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Censoring Culture: Contemporary Threats to Free Expression

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Kudos to Atkins & Mintcheva, the co-editors of Censoring Culture for not beginning their discussion with a list of which freedoms we're supposed to give up in order to ensure our safety in the post 9/11 era. In fact, they assert the opposite: that we need to broaden our thinking about the nature of censorship beyond merely the statutory (that is actions of the law), to include the forces--economic and technological, tostart with--that silence voices and inhibit expression, including the internal/psychic workings of self-censorship. (Thus by their definition we should also be looking at what might inhibit the creation of work, when the fears of the writer about the commercial potential of a work stopped him from even writing it.) The framework they've created allows for provocative, even jaw-dropping material, by experts from the fields of law, psychoanalysis, media, new technology, the arts and education--in the last, don't miss Diane Ravich's revelation of what isn't allowed on standardized tests at schools these days. (No wonder we're a nation of the dumbed down, allowing our children to read Huck Finn today with the N word crossed out! ) How bad are things? Read this and weep, but by all means read it. Then go out and run for public office.