As the restriction of speech and communication, censorship has always been an integral part of society. Usually, it is determined by the government, private institutions, or public foundations in order to control obscenity, child pornography, hate speech, as well as improve the level of national security. Currently, censorship is frequently compared with cancellation, as both terms are used in debates on free speech. In fact, individuals expressing oppressive or inappropriate opinions on social media platforms are likely to be “canceled” by society today. As a result, numerous people experience the fear of sharing their opinions on controversial topics in public. Moreover, social media platforms, such as Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, have the opportunity to ban people in case their expressions are considered to affect society in a negative manner. Therefore, people live in a world surrounded by censorship due to cancellation.
Censorship has always been and will continue to be a part of society. This trend can be noticed in a variety of examples, including the case of Joanne Rowling. The author of the Harry Potter series has been accused of transphobia numerous times. For instance, Rowling was significantly criticized by thousands of people when she responded to an article discussing menstruation products in 2020. The author quoted the article that used the phrase “people who menstruate” referring to women (Madani). In turn, Twitter users got offended by this phrase, as they considered it as discrimination towards transgenders. For example, taking into account that some males who have not transitioned fully still menstruate, society perceived Rowling’s expression as tremendously inappropriate. When it comes to the backlash that the woman received, multiple influencers and celebrities, including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, disagreed with Joanne.
The reason why her tweets were regarded by Twitter users as transphobic is that the woman did not admit other genders except for males and females. In fact, Rowling highlighted that erasing the concept of gender does not provide the opportunity to meaningfully discuss life (Madani). The debates between the author of the Harry Potter series and her opponents did not help to reduce the conflict. Subsequently, the writer became a part of the cancel culture that had considerable popularity on the social media platform at the moment. Rowling’s response has surprised a vast number of Internet users, as she signed an open letter condemning an intolerant climate for free speech.
In other words, if a person expresses an opinion that is not supported by the majority of other individuals, this individual is most likely to become a subject of boycotting or shunning. On the one hand, supporters of this kind of censorship state that the cancel culture is beneficial for identifying problematic influencers and minimizing their impact on society from both online and offline perspectives. On the other hand, opponents of this movement describe cancellation as an urgent societal issue that eliminates the rights of others for free speech. Thus, the inability to find a balance in terms of censorship and cancel culture creates additional social issues for modern society.
At present time, censorship can be characterized as the activity intended to withhold or edit existing information. Furthermore, it is based on the idea to prevent information from being created. In spite of the fact that there are numerous reasons why information is censored, child protection plays the most important role in this case. As a result, multiple educational facilities across the U.S. struggle with keeping books in their libraries and classrooms. Parents and teachers aim to educate children without affecting their personal development with extremely mature information. Therefore, many books providing information about religion, politics, or sex are banned in school libraries. However, the long-term effects of censoring this kind of information among children and adolescents are frequently ignored. For instance, if children have limited knowledge in the context of sex education, they are more likely to face unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases at an early age.
At the same time, it is assumed that school censorship has resulted in the development of racial and cultural discrimination. Taking into consideration that children are not aware of the fact that African Americans were abused in the past several centuries, they do not have empathy towards this minority group today. Also, if a school student is restricted to education that only supports one religion, it is difficult to expect them to be tolerant to representatives of other religious groups.
In order to determine books that are most frequently banned from educational institutions in the U.S., the American Library Association released its list of the most banned publications of the year. In turn, the majority of challenged books of 2020 were based on racial injustice and the experiences of Black persons (Waller). In 1982, the court stated that books cannot be banned from the educational program simply because some people disagree with the ideas represented within these publications. It has helped reduce the impact of censorship on the quality of education, although a lot still needs to be done. For example, in 2019, out of all books dedicated to children’s education, only around twelve percent featured Black characters (Waller). Accordingly, school censorship plays a crucial role when it comes to inappropriate content, although excessive use of this activity is predicted to cause a variety of social issues.
While censorship of certain controversial works and texts is considered necessary, the method of censorship has historically been negative. Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 demonstrates the historical impact of book censorship on society. In fact, the novel begins by describing the society where reading books is banned. In turn, a firefighter named Guy Montag is required to burn houses where citizens read books. The local population is allowed to watch TV that promotes the importance and essential role of government. In this way, Bradbury aims to demonstrate the type of society that would develop in case books were fully banned. The process of book burning is the symbolism used to demonstrate the society that lives without their own freedom of thought.
At the same time, Bradbury does not consider book censorship as the main problem of present times. Even though this person was living in an era when digital technologies did not affect the life of society significantly, Bradbury predicted that digitalization would play a crucial role in the future. Bradbury highlighted that there is no need to burn books to destroy a culture, as this goal can be achieved by getting people to stop reading them. As a result, the twenty-first century can be described as the period of digital technologies. Presently, people have the opportunity to cure diseases, urbanize rural communities, improve the education system, and enhance military warfare with the help of innovations. On the one hand, technological advancement considerably simplifies life. On the other hand, the replacement of books by innovative technologies can result in poor ability to comprehend and to develop critical thinking skills.
Moreover, Bradbury demonstrates that he does not support censorship of books by changing the moral views of Guy Montag. Even though the main character of Fahrenheit 451 enjoys firing books at the beginning, his viewpoints considerably change after meeting Clarisse McClellan (Bradbury). Montag understood that he needed to put efforts into changing the way the local population is controlled, which is why this character started stealing and reading books. Consequently, he gained knowledge from reading books, thereby demonstrating the importance of being free to read literature and operate gained information.
Hence, despite the fact that censorship has always been an integral part of life, its impact has been changing with time. Usually, this activity is used to minimize inappropriate and offensive information presented in movies, books, posts, and speeches. Simultaneously, the impact of technologies is strongly associated with the process of censorship. In fact, Bradbury’s predictions regarding potential technology advancement can be considered true, as the process of book reading is currently replaced with the use of innovations. Taking into account that technologies develop rapidly, it is assumed that the process of book reading will be considerably minimized in the next five years. Nevertheless, in the context of censorship, people will get a vast amount of opportunities to share their thoughts and opinions. For example, the Internet is expected to become the main platform for expressing personal beliefs.
References
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine Books, 1996.
Madani, Doha. “J.K. Rowling Accused of Transphobia After Mocking ‘People Who Menstruate’ Headline”. NBC News, 2020. Web.
Waller, Allyson. “Books About Racism and Police Violence Fill Out List of ‘Most Challenged’ Titles”. The New York Times, 2021. Web.