Defending Intellectual Freedom: The Battle Against Censorship

1. Censorship

2. Censorship Knowledge is powerful, dangerous, and deadly!

3. What is intellectual freedom? The right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. American Library Association

4. Fact: Intellectual Freedom is a right guaranteed by theFirst Amendment of the United States Constitution.

5. 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... Bill of Rights, 1791

6. First Amendment RightsInclude • the freedom to express one’s opinionevenif that opinion might be considered unpopular. • the freedom to choose what to read

7. “If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the Government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.” Supreme Court Justice William Brennan

8. What is Censorship? The suppression of ideas and information that certain individuals and groups find objectionable or dangerous.

9. Censorship results in: • the removal, or restricted access to literary, artistic, or educational materials including: • images, • ideas, • information • on the grounds that these are morally or otherwise objectionable

10. Whatare the most frequently censored materials?

12. 2 Ways Censorship HappensBook ChallengeBook Banning

13. What is a book challenge? An attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. American Library Association

14. What is book banning? The removal of materials from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others. American Library Association

15. What is the difference between a Challenge and a Banning? Challenge = the attemptto remove or restrict access to materials. Banning = theremoval of those materials

16. What are the most common reasons that books are banned? • Sexual content • Offensive Language • Political grounds • Religious grounds • Violence

17. Why are books challenged? Books are usually challenged with the best intentions- to protect others, frequently children, from difficult ideas and information.

18. Isn’t there some stuff that should be censored? Yes. Some of following are not protected by the First Amendment. • Obscenity • Pornography • Information essential to national security • Hate Speech

19. Why Should I Care If People Ban Books ? It’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers. Judy Blume

20. The Temperature at which Books Burn ~ A book about censorship that was censored

21. A stand can be made against invasion by an army; no stand can be made against invasion by an idea. Victor Hugo “Histoire d’un Crime”

29. Germany, 1933

30. U. S. A. 1982

31. Censorship around the World

33. Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you’re going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953

34. What do you think?