At Issue: Navigating the Muddy Waters Between Censorship and Literature

Wendy MacLeod's new play, The Good Samaritan, is about an immigrant family in the U.S. surviving "without pay and living in dire conditions," according to the author. There are an infinite number of reasons why writers compose, but many would say they create work to delve into the depths of the human condition and explore emotional and psychological territory found in relationships, families, in the characters' search for meaning. Frederick, the Supreme Court upheld a school's ability to "prohibit speech that can reasonably be interpreted as advocating illegal drug use," but they made it clear that they would not support "any restriction of speech that can plausibly be interpreted as commenting on any political or social issue" (Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser, 2013). When we feel offended or threatened by a work of art, we have a number of healthy options to consider: * to not support, read, or see the work in question; * to protest the artist while acknowledging his or her right to create the work; * to support creative alternative work in response; and * to try to learn from the work-to analyze why it seems offensive, why it threatens, why another person would view this work as legitimate and worthy.