Why out of all things, would I decide to post something about the freedom of speech? Simple: I work (live rather) in a library, and having the freedom to print and post your opinions is a God given right (just a phrase). It is amazing for me to think that we live in this wonderous age of technology, where all information is a click away, we can see people instantly, THE WORLD OVER, and that we can become the most educated humans ever to have lived! Even more amazing are the people who prefer to remain ignorant and spiteful of this great gambit of society. There are organizations that are supposed to represent the root of the ideas of liberalism-literally, "the belief in the written word," and not just agree to challenge printed books from being publicly accessed, but to outright BAN these marks of society from the public altogether!
Now this sounds overly dramatic, but this is my life, and it is drama to me. I believe that everyone has their rights to express their opinions openly, and without criticism so long as it doesn't harm people. Now this is a bit tricky to justify because how do you claim harm or expression? Well harm is easy, because I mean physical harm, forcing someone against their will. Not this "I really don't like those pictures of naked people, and it hurts me to look at them." Nobody forces you to see it, and if it offends you that much, turn a blind eye. I mean if someone were to murder another because they were of a different race, and the previous person wanted to prove that race was weaker. That isn't speech, that's another class of expression entirely. Opinion though, that to me means any artistic or intelligent expression. So art, writing, public or private speaking, music etc... I understand not everyone agrees with this, but hey, my professional opinion.
Now consider that with all this wealth of information, groups that support this undiluted freedom, to display any and all information pertinent to their collections, would remove an item. This occurs from drastic measures. Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn is a classic example. When this book was written, it was an adventure story about a boy, freeing his friend, Nigger Jim, and exploring the great American South. This was all based on the times and events that Mark Twain would have been able to witness and live through in his age, not fictional like our day's elves(fantasy) and androids(sci-fi). So many people pull this book out from the stacks because they claim it promotes the following:
racism
anarchy
ignorance
disestablishment
theft
immorality
and probably much more.
I've read this book many times over. I love this book. I have learned a great many principles from this book, and I understand there are many elements to it that can be said as politically incorrect or corrupt in our day and age. Those who often want this book banned themselves have never read it. They prefer to make a judgement decision instead of educating themselves and making an informed decision. To me this is sad, choosing ignorance and hatred over words rather than trying to further yourself as a human. What is even sadder is libraries caving to such a dishonor to the first amendment. There are reasons why establishments do ban books that I can understand, namely threats of a physical type (yes, small libraries do have threats of being burned down, destroyed, or other such stupid acts). I also understand that if you have a K-5 library (elementary level) that Dostoyevsky might be banned because it is age innapropriate. This idea doesn't conflict with my moral philosophy because a book of that callibur IS innapropriate to expect a 10 year old to read and understand. Now do I believe a 10 year old can't read Dostoyevsky? No, I do believe if you raise children correctly and openly, they CAN read it and gain something from it, but it is hard for me to swallow that they would have the brain development to understand the political, arching, religious, and all other deep topics that a book of that magnitude would really imply. (age has been an argument made badly too, Harry Potter is just an example, parents too afraid to say it is "anti-christian" or other such nonsense). Most of the time however the reasons are just silly-going back to racism, anarchy, etc...
It is a library's function to house materials of all kinds freely. It is the orginization that hosts the library to decide that library's goals (academic, children's, scientific, religious, ...), and it is the librarians' jobs to maintain and expand the collections appropriately. Provided these librarians do their job correctly (not hard) then all materials they enter into the collection serves a purpose to further the library's objective goal. So banning Harry Potter from a children's library is rather counter productive, being that that particular series was born to be read by and for children (based on its content as well as its creators opinion). So when a librarian purchases this item, it would stand to reason they would back this decision up against all ends, but it just isn't so. Anyways I'm ranting, so to draw this back.
I believe that everyone has their rights to express their opinions, facts, and other trivial knowledge that they want, as well as to investigate other's opinions, facts, and other trivial knowledge as well. Don't be a person who decides to force others to turn a blind eye by revoking their abilities to ascertain these items, because then you're taking away another person's freedoms just so you can remain in the same bubble as before.
Here is a fancy-pants site about banned books straight from the horses mouth! Please, don't let your freedoms be challenged and your personal growth be stunted! Go read a banned book, go see an art gallery, watch some avant-gaurde films, try and find the artistry and message in a medium that you just couldn't stand, or have decided is too against you to be valuable. You get one life, and deciding not to as much with it as possible is a waste.
