Questions Regarding Banning
1) What are the risks of censorship?
There are many opinions about the degree of censorship that should take place in our society, including books, media, and the internet. While some people believe they should be strictly censored, that runs a lot of risks. The first risk is it "takes away" out right to practice the First Amendment. If you are told what you can and cannot read and write about, that go against our rights as American citizens. Another risk of censorship is not being able to understand how things are in different cultures or in the past. If something was wrote about another culture that our society frowns upon people will want it to be censored but that restricts what we can learn and be able to realize how things are in reality. An example of that is the book To Kill a Mockingbird, The book is based in the Depression era, where certain racial terms were accepted but now would be unacceptable by our society. It also teaches us how far we have come within history.
2) What are the rewards of censorship?
Like stated above, people have different opinions about censorship. One reward of censorship is it protects children's innocence. There is a saying that is "Ignorance is Bliss." Sometimes not knowing about something is better than knowing about it and this applies greatly to children. There are a lot of bad things in the world that children shouldn't know about until they get older or their parents make the decision to tell them about it. Censorship also protects us from bad influences. If there is a lot of alcohol and drug use, and/or sexual activity that is portrayed in a positive manner, it sometimes influences people to do and act the same way which may cause a disturbance in society. When abusive scene could occur, censorship can prevent some people from being offended. The censorship could completely cut out the abusive scene or minimize what is shown/told.
6) Is censorship in school a good thing?
I believe that censorship in school is a necessary thing. Although I believe that the degree of censorship should depend on maturity and age. I believe that most would agree when I say that a child in elementary school doesn't need to be exposed to the same things students in high school.It's the same reason people put ratings on movies. As we get older, we mature and we can accept the facts of reality, think more freely, and create our own opinions about certain topic. One thing that is often censored in public schools, are things that are related to religion. As Americans, we have the right to religious freedom, so it would be unfair for public schools that are ran by the government to try convert a child to one's religion or to influence them to think one way or another about a religion.
7) Is censorship in libraries and other government buildings a good thing?
When it comes to censorship in libraries and other government buildings I do not believe it is a good thing. We should be allowed to read anything that we choose, and the government ran libraries should support that, since the First Amendment allows it. If the government starts to censor and control what we can read it can develop into a negative situation. An alternative solution could to have a rating on the book. The rating could be much like how movies are rated. I think it could prevent people becoming offended from what they read, if people already have a small idea what could occur in the book. Its sorta like a warning, if people can't handle the sensitive or negative situations then they would know not to read the books that have a high rating or warning on it.
8) Is it necessary to ban books from certain settings?
I believe that it is necessary to ban books from certain settings. One example of a setting is a children's library. Although most of the books that have been challenged are above a child's reading level they still shouldn't be able to have access to certain books that have explicit content on it. Another setting where there should be banned books is in schools. Like stated before I think that an elementary student shouldn't be exposed to what a high school student is exposed to. A lot of it is because of life experience, knowledge, and maturity. It should be the parents decision for when their kid should learn about certain things.
9) Whose duty is it to determined what is acceptable and unacceptable?
I believe that whose duty that it is to determine what is acceptable and unacceptable depends on what the setting is. For example, in a school I believe that it should be a mixture of parents and teachers. I think that its really important for the parents to have a say because it is their kid that is reading the material or not reading it. Now if it is a library I believe that it should be a choice of the people and a small committee of people from the town and librarians.That way you have the voice of the people but you also have someone who is more experienced in the subject.
There are many opinions about the degree of censorship that should take place in our society, including books, media, and the internet. While some people believe they should be strictly censored, that runs a lot of risks. The first risk is it "takes away" out right to practice the First Amendment. If you are told what you can and cannot read and write about, that go against our rights as American citizens. Another risk of censorship is not being able to understand how things are in different cultures or in the past. If something was wrote about another culture that our society frowns upon people will want it to be censored but that restricts what we can learn and be able to realize how things are in reality. An example of that is the book To Kill a Mockingbird, The book is based in the Depression era, where certain racial terms were accepted but now would be unacceptable by our society. It also teaches us how far we have come within history.
2) What are the rewards of censorship?
Like stated above, people have different opinions about censorship. One reward of censorship is it protects children's innocence. There is a saying that is "Ignorance is Bliss." Sometimes not knowing about something is better than knowing about it and this applies greatly to children. There are a lot of bad things in the world that children shouldn't know about until they get older or their parents make the decision to tell them about it. Censorship also protects us from bad influences. If there is a lot of alcohol and drug use, and/or sexual activity that is portrayed in a positive manner, it sometimes influences people to do and act the same way which may cause a disturbance in society. When abusive scene could occur, censorship can prevent some people from being offended. The censorship could completely cut out the abusive scene or minimize what is shown/told.
6) Is censorship in school a good thing?
I believe that censorship in school is a necessary thing. Although I believe that the degree of censorship should depend on maturity and age. I believe that most would agree when I say that a child in elementary school doesn't need to be exposed to the same things students in high school.It's the same reason people put ratings on movies. As we get older, we mature and we can accept the facts of reality, think more freely, and create our own opinions about certain topic. One thing that is often censored in public schools, are things that are related to religion. As Americans, we have the right to religious freedom, so it would be unfair for public schools that are ran by the government to try convert a child to one's religion or to influence them to think one way or another about a religion.
7) Is censorship in libraries and other government buildings a good thing?
When it comes to censorship in libraries and other government buildings I do not believe it is a good thing. We should be allowed to read anything that we choose, and the government ran libraries should support that, since the First Amendment allows it. If the government starts to censor and control what we can read it can develop into a negative situation. An alternative solution could to have a rating on the book. The rating could be much like how movies are rated. I think it could prevent people becoming offended from what they read, if people already have a small idea what could occur in the book. Its sorta like a warning, if people can't handle the sensitive or negative situations then they would know not to read the books that have a high rating or warning on it.
8) Is it necessary to ban books from certain settings?
I believe that it is necessary to ban books from certain settings. One example of a setting is a children's library. Although most of the books that have been challenged are above a child's reading level they still shouldn't be able to have access to certain books that have explicit content on it. Another setting where there should be banned books is in schools. Like stated before I think that an elementary student shouldn't be exposed to what a high school student is exposed to. A lot of it is because of life experience, knowledge, and maturity. It should be the parents decision for when their kid should learn about certain things.
9) Whose duty is it to determined what is acceptable and unacceptable?
I believe that whose duty that it is to determine what is acceptable and unacceptable depends on what the setting is. For example, in a school I believe that it should be a mixture of parents and teachers. I think that its really important for the parents to have a say because it is their kid that is reading the material or not reading it. Now if it is a library I believe that it should be a choice of the people and a small committee of people from the town and librarians.That way you have the voice of the people but you also have someone who is more experienced in the subject.