Self-censorship
Tomorrow night, I will be teaching a class about censorship in libraries. I am not an expert in this field. However, I might know a thing or two about censorship since my entire childhood and young adult life was surrounded by censorship, consideration for not upsetting or offending anyone, and information must be categories into two acceptable or not acceptable groups. There is nothing in gray area; everything is either black or white.
Maybe this is the reason that I self-censor a lot of things. Even this poor blog is not safe from my touch of self-censorship. In preparation for this class, I am reading a lot on the harms of censorship, intellectual freedom, and access to information. I recommend reading "Places I Never Meant to Be: A Personal View. by Judy Blume,. " American Libraries 30.6 (1999): 62-67
Happy Banned Books Week: http://www.ala.org/bbooks/bannedbooksweek
Maybe this is the reason that I self-censor a lot of things. Even this poor blog is not safe from my touch of self-censorship. In preparation for this class, I am reading a lot on the harms of censorship, intellectual freedom, and access to information. I recommend reading "Places I Never Meant to Be: A Personal View. by Judy Blume,. " American Libraries 30.6 (1999): 62-67
Happy Banned Books Week: http://www.ala.org/bbooks/bannedbooksweek
Comments
please don't forget to tell the students about the Vatikan's Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of banned books by the Catholic church).
Keppler, Newton, Kopernikus, Kant, Descartes, Sarte, Voltaire: There are only a few of the great spirits of mankind and brilliant thinkers and scientists who did not had the "honour" to be included in this list. Although officially abandoned in 1966, later popes such as Benedikt/Joseph Ratzinger still expressed their belief that the books on the Index were and still are a danger to peoples mind. For some time in the ealy 21 century, they tried to ban Dan Browns "Da Vinci Code" again. But this in contrast caused a massive rise in the book sales. Perhaps the best promotion Dan Brown could have ever get.
best regards, Michael