Category: Censorship

Book Bannings: The Devil’s Work

10/1/2020

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Halloween is a time for tricks and treats, when children--and some adults--run about in costume going door to door and asking for candy. Stories of monsters, ghosts, and witches become easier to believe as people decorate their houses with jack-o-lanterns, cobwebs, and gravestones. There are plenty of ways to get into the spirit of this holiday, including watching movies like Friday the 13th, or the more kid-friendly It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, as well as reading books like the old classic such as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving or a new favorite like Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz.

But Halloween is not for everybody. Though the holiday has become rather secularized, its origins are a mixture of pagan harvest festivals and the Roman Catholic feast days All Saints’ and Souls’ Days; therefore some Orthodox Jews and Muslims do not celebrate the holiday. Other Christian groups also refrain from partaking in Halloween festivities, as they dismiss the day because of its partially pagan beginnings and fear that celebrating Halloween equals celebrating witchcraft or Satanism.

And those attitudes are fine--everyone is entitled to their opinion and to practice their religious beliefs freely. However, when these religious beliefs, especially fears about the occult and witchcraft, involve suppressing people’s access to literature, it becomes a problem.

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White Vernacular English: The Boss of Student Writing

6/1/2018

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Photo: 12news

I’ve taught freshman composition courses for almost two years now, expecting my diverse body of students from multicultural backgrounds to all coalesce and perform to one standard above all others: White Vernacular English (WVE) or White American Vernacular English (WAVE). As writers, we pride ourselves on being open-minded yet authentic, and we hope our students do the same—as long as they adhere to what we consider valid style of writing. Why have the rigid, outdated principles the foundation of college composition was built on not shifted to accept other vernaculars?

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Take A Look. It's In A Book.

12/1/2017

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by Joe Magaletta

There’s a story that makes me uncomfortable. A black man has been accused of raping a white woman. We follow the story of an attorney who goes out of his way to try and prove that the woman is making a false allegation, doubting the victim in this situation. It’s an exploration of bias, the justice system, racial inequality, and compassion. These are all ideas that are worth exploring… But now I’m uncomfortable. Therefore, To Kill a Mockingbird shouldn’t be taught in schools.

This is a growing trend: the fear of being offended, of confronting triggers, of having to question ideas and explore points of view that don’t exactly mesh with our own. The political climate is as heated as ever, and the desire to hear the opposition has died down in favor of preaching to the choir.

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Obscenity In Modern Lit: Where Do We Draw the Line?

3/16/2015

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by Kaitlin Zeilman

Human beings are artistic and creative by nature. There always should be a conduit for fresh ideas not only to enrich the mind, but also to enlarge possibilities for the world in general. Limiting the options for the creative freedom of others never should be considered an option. Does anyone really think a law could have stopped Chopin, Huxley, or Salinger from writing some of the greatest works of our time?

Author Martin C. Dillon from SUNY Binghamton said everyone has different notions of what could be considered obscene. Authors depict or allude to the subject of sexuality or innuendo differently based on personal style, or per each individual body of work. Where do we draw the line for the sake of creative and artistic freedom? Classics such as Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Madame Bovary have been banned from some libraries and schools because of the sexual content, yet these books are considered by many to be highly respected literary art. Where does the gauntlet fall?

Should lawmakers and conservative groups be able to limit what might seemingly be uncomfortable to some, even if such literary works have a message that extends far beyond the face value of the content?