Subtitle: Censorship In The United States

Justin Brunaugh

Anita Gregory

ENGL-112-NB

July 21, 2023 [Title]: [Subtitle] Imagine living in a world where books are not being banned from libraries. A world where media is not being censored all around us, whether online or in-person. Each year, hundreds of books, articles, news reports, and social-media posts are censored by the government and companies across the United States. Last year, there was over one thousand books that were targeted for censorship in the United States. As these books and resources, along with others get censored or banned in the US, people across the country are losing access to resources, which makes it harder for them to learn. Therefore, books and other resources should be harder to censor because when books

“To put it in another way—if we are not exposed to books that discuss the struggles of people all around our country, then it limits us from understanding each other. Sometimes the content can be uncomfortable to read, but it is necessary to understand the lives of others,” (The Learning Network). Even though some believe that resources should be censored because they are not safe for kids to read, those resources are needed so that people can learn about other races and cultures, such as the struggles that they

The First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” (James Madison). The censorship of media violates the freedom of speech and freedom of the press that is granted by the first amendment due to it limiting what people can say, write, and read. David L. Hudson Jr, who is a First Amendment law expert, along with a professor at Belmont University College of Law, touches on this topic in one of his interviews. ““Book bans violate the First Amendment because they deprive children or students of the right to receive information and ideas,” (Hudson Jr). This quote from Hudson Jr states that censorship violates the first amendment because censorship limits what information and ideas people can share with others and learn about, which the first amendment was created in the Bill of Rights so that people would be protected to form any ideas or share any information that they would want to share. Along with censorship limiting what ideas and information people can share with others, censorship makes it harder for not only younger generations, but for everyone to be able to learn because people are being limited to what books, social media