights, but then deny them a book” about repeated efforts to ban The Chocolate War (Day, 3). You would think the people who educate would be open minded, they are actually the most critical (Censorship, 2). Some teachers and librarians believe that scarce funds would be wasted on books that will be questioned (Day, 1). Often those who fight literature are against: homosexuality, Darwin’s Theory and several other topics (First Amendment, 1). Religion can be used as a cause to censor certain information in text books (Day, 2). Operation Rescue is a Christian organization that protests various books. There are many groups that advocate censorship on both sides of the political spectrum. Right-wing groups, like Operation Rescue, want to censor books dealing with civil rights and slavery. Left-wing groups, however, want to eliminate books that they think offend minorities (Hechinger, 2). Both groups are finding that the most effective method of censorship is “fiscal” censorship. Fiscal is where State Legislatures forbid the spending of state money on certain material (Lee,

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