Censorship. The definition of the word is to suppress things deemed objectionable, or offensive towards good taste or manners, which at times is necessary. Children shouldn’t be hearing curse words, because –well they just shouldn’t, but they definitely don’t need to be repeating the words. Kids should also be safe from nudity. Too much censorship is where the harm is being done though. In schools, kids aren’t being taught certain topics that can eventually lead toward ignorance.
In public school, I was not taught much about other religions, which in part is expected because we’re expected to accept people. But it did just the opposite. By not learning about other religions, we blindly shut it away as "different." For example, many Americans don’t really know what being Islamic means, and many people have even mistaken Muslim for being a race and not the term given to people of Islamic faith.
Now I’m not Muslim myself, so I don’t want to speak too much on the subject. But I’m also not a Christian or Catholic. Yet, religion isn’t even the epicenter of the problem, though.
Sexuality is something that needs to be taught in school. So many people still think that being gay, bisexual, lesbian or trans or anything else is all a choice. Which for anyone who decides to research it, will find that science has shown that, it is in fact not a choice. So many kids who are in fact members of the LGBTQ+ community do not have access to the information in school. They have to question it on their own, or through the internet.
It’s the same with plenty of other "controversial" subjects. Why aren’t students being taught the things that will impact their lives?
On top of it all, our society as a whole is censoring a lot of other things as well.
In some states there are banned books like “1984,” “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Fahrenheit 451.” All of these literary classics have important messages to share and have been banned in plenty of places. Knowledge deserves to be unrestricted, and by censoring it, you create close minded individuals.
The government censors certain threats that we receive because they don’t want to worry the public needlessly. This relates to what the media decides to show us, and what they like to keep hidden as well. However, if any of these threats seem viable, we have a right to know.
I’m not saying censorship isn’t good at all, though. Again, certain things should be restricted. Individuals shouldn’t shout “bomb,” in an airplane for example. It’s meant to protect people. Censorship has its time and place.
As a journalist at my school, there were certain limits to what we could discuss and what was deemed appropriate. I couldn’t talk about things that could make the school look bad or were bad for the learning environment, which is completely understandable.
If the U.S. really wants to create a more accepting society, there needs to be access to other views and opinions. If we don’t understand something, we grow to fear it.
