America, Big Brother, and China: The ABCs of Studying Censorship

Even though you want young learners to analyze modern censorship and how it affects their lives, it's easier to start off with a classic conundrum: wartime censorship.

 

Throughout many wars, particularly WWII, the United States government placed certain restrictions on the media and communication in the name of safety. This lesson on War and the Media gives several examples of wartime censorship, which are great discussion starters for when or if it is permissible for the government to suspend certain privacy rights.

 

You can also address how the government's control of the media during WWII almost delayed the announcement of Germany's surrender and compare that to censorship that was intended to keep troops safe. In addition to the military, you can teach about the gray area between freedom of speech and hate speech through the NY Times lesson, Freedom of Hate Speech. When does the exercise of one person's freedom infringe on the freedom of another?

 

By starting with less nuanced historical examples, you will prepare your students to navigate the murkier waters of Internet censorship.

There are an inordinate amount of modern-day examples just a Google search away, but here are some of the major issues:

• New Yorker longform article on censorship in art and literature
• The Guardian article on government Internet filtering systems and the progression of censorship
• Collection of New York Times articles on China's Internet censorship
• Scholarly article on how China controls opinion sharing on the Internet
• CBS article on the controversial SOPA and PIPA bills that attempted to curb Internet piracy but gave extreme liberty to government agencies to censor websites.

China's regulation in particular is a clear example of government oversight that restricts the open sharing of information that thrives on the Internet. The SOPA and PIPA bills ignited an online firestorm in 2012 with sites like Facebook, Reddit, Wikipedia, and many others protesting the amount of control it gave to the government to censor websites (many of which would not have the funds to appeal a censorship decision). 

This creates a great compare-and-contrast paper or material for a debate, specifically about who gets to make the decision of when to curb free speech, and how are those decision-makers held accountable?

Of course, when in doubt, hit the classics. Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 have been definitive references of extrapolated censorship. Fahrenheit 451 portrays a world where reading is outlawed, and entertainment has drowned the desire to read in most people. 1984, on the other hand, shows the oppressive and omniscient government system, "Big Brother," who uses the boiled down Newspeak with limited vocabulary to inhibit any attempt at creativity or expression beyond the government-sanctioned norm.

 

You can analyze Fahrenheit 451 and use related WebQuests or a KWHL graphic organizer, or you can analyze Big Brother with this lesson and compare it to other examples of governmental control. 

Modern YA fiction is currently torn between its love for vampires and its love for dystopian futures. Luckily for teachers, the latter has significant educational tie-ins that are lacking in a story featuring an immortal teenager who sparkles in the sunlight.

 

Of course, The Hunger Games series is the best known recently, particularly because the marketing campaign for the two-part movie adaptation of Mockingjay is in the form of government propaganda. These include propaganda posters and government video announcements that are mysteriously interrupted by the rebellion. 

 

If you're looking for an oldie but a goodie, The Giver shows a society that has used the containment of information to control a population (the essence of censorship). If your thirst for dystopian censorship has not been slaked, check out a list of dystopian novels that feature banned books. No matter what you read or discuss, carve out time for discussion. Students often approach books as a requirement rather than a privilege, and sometimes don't see what our society would miss if certain works of literature were banned. If a young person can wrap their mind around the danger of censorship, they by default understand the power and necessity of words and expression.

 

And that is what we teachers are supposed to communicate.