Censorship impacts many people including, authors, publishers, readers, and educators. All four of these groups suffer negative consequences because of censorship and lose out on the freedom of choice. The United States pride’s itself on the First Amendment which offers the freedom of speech, religion, press, petition, and assembly which is the exact opposite of censorship. Censorship is a disservice with only negative effects and impacts many areas. Authors and readers receive more negative effects but publishers and educators receive those negative effects as well.
EducatorsEducators use literature as teaching tools and novels are highly educational. Students learn from the various themes and ideas novels portray and educators have the opportunity to use books to teach. When a novel is banned, educators can longer use that book in class even though the book may be a classic novel containing necessary topics students must learn about. Parents try to protect their children from reading books containing inappropriate language, sexual references, or racism but you can’t protect your children forever and these books are educational and a classroom setting is an excellent place for educators to teach and offer a proper way to discuss these topics.
Librarians
Librarians are caught in the middle of censorship. They have the responsibility of supplying readers with the books they want to read but at the same time they also have the responsibility to remove books that contain controversial material that has been deemed acceptable.
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ReadersReaders suffer the greatest effects of censorship. Readers lose the freedom to choose what they read and also lose the opportunity to learn about other time periods or cultures which are found in novels. Censorship takes an individual’s freedom to read what they like away which is not right, especially when the First Amendment is in place, giving citizens the freedom of speech. Authors write using specific diction according to that time period or specific to that culture’s language. While some may find the language inappropriate, many enjoy reading novels like that and because of censorship, they lose that option. There is a message, idea, or theme behind every novel, some of these may seem racy but when a novel is challenged, readers lose the opportunity to read about subjects which interest them. Censorship takes away a person’s freedom to
read what they choose, which creates an uneducated society. Readers feel the most effects of censorship and suffer greatly. The biggest loss reader’s experience is the lack of freedom and choice which is something every individual has the right to. |
Sources:
AntEyeTheist. " Support Free Speech, Fight Censorship and FALSE DMCAs - YouTube ." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49tKAVf4UUs>.
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"Redirect Notice." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://www.google.com/imgres?q=censored&hl=en&biw=1191&bih=445&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=dgnYZNnGzNi6cM:&imgrefurl=http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-52482082/stock-photo-abstract-grunge-rubber-stamp-shape-with-the-word-censored-jpg.html&docid=ZaeH4__ozy_TgM&imgurl=http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/212932/212932,1273145979,1/stock-photo-abstract-grunge-rubber-stamp-shape-with-the-word-censored-jpg-52482082.jpg&w=450&h=430&ei=sXDWTv-vDsyOsALGvtCeDw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur
AntEyeTheist. " Support Free Speech, Fight Censorship and FALSE DMCAs - YouTube ." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49tKAVf4UUs>.
"First Amendment | LII / Legal Information Institute." LII | LII / Legal Information Institute. N.p., 19 Aug. 2010. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. <http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/First_amendment
"Redirect Notice." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Censorship&hl=en&gbv=2&biw=1191&bih=445&tbm=isch&tbnid=Njl_3uHImqkzhM:&imgrefurl=http://www.streamingoldies.com/modules.php%3Fname%3DNews%26file%3Dprint%26sid%3D1988&docid=Fm4qZuvAmiNM6M&imgurl=http://www.streamingoldies.com/content-images/pso5/1114-censorship.jpg&w=300&h=300&ei=YmrWTpdPiqywAse8gboP
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"Redirect Notice." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://www.google.com/imgres?q=censored&hl=en&biw=1191&bih=445&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=dgnYZNnGzNi6cM:&imgrefurl=http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-52482082/stock-photo-abstract-grunge-rubber-stamp-shape-with-the-word-censored-jpg.html&docid=ZaeH4__ozy_TgM&imgurl=http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/212932/212932,1273145979,1/stock-photo-abstract-grunge-rubber-stamp-shape-with-the-word-censored-jpg-52482082.jpg&w=450&h=430&ei=sXDWTv-vDsyOsALGvtCeDw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur