Censorship in the English language has become a controversial discussion regarding whether some language should actually be censored or not. Censorship is in language is the suppression of any words or phrases that seem offensive, offensive meaning anything that seems controversial, harmful or vulgar. Everything from art, television, music, media, books, and movies can be censored, where either certain words or phrases or cut out, or entirely replaced with new ones by similar but clean words. Swearing or bad language could include different categories of words. This includes curse words, relating to religion, and slurs concerning homophobia or racism, or a word that is intended to target a specific person or group. Also, vulgar words like ___
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They believe that "censorship of language is often an attempt to control language change, " (pg 435) and takes away human rights and freedom of speech. They explain that "language does not equal thought, so attempts to center thought by censoring language are both misguided and bound to fail" (pg. 439). Censoring language by replacing the word with a less-offensive one, does not neccsarily make it much better, and controlling the words does not always control the thought (443). Many individuals share these thoughts on censored language, because it does not allow for free expression, therefore neglecting basic human rights. A major debate with this if whether language should be censored from children or not. According to Heather Shumaker, censoring your speech in front of your children has two major problems. One being that you "cannot control [their] spoken words" and "banning anything creates an illicit thrill." (Shumaker 2012, 307). She states …show more content…
In arts such as music, movies, and books contain censored sayings, and start controversial conversation. For example, Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain has become a contentious book in today’s society even though it was first published in 1884. This is due to "the use of the word nigger - surely the most inflammatory word in the English Language" (Messent 2011). With this word being used so many times in the novel, "the book has recently repeatedly been judged as unsuitable for school children to study in the US educational system" (Messent 2011). However, a recently new version of the novel has been published, which changes the offensive words to more classroom friendly words. It is understandable that parents and educators would not want the n word being taught in a classroom setting, and being mentioned so many times. Yet, it also would not make much sense changing the words in the novel, and teaching the text, because it would change the meaning the authors intentions. The changing of the novel presents an argument at the same time of why language should, and should not be censored. The N word is extremely offensive and racial, and should not be taught to children, especially in a learning environment. Still, removing that term out of the book changes the effectiveness of the story. Many popular and influential novels such as To Kill a Mockingbird and
They believe that "censorship of language is often an attempt to control language change, " (pg 435) and takes away human rights and freedom of speech. They explain that "language does not equal thought, so attempts to center thought by censoring language are both misguided and bound to fail" (pg. 439). Censoring language by replacing the word with a less-offensive one, does not neccsarily make it much better, and controlling the words does not always control the thought (443). Many individuals share these thoughts on censored language, because it does not allow for free expression, therefore neglecting basic human rights. A major debate with this if whether language should be censored from children or not. According to Heather Shumaker, censoring your speech in front of your children has two major problems. One being that you "cannot control [their] spoken words" and "banning anything creates an illicit thrill." (Shumaker 2012, 307). She states …show more content…
In arts such as music, movies, and books contain censored sayings, and start controversial conversation. For example, Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain has become a contentious book in today’s society even though it was first published in 1884. This is due to "the use of the word nigger - surely the most inflammatory word in the English Language" (Messent 2011). With this word being used so many times in the novel, "the book has recently repeatedly been judged as unsuitable for school children to study in the US educational system" (Messent 2011). However, a recently new version of the novel has been published, which changes the offensive words to more classroom friendly words. It is understandable that parents and educators would not want the n word being taught in a classroom setting, and being mentioned so many times. Yet, it also would not make much sense changing the words in the novel, and teaching the text, because it would change the meaning the authors intentions. The changing of the novel presents an argument at the same time of why language should, and should not be censored. The N word is extremely offensive and racial, and should not be taught to children, especially in a learning environment. Still, removing that term out of the book changes the effectiveness of the story. Many popular and influential novels such as To Kill a Mockingbird and