Censorship

What is Censorship?

“What is the purpose of censorship?

Definition

• the practice of officially examining books, movies, etc., and suppressing unacceptable parts.

Where can censorship occur?

Other Terms

• To ban (as in book-banning)
• A challenge
• A ban

Why Censor?

Who Censors?

• Legislators (local, state, federal)
• Members of review boards of any kind (school boards)
• Clergy (priests, ministers, etc.)
• Teachers
• School administrators

Who Censors?

• Librarians
• Parents
• Theaters
• Book stores
• Television Studios

Censorship on the Rise

• Between the years of 1979 and 1984 (5 years), the number of reported challenges went from 300 to 1,000.

Censorship on the Rise

• Romeo and Juliet Hamlet Judy Blume books: Then Again; Maybe I Won’t; Deenie and Blubber The Diary of Anne Frank Of Mice and Men The Catcher in the Rye Huckleberry Finn An issue of Sports Illustrated *Some copies of these particular books showed up in libraries torn to shreds.

Censorship on the Rise

• Between the years of 1990-2000, 6,364 texts were challenged.
• 1,607 – sexually explicit material
• 1,427 – inappropriate language
• 842 – occult theme; promoting occult or Satanism

Censorship on the Rise

• 737 – Violent material
• 515 – homosexual reference
• 419 – religious themes

The First Amendment

• …the basic right to freedom of expression. Congress Shall Make No Law… “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 assembly, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Interpreting the First Amendment

• Supreme Court holds responsibility of interpreting the First Amendment. 1791 – Court heard cases of freedom of speech, freedom of press, and issues of libel and slander, national security, and obscenity.

The Freedom to Read

• Different than the freedom to write.
• Intellectual freedom.
• “Banned Books Week” – 1985
• American Library Association, American Booksellers Association, Association of American Publishers.
• Board of Education v. Pico 1982.

Why Not To Censor?

Here's a Thought

• If all books were banned, or even destroyed for their content, what information or culture would be lost for future generations? Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451. “It was a pleasure to burn” (3). Bradbury: “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get them to stop reading.” Knowledge is power.

What does this mean?

You get to pick !

• Select a banned book from the list of five.
• You can pick another banned book, if you find one you've wanted to read.

Follow the reading guide

• Follow the reading guide for your book while you read.

Write

• At the end you will have to write a detailed essay on why your book should or should not be banned.

All my Single Students!

• You are reading on your own.
• We will come down to the library to read.
• It is your responsibilty to keep up with your reading.
• You have one month.

Questions?

Catcher in the Rye

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

Lord of the Flies

Fahrenheit 451