Censorship1 essays

Censorship1 essays The freedom to read is essential to the democratic way of life. But today, that freedom is under attack. Private groups and public authorities everywhere are working to remove both books and periodicals from sale, to exclude certain books from public schools, to censor and silence magazines and newspapers, and to limit "controversial" books and periodicals to the general public. The suppression of reading materials is suppression of creative thought. Books and periodicals are not the only ones being suppressed by pressures to the political and social systems. They are also being brought against the educational system, films, radio, television, and against the graphic and theatre arts. However or whenever these attacks occur, they usually fall at least one of the following categories: Religion War Sociology Language Inappropriate Adolescent Behaviour What is Obscenity? Clearly something hard to talk about constructively. "Obscenity" is difficult to discuss honestly. After all, what makes a thing obscene? It is Something too vague perhaps to be defined. It's an elusive term we use, but can't explain. Different people often see things differently. Some see obscenity in nude pictures, statues, paintings, etc. While others find less obscenity in these things. All the same, "obscene" isn't the same as "wrong" or "bad". Clearly obscenity is not identical with evil. It only covers a single segment of it. But what is that segment? A look at the words "obscenity" and "pornography" suggests that it is a segment that didn't worry people very much till relatively recently. Though censorship was known in english law quite early on, ...