Censorship

Let’s look at censorship and how it pertains to the censorship of books.

Censorship is defined by Cambridge University as follows:

the action of preventing part or the whole of a book, film, work of art, document, or other kind of communication from being seen or made available to the public, because it is considered to be offensive or harmful, or because it contains information that someone wishes to keep secret, often for political reasons.

It is further defined by a quick search > “Censorship blocks something from being read, heard, or seen. If you've ever heard the sound of bleeping when someone is speaking on television, that's censorship. To "censor" is to review something and to choose to remove or hide parts of it that are considered unacceptable.”

The Squeaky Wheels have vehemently stated time and time again “THIS IS NOT A BOOK BAN OR CENSORSHIP” and yet don’t seem to understand that... it is. By definition, it is.

Limiting the availability of information from people is censorship. Attempting to move, stop, or remove materials from our SCRL libraries is censorship. Changing the access that others have to information, books, etc, is censorship.

And as always, let’s remember, that just because they’re loud, doesn’t mean they are right.

You cannot take away from all, to suit the desire of some. THAT IS CENSORSHIP. There is no way around it.

Simply because THEY think that this material is unacceptable, doesn’t make it so. Let’s remember, LIBRARIES ARE FOR EVERYONE, and if there is just one person who wants that material, it needs to be made available to them.

We don’t support censorship. Because when we remove access to one book, what's next? Where is the line?

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse