Censorship is silencing something, or keeping it from the public. Many things are censored, books, movies, music, internet, art, and much more. Even our own government censors things from us! *cough cough Area 51 cough cough.*

We spend hours on the internet doing so many different things, searching, checking social media, shopping, watching cat videos, and even just streaming music! While we’re doing these things, people in other countries are working hard! Some don’t even know what the internet is! We take our luxuries for granted, like the internet, but I can understand I would die without YouTube or Amazon.

Many books have been censored, too. Have you heard of And Tango Makes Three, no? Well, it’s a book about two male penguins that raise a baby penguin to its full penguinship. It was removed from libraries because parents didn’t want their kid to become “gay” when the words gay or homosexual aren’t even in the text! Personally, I think you shouldn’t censor anything that you can see (Example, homosexuals.) For example, I didn’t think that it was weird to like guys and girls until I reached sixth grade. I didn’t know there was any terms for it. I just knew I liked the ladies and the guys. I never knew the morals; this shows that it was even censored from me.

Chris Crutcher and Sherman Alexie are both authors who have been censored. They both explained that young adults connect to the stories they write that contain so called “naughty” things, books that show that kids have used drugs, have been raped, bullied and verbally and physically abused. They know that these books speak words that others are afraid to say, and that they need to hear.

I can, for sure, say that I agree with Crutcher and Alexie. They’re putting out a hand to the reader and saying, “We know what this feels like, and you are not alone.” Books and music can explain what’s going on in people’s minds, but to take that away can change the way the person acts.

I, personally, would like to see a world where people are able to read, watch or write anything that they want, and where the silencing stops. A world where love isn’t illegal and, people are reading books and watching television without it being restricted from them.

Tip #3 From Samantha, if it makes someone happy and doesn’t hurt anyone don’t remove it from them.