The arrest of Zach Hyman’s nude model during a photo shoot at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was predictable in spite of the irony of the location. Whereas marble and oil nudes are usually left at peace (not always though: art containing nudity is a frequent target of censorship), a living woman posing naked for an artist is guilty of [...]
My stop motion film expresses my feelings about Christianity and the Bible. During my film I display flip-flopping emotions towards the Bible, such as ripping its pages, feeling guilt, praying for forgiveness, fearing god, and being force "fed" its rules and laws. I chose this topic because I feel very strongly about religion and Christianity specifically because of its heavy [...]
In April we reported on a book challenge after two parents called for the removal of Maureen Johnson's The Bermudez Triangle and Ceicly von Ziegesar's Gossip Girls: Only in Your Dreams from the Leesburg Public Library. In June, we were excited to offer an update full of good news. Yet somehow we are still holding our breath... On Monday the [...]
Voices Against Book Censorship interviews author, blogger Lee Wind
Letter to Leesburg City Commission Aug 21, 2009
The Brooklyn Public Library trusts you to form your own opinions about any controversial and provocative content that you would find in Beloved, Hard Candy or Mein Kampf. However, apparently they feel the need to protect you from racially insensitive material in the cartoon from almost 80 years ago TinTin Au Congo. The NYTimes today reports that [...]
The Effingham Helen Matthes Library Board in Effingham, Illinois voted unanimously to deny a request to censor Living Dead Girl, a novel by Elizabeth Scott. Local parent, Amy Hibdon formally requested that the book be removed from the library, or at least the teen section, after her 15-year-old daughter checked out the book and was reportedly upset by the content [...]
Sometimes you struggle with the freedom of speech at school. Sometimes you can't say the thing you want. However, if you change your life by showing your talent, you can get spotlighted and you will be able you say your words
The NY Times reports today that Yale University Press has not only decided to remove the controversial Danish cartoons of Muhammad from "Cartoons that Shook the World" by Jytte Klausen; they have decided that all images of Muhammad have to go on the recommendation of a group of "diplomats and experts on Islam and counterterrorism". "...they suggested that the Yale [...]
Being so busy with campaigns promoting “freedom and democracy” in the Middle East and central Asia, it’s hardly surprising that most of us here in the United States are unaware of an archaic and abominable practice that continues here at home - book banning. The Kids’ Right to Read Project (KRRP), a collaboration of NCAC and the American Booksellers Foundation [...]
While Congress has been busy protecting animals from cruelty at the expense of the First Amendment (See U.S. v Stevens) elsewhere it has been legislating away the First Amendment rights of animal cruelty protesters to protect corporate profits. Last month, a federal court in Northern California heard oral arguments on a motion to dismiss in United States v. Buddenberg, the [...]
It is a country song about riding in trucks. It expresses my friends and I and how we like to ride in trucks. It shows are friendship and how we like to just hangout and make fun videos in our spare time. In the film we are acting out different scenes from the lyrics of the song. I am the [...]
This video was made to encourage those who are going to keep their head up and not give and to always believe "Yes You Can". The classroom scene was more for to represent the youth of our nation in standing together and saying what they should be saying against the voice of failure yes we can.
There are many effective ways to respond to censorship challenges. In the past individuals and groups who support free speech have raised awareness about specific incidents and overarching trends through social network groups and causes, including Facebook and Twitter. Individuals have created petitions, organized marches and held 'read-ins' of banned materials at local public libraries. Get Informed: Check out the Kids Right [...]
Judge Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed by the Senate today as the newest member of the Supreme Court, replacing Justice David H. Souter who retired in June. She becomes the 111th member of the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as the third woman and first Hispanic to serve on it. What does her confirmation mean for the First Amendment? See our [...]
Having trouble accessing a website? Suspect it might be more than just a faulty connection or technical malfunction? Visit Herdict.org, a website designed to track reports of censored web sites around the world. There, you can report anonymously that a site is inaccessible and see if other people are having the same problem. There is no way to determine whether [...]
Once again, a software company reveals its power over our access to information by making a dumb decision. This time, Apple rejected a dictionary application, Ninjawords, because it included words Apple deemed inappropriate. According to an interview by John Gruber with Ninjawords developer Phil Crosby, Apple refused to upload Ninjawords to the iTunes store until a number of “objectionable” [...]
The New York Times ran an article this past Saturday, "Voices From Above Silence a Cable TV Feud", about how GE and NewsCorp enforced a kind of "cease-fire" – otherwise known as corporate censorship - on MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Fox's Bill O'Reilly. While I’ve always found the battle between Olberman and O’Reilly to be exhausting (though admittedly entertaining), the [...]
Amazon.com is facing a class-action lawsuit for remotely deleting two George Orwell titles, 1984 and Animal Farm, from all its customers’ Kindles. Justin Gawronski, 17, a Michigan high school student, and Antoine J. Bruguier, a California Kindle user, claim that Amazon had no right to remove the books from their wireless e-book devices. The knowledge that Amazon has that “technological [...]
The making and back story of the project its self is the reason to be chosen for free speech in school. In my film class the final was a music video. Being the comedic artist I am I had many ideas and came up with a ghostbuster crime fighting trio. It seemed like a great idea until faculty and administration [...]
