When Does Censoring Books Gone Too Far?

How Cancel Culture Plays a Part in Censoring Books.
entertainment · 4 min
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when does censoring books gone too far
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The recent controversy surrounding Dr. Seuss's books has been a hot topic for debate these past few weeks. Six of Dr. Seuss's books - such as If I Ran the Zoo and The Cat's Quizzer - are to cease publication as the Dr. Seuss Enterprise deemed them to contain insensitive imagery and racism. It started a discussion of whether or not our society had gone too far with censoring material it wasn't comfortable with.

What I believe Dr. Seuss Enterprise should've done is take the opportunity to educate children and familys' alike on the subject of racism and how detrimental the imagery can be to those individuals. Dr. Seuss was a product of his own time, not to say he was right to use those words to describe different racial groups, but shouldn't be canceled for his past. It begs the question, what does banning books do for our society? 

What is Censorship?

Censorship is the state of suppressing any form of entertainment or media such as books, film, and news seen as politically incorrect, obscene, or endangerment to society. 

In our society, countless books have been banned or removed from public libraries for a variety of reasons based on them containing explicit material, language, violence, racial insensitivity, etc. There is even a website that documents the attempts, successful or not, of banning popular and classic books. Browsing around I saw plenty of books on that list I read either as a child or adult, books I wouldn't have given a 2nd thought to being so-called "problematic."

Censoring books is never the best way to teach people, especially children, the rights and wrongs of the world. I believe because society has let cancel culture become this phenomenon, censoring novels has become even more rampant.

What is Cancel Culture?

Cancel culture is similar to censorship but means to demean a person for their past or present behaviors that could've been inappropriate, sexist, racist, or any other form of misconduct. The goal is to bring awareness about these behaviors and humiliate the person enough where they remove themselves from society or the workforce. 

In some cases cancel culture has brought justice to people's lives such as sexually abused women who through the new phenomenon can publicly call out their accusers and let the law handle it. A lot of women in the past wouldn't have publicly accused their abusers because of the ramifications that could have derailed their careers or relationships. 2021 is a different world but we still have much to work through to become a better society for the next generation. And while cancel culture does bring about things to light it can be used in such aggressive ways, manipulating the public to "cancel" people or entertainment because a few people disagree with what they see.

Take for instance the controversy of Captain Underpants. I remember reading those books as a kid in middle school and enjoying the adventures the characters undertook. It was cited as having inappropriate language, violence, partial nudity, and misbehavior. The partial nudity comes from the made-up Captain Underpants superhero who runs around saving the day in his underwear, mind you created by two fourth-grade boys, who will eventually turn into a real superhero after hypnotizing their mean principal. There is humor in that plus it is all written in innocent fun, however to some parents it was cause for an uproar in banning the book from public schools. 

Censorship in public schools over books such as To Kill A Mockingbird or Uncle Tom's Cabin lends to the discussion of what exactly is the school board afraid of?

Learning about racism, sexism, misogyny, and other societal issues will always be important and the younger generation should have the option to openly have discussions about these topics.

Do those books contain prejudices that our world is still trying to get through? Yes, they do, but it's equally important to understand the timeframe of when those books were made and why it is wrong to have those prejudices in today's world. How else will people learn about correcting the past if we don't allow ourselves the privilege of reading controversial books? As Dr. Seuss himself said,

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

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Opinions and Perspectives

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EvelynRodriguez commented EvelynRodriguez 3 years ago

The suggestions for education rather than censorship make a lot of sense

2
CoreyT commented CoreyT 3 years ago

This whole debate shows how much our society still struggles with difficult conversations

1
HollywoodInsider commented HollywoodInsider 3 years ago

Historical context is so important when dealing with older literature

5
Aurora_C commented Aurora_C 3 years ago

Reading this made me want to start a banned book club

7
RebeccaF commented RebeccaF 3 years ago

Instead of banning books we should be teaching media literacy

5
InnerPeaceInMotion commented InnerPeaceInMotion 3 years ago

The section about public schools really resonated with my teaching experience

6
BoxOfficeSuccessWatcher commented BoxOfficeSuccessWatcher 3 years ago

I never realized how many books Id read were once considered controversial

5
IndieFilm_Guru12 commented IndieFilm_Guru12 3 years ago

Parents should guide their kids through difficult content rather than avoiding it

1
HackerMind commented HackerMind 3 years ago

The article raises good points about education versus elimination

3
Broadway_Diva_777 commented Broadway_Diva_777 3 years ago

My local library has a great approach. They keep everything but add reading guides

2
BatSignalOn commented BatSignalOn 3 years ago

I worry that removing books limits opportunities for important conversations

2
Vivian-Bryant commented Vivian-Bryant 3 years ago

Fascinating how many classic books have faced censorship attempts over the years

0
PilatesPower commented PilatesPower 3 years ago

The Dr Seuss situation really opened my eyes to how complex this issue is

3
IndieMusicGeek commented IndieMusicGeek 3 years ago

Sometimes I think we focus too much on what to remove instead of what to add to reading lists

