Why Must We Censor Life?

Two Tuesdays ago, Ms. Fowler related to our class just what she went through because of the (possible) complaints of people about the content of the stories belonging to the interns of the Winter with the Writers program. (As part of the WWW program, all of the stories are available to general public to read on the school’s website.) Because of the quote/unquote risqué material, readers are forced to click and read a window that pops up. It’s a warning to those that are easily offended. I feel like a 15-year-old kid logging on to his first porn site, rather than a 21-year-old college junior reading the best literary work that Rollins College, a respected institution in the southeast, can offer. I, and maybe some of the people who have come to love and respect the service that WWW provides free of charge, feel slightly childish.

Aren’t “mature situations” what most authors write about? These instances are what life is all about. Many consider Robert Frost to be an excellent poet; some may go as far as calling him one of the best America can offer. But do these same people know that “Traveling Through the Woods on a Snowy Evening” alludes to suicide, which is definitely a mature topic? Edgar Allan Poe’s poems are littered with death. “The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn” is a journey through racism in the 19th century; it is also widely considered the best American novel ever written. The list can continue ad infinitum, but I don’t want to click through any more pointless warnings when I want to read something.
-Daniel