Censorship: The Golden Compass

Brad’s Reader recently reported on the censorship of the children’s book, The Golden Compass. The book has been made into a major motion picture, which is now circulating theaters, so banning the book is timely and most likely being generated by the popularity of the film.

According to the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC):

A national Catholic group is urging parents to keep their children from seeing the new film, The Golden Compass, for fear that it will encourage kids to read the book, which they condemn as anti-Christian.

Censoring a written work only adds to its publicity, and in the end, the writer usually wins as a result of all the free press. Everyone suddenly wants to know what’s so forbidden about the book, and next thing you know, copies are flying off the shelves. This was evidenced by the success of the first Harry Potter book, which was condemned by radical Christians for promoting witchcraft and glorifying bad behavior (Harry and his friends have a tendency to break the rules).

In the United States, we are guaranteed freedom of expression. Yet time and again, religious zealots and political or community leaders call for book banning, in a total disregard for the protections we are ensured under the Constitution. Unfortunately, the First Amendment only protects us from censorship by congress, so we are not safe from religious leaders or authoritative librarians.

It’s pretty arrogant to think you know what’s best for everyone else. It’s downright irresponsible to ban a book that you’ve never read, but that didn’t stop the media specialist (another title for librarian) who had in it for The Golden Compass:

“I just heard all the news and I decided to pull them,” Mary Miller said in the December 7 Oshkosh Northwestern, adding that after she has reviewed the books, “I’m not sure what I’ll do with them.

Source: American Library Association (ALA)

Even if Mary Miller had read the books (The Golden Compass is part of a series) before she pulled them from the shelves, her actions still harbor judgmentalism and dictatorship.

Book banning:

1. Gags writers.
2. Blindfolds readers.
3. Removes the right, responsibility, and ability to think for oneself.

In this era, when freedom is constantly being questioned and challenged, and is often at odds with national security, it’s more important than ever for artists, musicians, writers, and others who practice creative expression, to band together and keep a close watch on those who would gag us for their own agenda.

Censorship Resources

National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC)

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

Controversial and Banned Books

Your Thoughts

How do you feel about book banning and censorship. Can you think of a situation in which it might be acceptable, legal, or desirable? How would you feel if you could not obtain a title you wanted because the library and bookstores in your community had banned it? As a writer, do you feel vulnerable or affected by censorship? And what would you do, or how would you feel if a book you wrote was banned?

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Stop! Thief!

A couple of weeks ago I had my first experience with copyright infringement when I discovered another web site was using my blog posts without my permission. I asked them to remove my material, and they did. Many other bloggers made the same request and were quickly obliged. John Hewitt of The Writer’s Resource Center recently pointed out that the site in question had closed the blog entirely.

Writers generally don’t appreciate it when others publish their work without permission, especially in an effort to generate revenue without offering a cut to the original author. That’s just wrong.

Since then, I’ve come to learn that this is an all too common occurence on the Internet, especially in the blogosphere. Now, when I see my posts being republished, I ignore it for the most part, unless:

• The work is not credited to me, or Writing Forward
• There is no link to Writing Forward or the site where the piece was originally published
• They are using my bandwidth and/or image
• They have altered the piece in any way, including removing the embedded links, many of which link back to my site, and many others which are revenue generators (hey, if you’re going to steal my work, at least let me collect on my own advertising!)

As long as another site posting my work does not do any of these things, I still stand to gain from their re-publication. Links are good, as are bylines, and ad revenue. Stealing bandwidth it totally unacceptable, as is using images that I’ve paid for (I use istockphoto).

Today I came across a blog that had violated ALL of the above and I was peeved. Not only is the webmaster too lazy to write her own blog posts, she’s also stealing my bandwidth, removing my byline and my ad links, and infringing on the copyright that istockphoto manages for the image she’s displaying.

I wrote her a letter letting her know that I was flattered that she liked my post so much, but she needed to make some changes, otherwise I’d have to contact her host as well as istockphoto. Then, I had an idea.

I simply renamed the original image, and made this new one in its place. Now, anyone who is using my original image and bandwidth will be called out on their own site. Plus, maybe I’ll get a little extra traffic.

What do you think about this? Am I being too harsh, or is this a creative (and kind of funny) way to raise a red flag? Leave a comment and let me know!

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