TITLE:
Knowledge Censorship in 21st Century Academia: An Overview with Attention to the Trends of Wokeism and Cancel Culture
AUTHORS:
Arthur David Ketzl
KEYWORDS:
Knowledge, Censorship, Wokeism, Cancel Culture, Social Justice
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.13 No.3,
March
18,
2025
ABSTRACT: Research is an activity aimed at uncovering reliable knowledge. Its goal is to enlighten and advance society by revealing facts and using them to promote healthy and sustainable social and technological progress. However, various social, political, and religious groups attempt to suppress these facts and restrict their accessibility to the wider community. The central thesis of this discussion is that while issues of censorship often emerge when dealing with sensitive information that may offend specific communities, the act of suppressing such knowledge ultimately hinders people from attaining a true and comprehensive understanding of the subject. This thesis will be supported by specific arguments grounded in concrete examples, notably the phenomena of wokeism and cancel culture. These examples will illustrate how the suppression of controversial ideas, under the guise of protecting communities, can lead to a lack of genuine discourse and an incomplete grasp of complex societal issues.