Censorship and what Dumbledore taught us...

I thought I'd just raise this issue, as not only is it relevant to the issue whether we should have a link on the school page (sort of),  but I have recently been censored by the ministry of education.

I submitted a story to a secondary schools' journal of writing, and it was selected.  However, the Ministry has objected to a particular word I used.  'What word?' I hear you say, intrigued 'It must be really bad.  Was it s***?  Or f***? Or even, shock horror, c***?'  Well, actually, it was a four letter word starting with C, but not the word you're thinking of.  It was, in fact, merely 'crap'.    

This got me a-thinking.

Why can't I use the word crap in my story?  Are the ministry scared that I will sully innocent young minds?  But this journal is a publication of works by teenagers, for teenagers.  Teenagers use words a lot stronger than crap, on a regular basis.   To replace it with 'oh dear' or 'oh no' or even 'blimey' would remove any sense of realism in my story.  I, and I think most of you, would be unable to relate to anyone who said 'blimey' .  We already know that crap things happen in the world, and we don't need to be protected from it. Replacing a word that we already know well and use often with a more innocent word is patronizing.

But I know, and so do you, that the real reason the Ministry cannot allow me to use that particular word is nothing to to with protecting us, and is really the same reason the school doesn't want to be associated with our blog.  It's because it's bad for their image.  People aren't supposed to use those words, much less teenagers, and the Ministry of Education can't be seen to be supporting teenage rebellion.

And then I thought, why does the world persist in hiding from unpleasant words?  Some words I understand - derogatory terms for groups of people, for instance.  But certain words are merely words, and there seems no plausible reason to shy away from them.  In the words of our revered Albus Dumbledore, "fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself".  (pg 216, The Philosopher's Stone) (oh yeah, I am that nerdy) Okay, so I'm not saying that people are scared of swearwords, exactly, but it is only the fact that certain words are considered not polite or obscene which makes them so. There is nothing inherently offensive about and an F or a U or a C or a K by themselves, and really, the word itself is just a (somewhat irreverent) word for the creation of life.   It is our reluctance to use certain words that gives them power.  (Ooer, I like that word.  Power.  You know, I would make such a good evil dictator, far better than that John Key.)  

It just seems kind of pointless to me that words which are often the best at summing up how we feel about the world are considered so bad.  However, I know that this may not be the most important issue surrounding censorship.  I haven't even mentioned freedom of speech.... So, in an effort to gain some relevance, I would just like to say that I would far rather that the school ceased to openly acknowledge our blog then asked us to moderate our language and our ideas.  Censorship smells.  Can we swear properly now Lily?