Quiz: How much do you know about censorship?

1. Why was The Diary of Anne Frank challenged by parents in Wise County, Virginia, in 1982?

The diary contains sexually offensive passages.

2. Who was Anthony Cornstock?

He was the secretary of the New York Suppression for Society. He determined what was meant to happen on wedding nights in the early twentieth century.

3. What twentieth-century literary classic was burned in the United States (in 1918), Ireland (in 1922), Canada (in 1922) and England (in 1923)?

Ulysses by James Joyce.

4. Why was George Orwell’s 1984 challenged in Jackson County, Florida, in 1984?

1984 was said to be pro-communism and contain sexual passages.

5. What award-winning local Winnipeg young adult author had a school reading in Winnipeg cancelled soon after a school reading in Orleans, Ontario was cancelled? What reason was given for cancelling the reading in Ontario?

Margaret Buffie, who was Frances Rain, wrote profanity in her books. She wouldn’t deal with many students.

6. Which of the following Canadian authors have had their books banned in certain Canadian schools: Brian Doyle, Margaret Laurence, Alice Munro, W.O. Mitchell, W.D. Valgerson, Robert Munsch?

All six authors have had books banned in Canadian schools.

7. What do these authors have in common: Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, Sigmund Freud, Bertolt Brecht, Erich Maria Remarque, Jack London, Helen Keller, H.G. Wells, Ernest Hemmingway, Leon Trotsky?

Their works were all burned by Jews.

8. What world-famous book did Canada Customs ban from Canada for 48 hours during Freedom to Read week in 1989?

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie.

9. What books were threatened with being burned in the town of Manning, Alberta, in September 1991?

The Impression Series, which contained one poem about witches.

10. Who objected to a Canadian picture book being included in the public libraries of Sechelt, B.C., in February 1992? What was the reason for the objection and what was the title of the book?

Maxine’s tree, which was a book about logging, because “logging’s bad”.

11. What novel, by a Manitoba author, was challenged in the Fort Garry School Division in 1991?

Gentle sinners by W. D. Valgerson.

12. What is the significance of the temperature 451 degrees F?

It is the temperature at which books burn.

Why should freedom of speech and freedom of the press be allowed? Why should a government which is what it believes to be right allow itself to be criticized? It would not allow opposition by lethal weapons. Ideas are much more fatal things than guns. Why should any man be allowed to buy a printing press and disseminate pernicious opinions calculated to embarrass the government.

Vladimir Ilyrich Lenin (1870-1924)

The truth is, that when a library expels a book of mine and leaves an unexpurgated Bible around where unprotected youth and age can get hold of it, the deep unconscious irony of it delights me and doesn’t anger me.

Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote to freedom to err.

Mohandas K. Ghandi (1869-1948)

A democracy smugly disdainful of new ideas would be a sick democracy. A democracy chronically fearful of new ideas would be a dying democracy.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

We knew that the imagination, like certain wild animals will not breed in captivity.

George Orwell (1903-1950)

Give me six lines written by the most honourable of men and I will find an excuse in them to hang him.

Cardinal Richelieu (1858-1642)

A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

Every burned book enlightens the world.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

To choose a good book, look into an inquisitor’s prohibited list.

John Aiken (1747-1822)

The most beautiful thing in the world is freedom of speech.

Diogenes (c. 320 BC)