Monthly Archives: July 2022

July 19, 2022 · 8:54 pm

Censorship, Florida Style

There is an expanding movement in the United States to ban, remove, challenge, or limit access to books and to content that some people find offensive. Book banning is not new. The American Library Association is one organization that has been tracking these efforts for years through its Office for Intellectual Freedom and drawing attention to the issue through its annual Banned Books Week.

There have always been individuals who have wanted selected books banned from libraries or schools. If they could, I believe they would have the books burned and maybe even have the authors punished in some fashion for daring to think and put the words they consider so dangerous on paper. As the author of Looking for Alaska, John Green, says, “If you have a world view that can be undone with a novel, let me submit that the problem is not with the novel.”

What is different now from previous efforts is that the movements to ban books are well organized and well funded and are sometimes even being directed by government officials, as is the case in Florida.

Below are some articles documenting what has been going on in Florida recently. As the third most populous state in the country, Florida has enormous influence. Its governor is frequently mentioned as a strong contender for the Republican presidential nomination om 2024. This is a movement that is spreading across the United States and all Americans who believe in the First Amendment would do well to pay attention.

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