Censorship In American Culture

Censorship has long been a part of American culture, shaping the overall morals of the people. This is a point made in the excerpt from The Atlantic Monthly as the writer states that some will disagree with something being allowed to be shown in front of children while others believe it should be allowed. This issue is still present to this day and many people maintain very ambiguous opinions on the topic.

These ambiguous opinions are capitalized on in the article as being between moralists and artists; those who believe these artworks being shown is evil and then those who only see the beauty in the works. The writer sums this up well, claiming that “Moralists will justify it for one set of reasons; artists will acede to it for another.”.

Another argument the writer uses is comparing museums with libraries when it comes to reserving certain works. For example, the writer claims that “If a certain book …show more content…
For example, the writer claims that the statue in question was built in a time period when children were not likely to see it as the culture was so different. This claim is capitalized on with the statement “His [the American's] point of view is essentially different from that of the Roman of that earlier day.”, showing that the life of Romans back then had a culture unlike modern America.

Additionally, the writer adds that the opinions of these people all matter as they pay the taxes that keep these museums and libraries running. This statement is shown most clearly as the writer talks of the previously mention American, claiming that “His opinion, therefore, deserves respect, even though he may be, from my point of view, uncultivated, intolerant, and unreasonable.”. This shows how these beliefs do indeed shape how America's public museums and libraries