8
BollywoodDanceAddict_20 commented BollywoodDanceAddict_20 3 years ago

The parallel drawn between cancel culture and censorship is thought-provoking

4
Vampire_Diaries_Fan commented Vampire_Diaries_Fan 3 years ago

Learning about past mistakes helps prevent repeating them

1
HologramHero commented HologramHero 3 years ago

I appreciate how the article distinguishes between censorship and content warnings

0
StreamingReelMaster_25 commented StreamingReelMaster_25 3 years ago

These discussions always remind me why libraries are so important for preserving knowledge

0
Rachel_33 commented Rachel_33 3 years ago

Anyone else notice how banned book lists often become bestseller lists?

7
Hirsi_Hotline commented Hirsi_Hotline 3 years ago

The article could have explored more examples from different time periods

8
RetroEcho commented RetroEcho 3 years ago

My teacher used controversial books to teach us about different perspectives and time periods

0
AstronautDreamer commented AstronautDreamer 3 years ago

Removing books doesn't remove the issues they address from reality

3
ToriXO commented ToriXO 3 years ago

I see both sides but lean towards keeping books available with proper guidance

2
UrbanKnight commented UrbanKnight 3 years ago

The section about Captain Underpants really shows how ridiculous some of these bans can be

0
Zoe commented Zoe 3 years ago

Growing up, some of my favorite books were ones that challenged my worldview

0
Joker_Fanatic_2019 commented Joker_Fanatic_2019 3 years ago

What bothers me is how quick people are to demand removal without considering educational value

0
MTV_Generation_1985 commented MTV_Generation_1985 3 years ago

I believe children are more capable of understanding complex issues than we give them credit for

2
RosalieXO commented RosalieXO 4 years ago

The article makes good points about context being key

1
Cheerful-Spirit_28 commented Cheerful-Spirit_28 4 years ago

We read banned books in my book club and the conversations are always so enlightening

2
HappinessBlueprint commented HappinessBlueprint 4 years ago

Sometimes I wonder if all this discussion about banning books just makes kids more curious about reading them

3
MidnightWarrior commented MidnightWarrior 4 years ago

Im curious about how other countries handle potentially offensive historical literature

4
Sienna_Morris commented Sienna_Morris 4 years ago

The problem isn't just about individual books but who gets to decide what's appropriate

0
IndieVibesX commented IndieVibesX 4 years ago

I remember reading Uncle Tom's Cabin in school. The discussions we had were invaluable

2
BlockbusterFan commented BlockbusterFan 4 years ago

The quote at the end really resonates with me. We should trust readers to think critically

0
InfinityGuardian commented InfinityGuardian 4 years ago

Totally agree with the article about using these as teaching moments rather than just removing them

2
NourishAndFlourish commented NourishAndFlourish 4 years ago

Just because something was acceptable in its time doesn't mean we should continue publishing it unchanged

7
MovieBuffUncut_10 commented MovieBuffUncut_10 4 years ago

Maybe instead of banning books we should focus on providing proper context and discussion guides

2
SitcomDialogueMemorized commented SitcomDialogueMemorized 4 years ago

I work in a library and parents often request certain books be removed. We try to explain the importance of diverse perspectives

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EcoChic_Wellness_17 commented EcoChic_Wellness_17 4 years ago

Some of the books mentioned weren't even banned, just had content warnings added. Big difference

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SeriesFreak123 commented SeriesFreak123 4 years ago

Actually reading the article made me think about how we can balance preserving historical works while acknowledging their problems

7
MarvelManiac commented MarvelManiac 4 years ago

My daughter read To Kill a Mockingbird in 8th grade and it led to amazing discussions about racism and justice

2
StillnessWithin commented StillnessWithin 4 years ago

I learned so much from reading challenging books as a kid. Sheltering children from difficult topics does them no favors

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Mindful-Beauty_24 commented Mindful-Beauty_24 4 years ago

The Dr. Seuss situation was blown way out of proportion. It was a business decision by the publisher, not government censorship

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Brooklyn_Breeze commented Brooklyn_Breeze 4 years ago

Interesting article but I disagree about cancel culture being similar to censorship. They're quite different concepts

1
OliviaWilson commented OliviaWilson 4 years ago

We need to focus more on teaching critical thinking skills so kids can process challenging content appropriately

1
Veronica99 commented Veronica99 4 years ago

The Captain Underpants controversy is ridiculous. My kids love those books and they're just silly fun

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Balanced-Bites_X commented Balanced-Bites_X 4 years ago

As a parent, I appreciate having some control over what my kids are exposed to at young ages. We can introduce complex topics gradually

2
StarbornNomad commented StarbornNomad 4 years ago

I understand the concerns about problematic content, but completely removing these books feels like erasing history rather than learning from it

1

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