The first amendment—it protects our right to discuss and share ideas without the threat of being persecuted for what we believe. But the first amendment doesn’t protect all speech, and to extend that, media. Hate speech, speech that incites violence (“fighting words”), support of terrorism, copywrited language, defamation, are all types of speech that aren’t protected under the first amendment.
Yet, dangerous speech hasn’t always been recognized in history. Conversely, speech that should be protected by the first amendment is often accused of spreading harmful ideas and is censored. Take Catcher in the Rye, for example. From 1960 to as recent as 2009, countless school boards have banned the book for its profanity, for being “anti-white”, for its violence and sexual references. The book Grapes of Wrath has been banned for “taking the Lord’s name in vain” and having profanity, and has been banned from public and school libraries. In 1981, the book 1984 was banned in Florida for being “pro-communist” and explicit.
Gerald Allen, an Alabama Representative, proposed certain legislation that would restrict public libraries to use public funds to buy books that “recognize or promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle”. All books with gay protagonists or any content that encouraged the idea that homosexuality is natural would be removed and destroyed from libraries, universities, and schools. This was in 2005, and the measure died without enough representatives to vote on it.
Many of these books have been banned in order to promote certain religious, and societal ideals. These views align with homophobia, and the desire to keep ideas of promiscuity and profanity from public view. It’s censorship, and it’s not something that we can shove in the past, or claim that it doesn’t happen or affect us.
Banning books isn’t something that has to do with protecting dangerous ideas from spreading. It’s done to protect the conservative views held by those who don’t want the country to change. Take the Turner Diaries: a book that shows systematically how a group of far-right extremists take over the U.S. to exterminate all “non-whites”. The Turner Diaries has been banned in Germany since 2006. The same can’t be said for America. How is it that countless books that are said to be protected under the first amendment have been banned from public spaces, and yet the book that’s inspired bombings and attacks across the nation has remained impervious to attack?
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/10/a-short-history-of-book-banning/
https://lithub.com/the-history-and-present-of-banning-books-in-america/
http://www.freedomtoread.ca/links-and-resources/bannings-and-burnings-in-history/#.XXvUd5NKjOQ
https://www.business2community.com/social-media/7-things-the-first-amendment-doesnt-protect-0129234
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/classics
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1995/04/25/the-book-of-hate/eb6d5812-0adf-4757-80f8-e5d9e8ccb5c0/
I think most of the books banned were ones that kids would be reading in schools ie: grapes of wrath harry potter catcher and the rye. While I do not believe these should have been banned I can see why the turner diaries could squeak by. I think those banning books are more concerned of the effects of those books on impressionable youth who are still forming their beliefs.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Evelyn, in the sense that many of these books are banned in schools and public libraries, which are places children and adolescents go often. These places want to "protect" their kids from the "bad" things in life, like homosexuality, promiscuity, and curse words, so they ban books with those topics. Or, they might ban books that do not promote what they stand for like God or white superiority etc. I believe that schools have the right to censor books, but not libraries. Libraries are the places to go when you can't find a certain book in your school library. They are supposed to be unbiased places to find books on every topic, and sadly people are trying to control that. However, I think peoples focus on trying to align the books people are able to read with "American" values, detracts from what should be their true focus - finding books that promote unfathomable ideas. Like the Turner Diares. People's focus is so misaligned in censoring books, and it needs to change, from less of people's personal values and opinions to more of what is proven to be dangerous to society.
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ReplyDeleteIf we were to apply censorship to books, should we also supply it to other sources of media, such as video games or websites? We saw with the White Nationalist Documentary that social media such as Reddit can also lead to violent actions. Libraries and other public facilities contain free WiFi and access to the internet as well, so would allowing access to these sites also fall under this umbrella? While some degree of restriction for youth is justified (it might not be good to give a five-year old a book filled with death and drug-use), it might be arguable that actually implementing is just too complicated to be worth it. Another approach is to leave censorship up to the discretion of parents, but this also brings into question if its the parent's bias or true concern for their child that decides what they allow their child to read.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting but I also agree with Evelyn that the books that they did banned it was books that only kids were reading and it might have been something that wasn't meant for them. They did the right thing of banding the books because this is there kids might have got inappropiate things or words. In the part I am still confused about is why they banned books due to religion I understand that every person has different beliefs but they didn't have to read the books.
ReplyDeleteThere is never a reason to ban any books, we all have the right to decide what book we read, and if you ban books you are limiting the rights of every American. We all need to decide on what books we read, and if some books are hidden and taken away from us we will never be able to understand what those books have as a theme. The best way to find out what you do and don't agree with is to read everything and make your own mind up while not taking anything too seriously.
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