Art and Book Censorship A person might look at a list of banned books from schools and wonder why. Books and art are challenged or censored because they are seen as offensive or unfit for certain age groups (Gould). Many people want to censor or ban certain books or pieces of art, but censorship isn’t the right thing to please everyone. Censorship of art and books should not be enforced because it intrudes on the rights of a person. “Censorship is when a person or group successfully imposes their values upon others by stifling words, images or ideas and preventing them from reaching the public marketplace of ideas” (Gould). This practice dates all the way back to 399 B.C. (Gould), and since then people have tried to censor things they don’t
…show more content…
“Some 500 titles are challenged annually, amounting to more than 10,000 cases since 1990” (Family Circle). Some adults feel that the “inappropriate books” will somehow shape the way a child will live by giving him/her ideas and they try to restrict the book from the school. Author Grace Chen explains the reason certain books are assigned for reading that parents have tried to ban, “Each text is chosen for a specific grade and age group; therefore, the books serve as a scaffold to slowly guide students to build upon more complicated ideas and realities” (Chen). Yes, censorship prevents children from being exposed to inappropriate content at school, but they won 't be sheltered forever. Kids get older and are exposed to many inappropriate things, so book censorship would be …show more content…
Not all people connect with the art or even see it in an appreciative way. Some art is religiously offensive, racially offensive, has too much nudity, or just makes a person uncomfortable. Censoring the art intrudes on the rights of the artist and the freedom of expression. Things in an art piece that offend someone could speak to another person and inspire them. Most art that gets challenged is a little out of the ordinary and something that is unpopular and it addresses issues that could be controversial. “Art that doesn 't confront is rarely challenged. And ideas that don 't provoke people have little need for protection” (Dority). An example that supports this statement is Andres Serrano 's art piece, "Piss Christ", which is a plastic crucifix dipped in a cup of Andres’s urine. Some people were outraged and religiously offended and others gave it a positive reaction (Frank). Everyone feels a different way about an art piece and if they raise an issue about it, they’re going to be violating the artist’s freedom of
“Some 500 titles are challenged annually, amounting to more than 10,000 cases since 1990” (Family Circle). Some adults feel that the “inappropriate books” will somehow shape the way a child will live by giving him/her ideas and they try to restrict the book from the school. Author Grace Chen explains the reason certain books are assigned for reading that parents have tried to ban, “Each text is chosen for a specific grade and age group; therefore, the books serve as a scaffold to slowly guide students to build upon more complicated ideas and realities” (Chen). Yes, censorship prevents children from being exposed to inappropriate content at school, but they won 't be sheltered forever. Kids get older and are exposed to many inappropriate things, so book censorship would be …show more content…
Not all people connect with the art or even see it in an appreciative way. Some art is religiously offensive, racially offensive, has too much nudity, or just makes a person uncomfortable. Censoring the art intrudes on the rights of the artist and the freedom of expression. Things in an art piece that offend someone could speak to another person and inspire them. Most art that gets challenged is a little out of the ordinary and something that is unpopular and it addresses issues that could be controversial. “Art that doesn 't confront is rarely challenged. And ideas that don 't provoke people have little need for protection” (Dority). An example that supports this statement is Andres Serrano 's art piece, "Piss Christ", which is a plastic crucifix dipped in a cup of Andres’s urine. Some people were outraged and religiously offended and others gave it a positive reaction (Frank). Everyone feels a different way about an art piece and if they raise an issue about it, they’re going to be violating the artist’s freedom of