Censorship- Holly Hiscock



I feel like we live in a "baby-safe" world. Everyone gets so worried about every little things. Playgrounds are deemed "dangerous", kids have more restrictions on them than their parents did despite safety technology, and now students are having their rights impeached upon.

Each of these articles was just...so dumb. A kid wrote about killing his neighbour's pet dinosaur with a gun and because he mentioned "gun" he got suspended. Dude. Really? And then the girl who wrote a poem about Sandy Hook? Well obviously she doesn't think that it should be condoned, she merely said she understood why the killer did it. It's like the difference between being interested in serial killers (their motives, mental disorders, history, etc etc) and liking serial killers (pretending as if they are just celebrities, excusing them, "shipping" them, etc etc). The girl did not agree with Sandy Hook, she merely understood it.

I feel like there is too much censorship in schools because teachers and others don't know how to properly handle controversial opinions. How does one teach about abortion without taking a side? Better just to not teach about it at all, right? So what about that dark poem a student wrote that maybe shines a light on society that needs to be lit but no one wants to turn it on? Well, it's scary so best to just punish.

But the one that made me the most frustrated was the one about the kid who wrote a story in which a student killed a teacher. It seems like it would have been an interesting read, and it was for his Writer's Craft class where he was probably assigned to tell a scary story or something of the like. I can tell you, if I wanted to scare my teacher with my writing, having a teacher be killed by a student would be a good idea. Not because I'm threatening the teacher or want to hurt the teacher, but because I know it will evoke emotion in the desired way. It's like the stuff that Stephen King writes. One particular story is one where a famous author gets in a car accident and is taken in by a crazed fan. It's horrifying for many reason, and for writers, it has even more fear embedded into it. Obviously, the story is purely fictional. There never was an Annie Wilkes, and (to my knowledge), no fan has ever wanted to amputate, kidnap, torture, and kill Stephen King. So why should a completely story about a teacher and a student be taken so seriously?

Comments

  1. Anonymous19 October 2017 at 08:07

    I agree! People are so afraid of the darkness in the world, that they take drastic measures when they are the tiniest bit uncomfortable. Freedom of speech is important and shouldn't be taken away out of overbearing protectiveness.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous19 October 2017 at 19:03

    I am just as frustrated when it comes to that kid who got his senior year ruined because of that fictional story of a student killing the teacher. It did seem pretty interesting, and I know that if I wrote a story like that it would be because of how unrealistic it is; making it interesting. I could not imagine being expelled from my school for something I would have been innocently proud of. You're right about teachers doing this because they don't know how to deal with certain topics, I'm thankful for those teachers who see freedom of speech in a positive light!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous20 October 2017 at 16:26

    I totally agree with your second paragraph it is exactly what my reaction was too the article! Aswell as having similar thoughts on how we live in a very "bubble wrapped" society.

    ReplyDelete

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