A Different Point of View

Finding Censorship Where There is None
Mitchell Muncy
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204518504574420882837440304.html


Banned Books Week is here! Every organization from the ALA to the New York Times is posting articles, scheduling events, and talking about banned books. Chief operating officer of the Institute for American Values, Mr. Muncy, has a few unorthodox views concerning this week's intended and actual outcomes. Most groups support Banned Books Week because they want to show their disapproval of censorship and their support for the first amendment. Mr. Muncy believes that while these groups fight in the name of the first amendment they are really fighting against it, making people feel like they should not speak up at all when it comes to concerns about books. He asks, "'True' patriots, presumably, would have kept quiet. Who, then, is afraid of discourse?" He points out that there are actually NO banned books in our country. There is a difference between government censorship and local library or school challenges. "In only 10% of the 186 cases... was a book permanently removed from a library," Muncy points out. And even in the cases of removal a person need not go too far to find another copy of the same book. Using the Banned Books Week's own language he calls these organizations zealous and argues that what they are really doing is stifling free speech.


I've never heard somebody speak out so harshly against the ALA or Banned Books Week. The article presented a view point that is not put forward very often and Muncy makes some very interesting points. I think that people should have the right to challenge books but I am also against censorship... where does this leave me? Wanting to remove books from a public place because they offend your belief system or might possibly corrupt the innocence of some unnamed (or named) child is selfish, but I think it would be just as horrible if we didn't have a system where people could voice their opinions about such topics (even if I don't like those opinions).I am glad to have found and read this article, it was refreshing.