Most believe he was not the first to be punished for actions like these because censorship in these times was looked at as benevolent to the public. The invention of the printing press made the demand for censorship even higher because it gave people the ability to better express their opinion and views which weren’t always appropriate in the eyes of some. Censorship became more and more common throughout history due to the multiple forms of media being introduced. countries all over the world had different severity levels when it came to censorship for example Australia had full censorship until 1823 while South Africa passed a law to secure rights to publishing freedom. In the 19th and 20th century people’s opinion of offensive literature had not changed, they still expected libraries to filter out the things viewed as obscene or …show more content…
European newspapers were subject to strict censorship during this time, in fact the arrest of journalists and containment of newspapers was all too common. Libraries were relied on to censor a large range of books, mainly young readers’ books. In places like Norway and Sweden books authors publishers and books were closely monitored. (Newth) One of the most shocking scenarios of this is when Mark Twain’s book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was banned in 1885 in the Concord Public Library. Even with the Library Bill of Rights in place people claiming that they represent parents or a certain religious group are still demanding books of questionable content to be removed from libraries. Libraries have been targeted by censorship ever since ancient times having book collections, even entire libraries, being destroyed due to censorship. Once T.V. and movies came along they too began immediate censorship according to the acceptable views at that time. Some examples of shows that were attacked by censorship are Star Trek 9, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Civil War Journal, and The Untouchables. Reasoning for theses attacks are because they were seen as too violent and they affected the mentality of the viewer but there is no scientific proof to prove these statements because just as easily as one could say violent shows cause violence in people you could also say violent people just prefer violent