Quote of the Week

This week's quotation is related to censorship. We're going to be talking about censorship quite a bit this week because this is the week that the American Library Association has designated as Banned Books Week. Right now, we are all reading books that have been controversial at one time or another. We'll look at the reasons why each of our books has caused a stir this week and look at some recent efforts to ban a couple of the books we're currently reading.

Our quote this week comes from a man who was no stranger to censorship. He was an advocate for free speech before speech was at all free. His name is Voltaire and this is what he has to say:

I chose this quotation because we need to think about censorship not just in terms of protecting the books and ideas that we love, but also in protecting the books and ideas that we hate. I do not agree with, support, or enjoy the idea of the KKK. However, I will support their right to express their thoughts. This is how we test our convictions where free speech is concerned. If speech is truly free, we are all going to hear ideas and thoughts that make us uncomfortable. To me, this does not mean that those ideas should be silenced.

Welcome to Banned Books Week. Feel free to ask questions and let your voice be heard!