We witness censorship all around us—whether it’s bleeping out inappropriate words in a movie, stations playing the “clean versions” of songs on the radio, or covering the eyes of children during the kissing scene. However there is a much more alarming form of suppression currently developing in the world, and it’s spreading faster than COVID-19—the censorship of ideas.
Mark Twain was a very controversial author. He published most of his books in the late 1800’s, most notably “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” and the book I just finished reading: “Pudd’nhead Wilson.” Now some context: 1893 was very different from 2020. Slavery was still legal and a widely accepted practice, Racism towards people of color was prevalent and rampant, and Twitter would not be invented for over another century. In many of Mark Twain’s books he portrays black characters and lower-class characters in a positive light, something that was seriously frowned upon by people back in the day. It even led some of Twain’s books like “Huckleberry Finn” to be banned from education curriculums and libraries temporarily.
This leads me back to the main discussion, the censorship of ideas. We see it too often in our society. News companies controlling the narrative and pushing their agendas upon impressionable, uninformed readers, or Social Media companies giving more exposure to a particular topic/idea/trend compared to another of equal caliber. I see no difference in what these corporations are doing today compared to what society did to Mark Twain’s novels back in the 1890’s.
One of the founding principles in the United States of America is the freedom of expression. It’s what separated us from other countries and is the reason why we are the best country today. Strong language and conflicting ideas are what got us here and as technology makes discussion and conversation more accessible and global, restrictions are being implemented to advance or suppress ones idea. This cannot be tolerated. It’s very dangerous to not see all points of view and be unable think for yourself. We must fight to preserve this freedom of speech and not ban any songs, books, music or anything of the sort. (Also no bowdlerization because thats not cool)
While headlines are dominated by the the coronavirus and the upcoming election, the conversation regarding censorship has taken a backseat. and we must not allow this to happen as it is very dangerous and can ruin everything.
Great American Novels 2020 
I agree with your message about preventing censorship. It’s important to examine multiple sides of each issue and I think restricting opinions that might clash with the status quo is not the ideal way to handle things. Without being able to discuss issues we will never be able to create understanding.
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Brooks thank you for shining light on this very serious issues. If censorship becomes unchecked, people will be completely blindsided when things are inevitably revealed (as secrets are hardly ever kept for good) and censoring things could cause more harm than good.
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With everything going on in the world today, this issue (censorship) is not being talked about as much as much as it should. Everyone should be able to hear everyones opinion, and there should be no limitation on what your opinion can and cannot be. It is your opinion, not anyone else’s so they shouldn’t be able to ban or take away your thoughts, ideas, and sayings. People need to be aware of the world we live in, and if we limit/ban opinions, people will never truly understand the idea/thought/saying.
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I think this is something people don’t speak up on and I’m really glad I came upon this. I think this problem has definitely became a lot worse with social media especially this past decade. In some countries this problem has come up a lot more especially with corona.
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