Silence!

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
-The First Amendment

To censor something is to “remove or prohibit anything considered obscene, libelous, politically objectionable, etc” (Webster's new world college dictionary, 2004, p. 237).

When you look at the two statements above, one contradicts the other. When something is censored (books, movies, music, etc.) any thought of freedom of speech and the press is completely diminished. Therefore, censorship violates the 1st Amendment. Now, I understand there are things that offend people, but who is to say one thing that one person finds offensive is offensive to another person?

I also understand parents are concerned for their children, but a library should not deny other children the right to read a book just because one parent finds the content offensive. That brings me to a fact that astonished me: the Harry Potter series of books are the most challenged books of the 21st century (Harry Potter tops list of most challenged books of 21st century, 2006). Harry Potter excites children (as well as adults, I might add) and incites the use of their imaginations; how can this book be considered evil?

Censoring a child’s (or anyone’s for that matter) right to information and imagination is unconscionable. The thought of a world where everyone thinks the same and where the government regulates information frightens me. Information and ideas are what make life interesting. How can you deny someone the right to enjoy life and get the most out of it?

American Library Association. (2006, September 21). Harry Potter tops list of most challenged books of 21st century. Retrieved March 10, 2008, from http://www.ala.org/ala/pressreleases2006/september2006/harrypottermostchallenge.cfm.

Webster's new world college dictionary. (M. Agnes, Ed.) (4th ed.). (2004). Cleveland, OH: Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Librarian shirt

It's been far too long since I've posted anything, so I wanted to start off light. This is a shirt that was being sold on http://www.tshirthell.com/. I don't think they have it anymore, but it just made me laugh. If you go to the site, be aware that a lot of the shirts are vulgar. There's also a great one with the First Amendment, but I didn't think it was appropriate to post (ha!).

:)
Sarah

First Poll

Hi everyone! Thanks for participating in my little poll. I wanted to start off very broad, with the First Amendment, because I feel a lot of people don't truly appreciate what it means to us as U.S. citizens. Without freedom of speech, there wouldn't be very many books, let alone a need for libraries as we know them. I found this site while researching for our Chronology paper and thought it was interesting to peruse.

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/about.aspx?item=about_firstamd

Be back soon!

:)
Sarah