Bonus Assignment #5: The Freedom to Read
Due: Sat., Feb. 20
Maximum Score: 15 points (9 points for post, 3 points each for 2 replies at 140 characters each)
Minimum Length: : 75 words minimum
Scoring Rubric: Use this Discussion Forum Rubric as a guide for assessing your own work. I will use it to guide my
scoring.Maximum Score: 15 points (9 points for post, 3 points each for 2 replies at 140 characters each)
Minimum Length: : 75 words minimum
Scoring Rubric: Use this Discussion Forum Rubric as a guide for assessing your own work. I will use it to guide my
Read The Freedom to Read by American Library Association and Association of American Publishers. Describe your understanding of intellectual freedom. Why do you think this value is so important to a democratic society?
Jonghoon Kim
ReplyDeleteOne of the essential part of the democracy is freedom to read which is guaranteed by the constitution. A lot of organizations are working to remove or limit access to reading. Now, free expression which is national tradition is no longer valid. Suppressions are dangerous in time of social tension. Freedom keeps help solving creative solutions and the free communication is essential part of the free society.
Publishers and librarians should make available the diversity of views and expression possible by public.
They don’t have to hid everything. No one can force people’s tast. They should provide books which has quality and diversity of thought and expressions. These are their responsibilities.
Whence reading the “Freedom to Read” it outlines the basic tenets of reason why reading is intrinsic to democracy and intellectual and political freedom. My own and only my own understanding of political freedom is that reading, in addition to engaging political debate, because the only way a true democracy can thrive is if it is a by-product of a modern, pluralistic society, I mean I guess if you lived in a dictator-ship-ruled country, or a country where they practice the sort of “democracy” where there is only one person on the ballot or whoever runs against the 20-year incumbent somehow ends up dead (Egypt anyone?) political debate, and difference of opinion cannot be stressed enough, and 99% of such difference of opinion comes from reading, so it makes sense for a government that is afraid of losing its power (as it should be) to suppress such literature under the façade of political security, because what security is there in knowing your government will turn you life upside down every time you say something critical because it “causes turmoil”.
ReplyDeleteKevin Pedersen
ReplyDeleteIntellectual freedom to me is vital for democracy and for us as a nation to evolve. This freedom should allow us to express our opinions, in any format, without interference or censorship. A democratic society relies on this freedom and it's so important because, especially in the modern age, things change so rapidly. It's important to be able to change as needed, and individuals need to right to view both sides of the story and then make the determination based on their judgments. Without this we'll lag behind and get stuck with old outdated ideas and philosophies and not have a true democracy. Just imagine if long held ideas, such as the earth being flat, were not challenged? How different thing would have been.
In my opinion intellectual freedom is the ability to read and write any material with out the intervention of restriction a third party like federal or local governments. This value is important for a democratic society in different ways. First of all free communication is important in maintaining free society in a democratic nation. In democratic society, people have the right to read and write any material and support ideas and opinions that they think is correct. Second, intellectual freedom is the source of creativity, and as a result, new ideas emerge out of it. If intellectual freedom is altered in any way, it might lead to violation of freedom. On the other hand, violation of intellectual freedom might lead to the end of democracy and the begining of totalitarianism. Consequently intellectual freedom is the basis of democratic society and this is very important to them.
ReplyDeleteselam Belay
With few exceptions I agree with John's idea of making books affordable or free. My diferences are as I mentioned in my post, if the prices of books are too low or free, who is going to write the books (especially the good and credible ones)? The second point is yes there are lots of information even free books on line, but the question is how many of those books are credible? Are they available with out violating the property right of those produced them? Can we fully depend on these online materials for our studies and research works? My belief is that we need the books, we need fresh and useful works of our scientists and professors, but we need them to be affordable (free is nice, but not always work). Let's debate on it.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding of intellectual freedom is that everyone has a right to knowledge and to opinions based on this knowledge. This belief in intellectual freedom is essentially what libraries were established to provide and to protect. Without intellectual freedom, democracy is compromised because democracy only works if citizens have access to knowledge in order to make informed decisions on political leaders, representatives, government (both local and federal), as well as political processes in general. Therefore, intellectual freedom is essential to maintaining political freedom, and ultimately social freedom.
ReplyDelete