The absurd lengths required to maintain censorship were once again illustrated this week, this time by numerous Chinese consumers who noted that their government routinely “edits” English-language dictionaries before they’re sold, specifically by covering up or otherwise eliding the entry…
Tag: censorship
Podcast: Censorship Can Happen to Anyone
In the latest edition of the American Libraries Dewey Decibel Podcast, Phil Morehart led ALA director James LaRue, school librarian Sara Stevenson, and acclaimed author Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) in a discussion of the tough topic of censorship in American schools and libraries. None of…
“Smut and Trash:” A Brief History of Comics Censorship in Germany
The United States wasn’t the only country that harbored a crusade against comics this past century. Germany, too, has had its own sordid history with the medium, complete with public fears over an alleged increase in juvenile delinquency and subsequent…
Nigerian Women Fight Back Against Oppression with Romance Novels
A new, unconventional literary movement is taking hold in Nigeria in the form of romance novels. Called “love literature,” dozens of women are printing and even hand-writing thousands of novellas with the intent of speaking out against and challenging certain social…
Chief Censor Talks About the Evolution of Censorship in New Zealand
From the initially successful and then rescinded ban of the award-winning coming of age novel Into the River in 2015, an 18+ rating on Alan Moore’s Lost Girls in 2014, or the seizure of the classic 1970s book Bloody Mama in 2011, New…
Looking Back at a 1980s Anti-Comics and RPG Crusader’s Campaign
Former psychiatrist and founding member of the National Coalition on TV Violence, Thomas Radecki, may have famously led a nationwide battle against violence in comics and RPGs in the 1980s as a means to protect America’s youth, but a Clarion, Pennsylvania…
A Brief History of Movie Censorship
The 1950s may have saw the implementation of the Comics Code, which literally censored comics off the newsstand and all but destroyed the comics industry, but before that even some of the earliest forms of movie entertainment—the Nickelodeon and moveable…
Jack Davis: The Man Who Revolutionized Comics Humor
Last week, we lost a true comics legend and luminary. Jack Davis is not only remembered as a founding member of MAD magazine and contributor to EC’s diverse line of comics, but also as a man who with his incredible…
Indian Cartoonist Censored in City-Wide Clean-Up
Under the pretense of a city-wide beautification effort, Indian political cartoonist Satish Acharya has had one of his recent cartoons removed from a public display in Kundapura. Acharya is a self-taught cartoonist who tackles a variety of topics, including political…
1990s Attempts to Censor Rap Echo 1950s Attacks on Comics
With every new generation, there is a new form of media that becomes both actively embraced by American youth, as well as socially stigmatized and branded as “low class,” “obscene,” and “dangerous” by the morality police (aka grown ups). It…