Banned Books

[Gamefreak103]

This is what I think is a big problem.
If a book has at least one thing in it that is offensive, it just has to be banned.

What I think:
This is a problem in America, this is a problem because of the First Amendment.

What do you think?

[Repliku]

This isn't a problem just with America. Every country has banned books that are not permitted there, as well as movies or television shows. Clockwork Orange is an example of a banned book and movie in Great Britain. Quite a few books of GB and the USA are banned in Islamic countries etc.

Personally, I disagree with the banning of books whether it disses a country, religion, culture, sexuality, or promotes those things, etc. It's how I feel about banning tv programs, movies etc. I don't believe in censorship for adults other than the fact we have the choice to not buy the book, to not believe in something, to not watch the movie etc. This is a global problem though, and not just an American one and I don't see it resolving until the majority of people in charge of countries believe that it should change. Sure, some things shouldn't be read or viewed by children without the parental figures determining it is appropriate, but adults to me should be able to check out nearly anything. Banning stuff most often means that something is so sensitive to some people that we all should go find a way to get it somehow. It encourages us to check out what's 'so bad' about it.

Of course, I suppose even I have to say there are some things I would not want to see on shelves of bookstores, such as ways to make Crystal Meth or some very harmful books that are threatening to people. I'll have to think on that more.

[xCareyy]

i own a banned book. an anarchy cook book which shows you how to make household bombs =]

but they made it illegal to buy them now from stores =/

[Repliku]

I have that book too. *snickers*. As I said, banned books sadly encourages me to go find a way to get them to see what is so bad about them. =:/

[tummer]

yeah, there's a poster of banned books at our library that lists names and the reason. like the dairy of anne frank. that was banned probably in gemany because of the whole holocaust thing.

in china, they banned death note from schools. they decided to ban it becuase the students were giving teachers threats that they will write the teacher's name in a home made death note and kill the teacher

[.Kairi.]

IMO, some books are banned to peak your interest in them, while others have too much inapropriate content in them. But its not just America, its global like Repliku said. As for banning things like Death Note, I think that its ridiculous. Those kids need help if they are threatening to kill teachers. And the teachers should know that Death Notes arent real =/ Anything that has to do with WW2 is banned in Germany because they are ashamed of what those people did back then.
i own a banned book. an anarchy cook book which shows you how to make household bombs =]

but they made it illegal to buy them now from stores =/

Where can I get this book? Since it isnt in stores... =/

[JLHack7]

in china, they banned death note from schools. they decided to ban it becuase the students were giving teachers threats that they will write the teacher's name in a home made death note and kill the teacher

LMFAO, They believed the kids?
That's just sad

[xCareyy]

Where can I get this book? Since it isnt in stores... =/

there are some sites to where you can download it and look at it through adobe reader

other than that you can get the real copy from ebay

[Mirai]

Wait. Anne Frank is banned in Germany? For the Halocaust? ... But, Halocaust denial is illegal in Germany, right?

But, yeeeaaahhh. People try to get Harry Potter banned because they can't seem to learn how to read the darn book and understand what it's about.

I think I know why the super-fundies don't like the harry Potter books. They teach equality and standing up for yourself.

[tummer]

LMFAO, They believed the kids?
That's just sad
i know lol.

Wait. Anne Frank is banned in Germany? For the Halocaust? ... But, Halocaust denial is illegal in Germany, right?

But, yeeeaaahhh. People try to get Harry Potter banned because they can't seem to learn how to read the darn book and understand what it's about.

I think I know why the super-fundies don't like the harry Potter books. They teach equality and standing up for yourself.


i don't know why or where it was banned. i just know it was at a time.

[8730]

I think censorship of media for political reasons is wrong. People should be allowed to read into whatever side of a topic they wish. You take away that ability and you are supressing their rights. And anyway, banning something just makes people want to read or watch it more =/ Therefore banning is counter-productive.

[White_Rook]

There's a complex relativity in the matter. Yes some of it can be ridiculous, like the Catholic Church's views on fantasy and how it goes into witchcraft and other "unholy" things. One group's tolerance is another's intolerance so to speak.

