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The Pros And Cons Of Censorship

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I think most librarians are opposed to censorship. As Ravitch states on page 83, “In 1973 the ALA passed a resolution called “Sexism, Racism and Other-Isms In Library Materials” which reaffirmed the organizations oppositions to any efforts to remove, restrict, or attach stigmatizing labels to books.” The fact the American Library Association was against it means most librarians are against censorship too. On the same page she goes on, “The ALA did initiate workshops to raise consciousness about racism and sexism, but over the next few years it maneuvered back into its traditional defense of intellectual freedom.” The librarian's jobs is to preserve information, and make sure it's accurate. Publishers “edit” test passages or a textbooks to the
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Censorship Wasn't All-bad: Daniel Wolf The article begins by grabbing the reader's attention to refer to society as “ugliness as beauty, insensitivity is honesty, offense as virtue” (Wolf, 192). The author also states various sentences about freedom throughout the article. The author Daniel Wolf demonstrates us various opinions that may be considered propaganda in today's world. According to Webster's dictionary, propaganda is defined as, “the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person.”

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The American Library Association does not ban or challenge books (Challenges, 1). To ban a book, a committee meets to determine if the book should be banned (Alexander, 1). Even if the committee decides to ban the book, the ban challenge can still go to court. Even if the Supreme Court bans a book, people can still read it because the government can’t take away the people’s first amendment right of freedom of speech, which would include books (Challenges, 1). Also, many people think that students should have the right to read whatever they want to read (Sloan, 1).

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Brennon, Jr. said,” If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.” • Also, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas said, “Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us. • The Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association says in the Library Bill of Rights, that “Librarians and governing bodies should maintain that parents-and only parents- have the right and responsibility to restrict the access of their children-and only their children- to library resources.” • Censorship by librarians for any reason, is a violation of the first amendment

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Book banning is not as common as it is made out to be in the U.S., but it does put a restriction the constitution’s first amendment. To ban a book, in the U.S., from a public or school libraries, for offensive content, a challenge must be made against the book. A challenge can be made by anyone but of the challenges made between “1990 and 2000, there were 6,364 challenges reported... sixty percent were reported by parents, fifteen percent by patrons and nine percent by administrators” (Schools and censorship: Banned Books). Most of these challenges sent to the American Library Association do not get accepted and officially ban the book.

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In today’s day and age, beliefs that people don’t agree with are often covered and hidden from people to avoid hearing something they may disagree with, or find upsetting. We have banned book lists in schools, and news stations give their biased opinions by concealing what people who disagree with them have to say. I believe that censorship is a bad thing, and it limits peoples’ ability to form their own opinions about what they are seeing. “Without libraries, what have we? We have no past and no future.”

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1631 Words | 7 Pages

There are several reasons people want books to be censored in school libraries. Thomas Riggs, an editor for Gale, explains the primary reason books are banned is because

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Megan Flynn Mrs. Kalwasinski Language Arts January 20, 2016 Censorship in School Libraries. Yes or No? Censorship in school libraries is a terrible idea. There are several things wrong with censorship. Such as, it violates amendment rights, takes away students freedoms, and When using censorship it violates student’s amendment rights.

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Censorship is another word for banning, the government/libraries/schools are keeping these books away from the public. Students should be able to read what they please, and they should not be stopped from doing

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That's not to say that books shouldn’t be judged in other aspects such as age appropriate material and explicit language, just as any other type of media would be judged. Seeing other people's points can broaden our own. Looking at other peoples experiences with deep rooted social issues can make us look at our biases and redress where we stand. When discussing who most often challenges books to be considered for banning the American Library Association (2019) states, “Throughout history, more and different kinds of people and groups of all persuasions than you might first suppose, who, for all sorts of reasons, have attempted—and continue to attempt—to suppress anything that conflicts with or anyone who disagrees with their own beliefs.” (American Library Association, 2019) and looking at how polarized America has become, this statement makes sense.

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1018 Words | 5 Pages

Censoring books in libraries is a controversial topic. Some may think all books should be available to be read ,while others believe some books are too inappropriate to be placed in libraries.

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According to ALA, librarian have the professional responsibility to be fair, just, and equitable and to give all library users equal protection in guarding against violation of the library patron’s right to read, view, or listen to materials and resources protected by the First Amendment, no matter what the viewpoint of the author, creator, or selector. If librarians violate this responsibility, then the librarian is also violating the principles put forth in the Library Bill of Rights regarding diverse collection development. It’s the librarian’s sole responsibility to protect the library’s collections from losing materials based on prejudice against certain materials. If a librarian is putting their own views ahead of these principles then they are doing a disservice to their patrons and their library in which they work. Lastly, librarians who do not work hard to provide adequate materials that meet the library community’s needs by following standards and by using established review and selection procedures are also violating these

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709 Words | 3 Pages

Censorship is another word for banning, the government/libraries/schools are keeping these books away from the public. Students should be able to read what they please, and they should not be stopped from doing

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One of the first attempts at censorship was the Communications Decency Act (CDA). It was determined that this act would be a violation of the first and the fifth amendment. Next came the Children's Online Protection Act, also referred to as CDA II which was also rejected because the first amendment’s “least restrictive means” test was not satisfied. Introduced next was the Children’s Internet Protection Act, which made quite a bit of a difference because it was signed into law in 2000 by President Clinton. This act essentially left the issue to be dealt with by schools, private surrogates and libraries to filter questionable content to minors.

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1134 Words | 5 Pages

The movie industry already has a formulated system to rate movies so that viewers are aware which titles to tread catiously around. If books were rated and people were aware which books might have offensive content, those selections could be more easily avoided. An even better way would be to organize library books in sections of expilcit versus nonexplicit novels so that individuals can more easily avoid things that they do not wish to be exposed to. It is important to maintain the freedom to read whatever pleases each individual and the only way that can be accomplished is if libraries are not required to censor their books. It is hard to find a set of books to place within a library that will not offend a single person and therefore, it is reasonable to request that libraries give a clear rating of novels.

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I am undecided for Freedom of Speech. There are plenty of good and bad qualities, and as much as there are pros there are also an equal amount of cons to freedom of speech. According to the first amendment, we the people have the freedom of speech which allows us the right to speak freely without censorship. Freedom of speech is not absolute in any country and the right is commonly subject to limitations, such as on “hate speech”. There are many pros and cons to freedom of speech, which is why I am only discussing three pros and cons, that I find that argues the opposite side, to the point it made me undecided on free speech.

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