Censorship Research Paper

War on Censorship After being assigned a school project, a young high school student walks into the library with plans on researching about his topic before starting. It’s a biology project about the mating rituals of animals, which was a topic that struck his interest. So he boots up the computer, signs in, and starts surfing the web and different search engines for his topic. Every site he clicks on, however, has been blocked. Anything having to do with mating and breeding has been censored by the library as inappropriate material. What if this high school student doesn’t have internet at home? Being unable to look up his material at the library is sure to hinder his research. This would be a very common story if web censorship in the United States was a common thing, as it is in some countries. Censorship of hateful and inappropriate content seems good in theory but since inappropriate material is based on personal opinion and censors either don’t block everything or blocks harmless sites, it’s not practical and can only hinder web use. The internet is a free-flow of ideas, facts, and opinions that anyone has access to as long as they have a computer and it allows information to travel faster than any other means of communication; nearly instantly across the world. This vast amount of information covers almost every topic one can think of and is available with a few taps of a keyboard or click of a mouse. By having access to such things, citizens of a country can hold their government accountable for its decisions, create new ideas, and be as creative as they want (Clinton). If, for instance, someone lives in a very Christian community but finds themselves questioning that religion, they can look up religious sites and decide what best fits their beliefs. Yet if religious sites are censored for fear of hateful content, how would one find what best fits their opinions and views? “The internet can help bridge divides between people of different faiths” (qtd. in

Cited: Gottfried, Ted. "Restricting the Internet." Open for Debate: Censorship. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2006. 10-26. Print. Stein, Letitia. "School Newspaper Censored." Tampa Bay Times 24 Oct. 2006: n. pag. Tampa Bay Times. Web. 24 Mar. 2012. Opposing Viewpoint. Gale, 2012. Web. 24 Mar. 2012. Gottfried, Ted. "Restricting the Internet." Open for Debate: Censorship. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2006. 10-26. Print.