[Spitfire]

I think taht certain books are banned for the reasons that they give people the wrong ideas to the countries that they live in. Such as Anne Frank in germany, or Anarchy Cook Book in America. The governments feel these books take away from either the pride of the country or they can possibly threaten the country in some way. Back in the old days, books of other religons were burned by the church, and gov'ts burned certain manuscripts that they felt may bring about an uprising. But one of the greatest quotes ever about books. " where they once burned books they will soon burn people" You take away something so simple as reading, you can take away more than you think.

[saxoR_vs_aroS]

Books are banned for political and religious reasons. I do not agree with it. People should know what they want to know if it is acessible to them, and can choose not to. Take a book for example. Anne Frank. A government has no right to remove this bok from shelves if people wish to read it.

Thats how i put it trying to get my thinking straight and trying not to say what has been said already.

[Crumpet]

it depends - like in school we are watching a movie about 1971 when white people and black people hated each other - ut it shows them coming together - it has a lot of racial slurs in it though so yeah

[8730]

The whole point is people have the right to read all sides of an argument. I will admit that certain things like how to build a homemade incendiery device should be kept off the shelves, not that that would make much of a difference with the internet now.
I think books should never be banned for religious reasons. As soon as they are it means the religion that banned it is too doubtful of their own faith to think that a book is enough to damage their followers faith.

[Roxas is Hot]

I don't have any banned books in my school, as far as I know. But I find the whole idea of it totally ridiculous.


Nothing would piss me off more than some overreacting Christian parent wanting my school to ban the Harry Potter books altogether. I've heard this was happening thought some schools, and thought I'd bring it up. I'd either have a word with the parents, or tell the school to screw them all and let us read what we damn well want. If they have a problem with it, then don't let the kid read it! It's as easy as that. Don't make the rest of us suffer because you can't get your ****in' religion out of your head.


But I don't see the whole point of banning books. As saxoR_vs_aroS mentioned, books are there for a good use, and shouldn't be banned.

[Hakurei Reimu]

Wat I think of it? Huh....

I say, I REALLY DON CARE. Personally for me, I read all my stuff on the internet and I hardly ever read anything that's not current event, information, or factual related. So long as none of the banned books contain any of those, I really don care.

[Reptar :D]

I remember when the book A Wink in Time i think was banned but i dont think that i read a book that was really racist

[MasterNightmare]

neat little morsel of info...where's waldo was banned somewhere because it contained "dirty things" like the bare backs of sunbathers (as if waldo wasn't hard enough to find:D) and little red riding hood was banned, not cause of eating the granny, but cause of a bottle of wine in the basket. that made me lol. and this info i got from Uncle Johns Bathroom Reader. love those books :D

[Laurence_Fox]

I think banning of books is a crime against humanity.

Someone worked very hard to write that book and/or create illustrations for it. Then there is the person who lays out the book to be printed. The plates for the printing press have to be created (and these things aren't cheap people), the book has to be printed, bound, and then shipped.

Book making is a very costly process. To produce let's say 1,000 copies of a children's book that may be 8 pages, it could cost around $20,000 depending on the materials used. Paper quality, press time, bindery time, plate materials, proofs, etc.

Then there is the loss of information since that's what books are. Information. Say a preacher down south banned Harry Potter due to its 'satanic' influences. All those books got shelved/locked up and kids miss out on the underlying message of good vs. evil and friendship written in those books since a few people couldn't look past the witchcraft element of the books.

It is not only a violation of 'Freedom of Speech' but also 'Freedom of the Press.'

[tummer]

there's a poster that i've seen in every middle school/ high school that has 100 banned books on it, and states reasons.

one was "the diary of anne frank". it was banned for social reasons.

[Mirai]

there's a poster that i've seen in every middle school/ high school that has 100 banned books on it, and states reasons.

one was "the diary of anne frank". it was banned for social reasons.

That's screwed up. It's a good book.

But, yeah. It seems that the fundies will have more reason to ban Harry Potter... J.K. Rowling revealed that Dumbledore was gay. She did that to teach kids tolerance, which is very good.

