Freedom Of Speech | Teen Ink

Freedom Of Speech MAG

By Anonymous

   Censorship in America is getting out of control. Who is anyone to tell you or mewhat we can read, watch or listen to? Not only does censorship go directlyagainst the First Amendment, but it undermines our abilities to choose forourselves.

From banning Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, John Steinbeck's Of Miceand Men and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie to putting"Parental Advisory" labels on CDs and tapes, these "holier than thou" censorshave gone too far.

Basically, what they are doing is insulting ourintelligence. No censorship should be allowed in America. Many parents blamemusic and television for the problems they have with their children. But even ifchildren are influenced by what they hear and watch, it is the parents'responsibility to regulate that. They should not be leaving it up to thegovernment to decide. There are too many more important things to worry about.

If you let the government tell you what is good for you now, what arethey going to do next - try to censor your thoughts? "Big Brother" will soon bewatching you. Then when does it stop? Conceivably nowhere. As Charles Bradlaughonce said, "Better a thousand fold abuse of free speech than denial of freespeech. The abuse dies in a day, but the denial stays the life of the people, andentombs the hope of the race."



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This article has 2 comments.


i love this so much!

Helena said...
on Sep. 12 2009 at 4:02 pm
I definately agree with this article. I think it's really well written and I love what you said about the banned books, and the quote at the end was a nice touch.