Essay on Censorship in Canada

Submitted By luisxciv
Words: 1181
Pages: 5
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Luis Garcia Calzada
9/August/2014
EAC150
Anna Aimsworth

Book Censorship Censorship is the practice of suppression of speech, public information and communication, harmful, sensitive or politically incorrect. ("Censorship", 2014) Whatever is censored or not is often determined by authorities which in most cases are the government. Books can either be banned at a national or subnational level; they are often challenged at a local community level. When books are banned in a community level is often due to the high amount of pornography and vulgarity. Parents tend to overreact to the content expressed in books. For example "The Perks of Being A Wallflower" was recently challenged in the United States because the book contained "41 instances of inappropriate content for teens, such as molestation in graphic detail, a teenage boy having sex with a dog and a boyfriend punching a girl hard in the face." (Audet, Dean 1). There seems to be no difference between this content and the types of content kids are exposed to when watching T.V. at anything later than 9pm. Books have been banned throughout the times; we can look all the way back to the Roman Empire or the Royal Library of Alexandria all the way to today where books like “Clockwork Orange” or “Animal Farm”. Reasons for book burning or banning are either vulgarity or material that could threaten, embarrass or criticize the governments (Ockerboom, John). Books can be published by anyone, therefore all sorts of political views and opinions are going to be spread around. They might be right or wrong, but the fact that they can publish whatever they like is a threat to every government in the world. National book banning shouldn’t be allowed, reason is it violates freedom of speech, specifically the first amendment of the US Constitution, which states that “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.” (U.S. Constitution. Art./Amend. 1, Sec. 1.) This creates an issue on why are books being banned when the US Constitution says that you are free to publish whatever written text you want. Even if the ideas in the book are a threat to national security the people have the right to read, analyze and if so for the individual to “peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”. (U.S. Constitution. Art./Amend. 1, Sec. 1.) The only types of Governments that ban books are authoritarian. “The control of information is something the elite always does, particularly in a despotic form of government. Information, knowledge, is power. If you can control information, you can control the people.” (Anonymous). Knowledge is Power, that is the only you can be certain about in this world. The people who read are often given information that they might have been missing out. That way you could take into consideration points of that you may have not considered before. Clockwork Orange is an example of the violent, pornographic and objectionable language story. It shows us the point of view of Alex, a rapist and a murderer who goes through a revolutionary psychological treatment. Clockwork Orange has put up a lot of controversy regarding the film, not the book. The film was banned in the United Kingdom due to its link to a series of violent crimes back in 1971. "The first was the murder of a tramp by a 16-year-old youth; the second involved another 16-year-old youth who, dressed in the film’s distinctive gang uniform, stabbed a younger boy; the third was the brutal and horrific gang rape of a Dutch girl by a group of youths from Lancashire, as they sang “Singin’ in the Rain”. (‘Still ticking', The Story Behind Stanley Kubrick's Ban On A Clockwork Orange"). This followed to threats and warnings from the police over revenge attacks,
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