Government Censorship in America.


“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise there of; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peacefully assemble, and to petition the government fir a redress of grievances.” The first amendment to the Bill of Rights is a strong one. It protects our rights to openly practice any religion, gives us the freedom of speech and press, and protects our rights to peacefully protest.

Why then is it that the Government tries to control what we listen to, read, or watch? Should they have that right? (Boaz 2)

When parents go to a school or public library and demand that a certain author, book, or genre be taken off the shelves, the opposing group has the First Amendment to back them up. Just because a group of people don’t want “graphic” novels with topics such as abuse, drugs, violence and other controversial topics available to any kids doesn’t mean that everyone thinks like that. Some would argue that keeping the books on the shelves is a good thing because kids reading the material can raise their awareness to the situations, and just how dangerous they are. On the other hand, books such as the Harry Potter series are censored, or banned, for having witchcraft.

(Books Hook 1) What happened to our right to the freedom of religion under the First Amendment?

Here’s a popular topic: Religion in school. The apathy of certain religions in text books, school studies, and on television have created a sense of resistance to religious tolerance and created unnecessary prejudice of the religions as well. (Hechinger 13) For instance, a lot of times religion studies are included in the curriculum for world geography classes, but they usually exclude Christianity, Atheism, and Satanism. We are proven more resistant to the religions, and more uncomfortable talking about them especially in public places. If we treated these religions the same as the other ones, it wouldn’t be such a big deal. We also have to realize that just because of what people believe does not make them less of a person.



Many issues of censorship, which average an increase of 35% every four years (Hechinger 1), have to do with art. The main issue? People thinking that artistic nude paintings and photography is the same thing as porn. Whether it be art or porn is up for a person to decide. If there is an exhibit with it, you can simply choose to go or not to, instead of trying to ban and censor it for everyone. Another type of art that is being censored is graffiti as a political statement.

It has a negative connotation, but only because

street artist do it on public property, or private property that is not their own. If they did it on there own property, there wouldn’t be as big of a problem. (Goldstein 2) There is an exhibit called “Art Crimes” where artist can graffiti all they want and it travels around America for everyone to see.



Television and media is another main issue of censorship. Some people’s ideas of “corrupt” or “explicit” materials differ from others. Some believe media is the cause of actual violence. Hundreds of studies show that there is little correlation between it, believe it or not. (Burns 12) Along with television goes internet censorship. One cause of this is greed. The Children’s Internet Protection Act was passed to filter “harmful” sites in public schools. The E-rate annually gives schools 2.4 billion to schools to censor certain cites. Blocking sites too mature for certain age children is understandable, but when schools start blocking game sites, art sites, and even some educational sites just because they are getting paid to, you know something is wrong.



Cyber-pedophiles are an issue correlating to censorship as well. Internet censorship was also introduced to help protect against online pedophiles, but the number of people affected by these pedophiles, but David Finkelhor, the director of the group “Crimes against Children Research Center” the number of online incidents including stalking, kidnapping and rape because of internet pedophiles is nothing compared to the other sexual crimes against minors. Just like almost everything you hear in the censored media, this too is an exaggerated message.



In the years 1947 – 1954, everyone was afraid that communists were leaking into America. This was called the Red Scare. If someone did so much as point a finger, you could be stripped of your job, your life, everything, even if there was no proof. There were people who even tried to blame Roosevelt for making pro-soviet moves. This type of censorship, where just because someone let censorship get out of hand, is dangerous. We can’t let censorship overrun us like this again.



For this to happen, we need to realize that censorship CAN be offensive and use our rights protected by the First Amendment. We can help the issues by reading banned books, buying banned records (which at one point even included the Beatles). There is the American Civil Liberties Union you can write to. Censorship is NOT protecting us, its keeping us tunnel minded.



Remember this. If you truly want to believe in something, you have to know why you don’t believe in something else.

If everyone was close-minded and censored all the other options, how do you truly know what you believe?

Tragic things happen, and it's never a good thing when they do. Recently, a friend of mine made the decision to commit suicide. I'll never get to see him again, and I just wish I could tell him how much he is missed here, and how much everyone loves him. His memorial service is tonight, and I'm more sad than ever that he is no longer with us. His decision was his own, and while I dont agree with what he did, it doesnt make him less of a person or a friend.

May he RIP.

A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare...one of my favorite plays of all time....

"So we grew together,
Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,
But yet an union in partition."

"The course of true love never did run smooth."

"Night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast,
And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger;
At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and there,
Troop home to churchyards."

"Cupid is a knavish lad,
Thus to make poor females mad." (AMEN to that one!!)

"The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man's hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream was."

"O hell! to choose love with another's eye."

"Lord, what fools these mortals be!"

This is truly an awesome play. I think you should read it!