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Censorship
The banning of books, or literary censorship, is nothing new in the. The idea is that there are certain books, works of art, speeches, or entertainment that, through political, religious, or moral means, offend the sensibilities of the general populace and therefore should be removed from public circulation. This can be adopted on a national, regional, or state level; for instance a certain book may be banned from a local library but not be on a censored list for the state or country. In fact, almost every country, at one time or another in its history, placed some sort of restriction on what may or may not be published, printed, or distributed. There are a variety of reasons for this -- materials are often banned due to the perception of obscenity -- sexuality, race, drugs, social standing, or critiques of the government. Governments often ban certain books because they perceive them to contain material that could threaten the legitimacy of that government; or, under the reason that the content is contrary to public safety and sensibility (Skold)....
It is interesting to note that not only does the perception of what is and is not subversive, obscene, or dangerous changes over time based on society and religio-cultural morality. It is rather dependent on the point-of-view -- at various points in history, the Christian Bible has been considered subversive as well, since it promulgates an authority greater than that of the state. Sometimes, even certain ideas that are taught in school are considered "too dangerous" or inappropriate for young people and are censored (e.g. Darwinism, certain literary classics, etc. (Scheilfer).
Analysis - It seems that the real problem and crux of the argument is who has the right to censor and what materials should be censored. It is likely no one would argue that extremely graphic sexual pictures or books are not appropriate for all ages. One might also argue that the nude body is quite different from sexually explicit actions or verbiage -- that the Venus di Milo or David sculptures are as different from pornography as comics are from literature.
Still, the very crux of the argument comes to the central point of censorship -- who must be protected and why must they be protected? Ideas, political, social, or otherwise, may be the most dangerous form of literature ever. For instance, in 19th century autocratic regimes, the ideas of…
REFERENCES
"Book Censorship." March 2009. Lehigh University Celebrates the First. October 2010 <http://www.lehigh.edu/~infirst/bookcensorship.html>.
Day, N. Censorship, or Freedom of Expression? New York: 21st Century Books, 2001.
Scheilfer, M. "Bible Possession Once Banned." April 2002. Hol.com. October 2010 <http://www.hol.com/~mikesch/banned.htm>.
Steffens, B. Censorship. New York: Lucent, 2004.
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Censorship: An Overview and Analysis of Lord of the Flies Censorship involves suppression of intellectual freedom and free speech based on the notion that a work, piece of art or literary masterpiece violates some social or moral order. Lord of the Flies is an example of a literary work that has been censored and that has caused controversy in society for many reasons over time. Lord of the Flies like many
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Important in attempts to ban Bless Me, Ultima, are arguments that the book promotes witchcraft and worship of the devil. The book focuses on Ultima, a curandera, who works with herbs and can heal the sick and exorcise evil. However, it is clear throughout Bless Me, Ultima that the character of Ultima is a force of good, but that she is sometimes mislabeled as a witch. Thus, while witchcraft is