[Ashwa <3]

What do I think of banned books? I really don't see the point because people still read them. Example A:

I was put into Honors English 9 and we had to read three books over the summer. Well one of the books was The Chocolate War. I read it and I really liked it. Well one month into the school year and then my mother shows me that its on a banned book list. I showed the teacher and she said she had no idea. So her honors classes read banned books...

So I don't think its really stopping anyone....

[Gwen]

This is what I think is a big problem.
If a book has at least one thing in it that is offensive, it just has to be banned.

What I think:
This is a problem in America, this is a problem because of the First Amendment.

What do you think?

My thoughts exactly.

In the state of Washington, we don't ban books, and we have a thing called banned books week where they encourage students to actually read the banned books. I've read all of em.

It really annoys me how they ban things like Harry Potter and Captain Underpants. I mean, for god's sake, if you don't like it, don't read it.
You'd think slapping ratings on everything would be enough.

And another thing that makes me immensly proud - Death Note is banned in China >:3 And I read that with pride and obsession.

[Nymph of Destiny]

I don't believe books should be banned as it is part of the Amendments to have freedom of speech, beliefs, etc. Ratings help for people to know whether they would prefer to read it or not, and other states might have their own laws that we can't change, no matter how unfair it may be, but America is supposed to be the country of freedom.

Although some books, such as the one on how to create bombs and such, might be well off banned or better yet, destroyed completely, as it can show people the best way to murder others, and thus, become a criminal. Not everyone is wanting to be a criminal I know - some might just want to know cause' it's intriguing, or something. But I suppose America does not want to take that chance, and well, if if banning it creates the opportunity for at least just a tiny bet fewer criminals/terrorists, then sure, by all means, ban those, make it harder for people to get through to find and obtain knowledge from them.

However, for the other banned books that won't create any chance of felonious activity, those should be made available to the public, with a warning/rating of some kind. As others say, people manage to get through the banned system and read them anyway, so what's the point? And as long as it doesn't influence you to do anything wrong, there's nothing wrong with these sort of banned books.

[8730]

The problem is knowledge on its own is not good or bad, it's just there. It's what people do with it that is the problem. Destroying knowledge just because some people have, in the past, done bad things with it is wrong =/ You should destroy all books on military strategy as well, people kill people with that too.

[Nymph of Destiny]

The problem is knowledge on its own is not good or bad, it's just there. It's what people do with it that is the problem. Destroying knowledge just because some people have, in the past, done bad things with it is wrong =/ You should destroy all books on military strategy as well, people kill people with that too.

That's true...although I suppose America or someone thinks that the books about creatings bombs, etc. is more dangerous than military strategy, if they are striving to ban it. Although that may not be the reason, that's just an assumption....I could be wrong, and they could just want to ban it for an entirely different reason. However, I suppose that if it's banned, people really shouldn't try to get through the system to read it. There isn't any point to reading those kinds of books, and the government must want it banned for a purpose. What that is, I can't quite fathom, but I just believe that the governmet must have a good enough reason for that.

Of course, that sentence does kind of contradict my other statement, of how I believed other sort of books are alright to read despite being banned. The government must have a reason to ban those as well, but I suppose I believe their knowledge aren't as potential towards something as precarious the one the other books can bring.

[Bubble Master Califa]

[QUOTE=tummer73;999787]yeah, there's a poster of banned books at our library that lists names and the reason. like the dairy of Anne Frank. that was banned probably in gemany because of the whole holocaust thing. [QUOTE]

So Germany has banned a book talkinng about the mistakes she has done in the past (in my history class we refer to countries and ships as she's) and lost a big battle? It's just like how America won't call the Vietnam war a war because she lost it. When will countries just admit their oopsies and admit they lose at times and move on and Anne Frank's Diary is an unbelievable book it's 100% real and my primary school dedicated a day for her as many read the book and were moved by it (including myself).

[O R A N G E]

Banned books are ridiculous. In all honesty, if a book is banned, I just want to read it more. Becuase usually banned books have interesting stuff in them that I would enjoy reading. I do not think any books should be banned. If what the book has in it bothers you, than don't read it, but don't force your views upon other people who may have thought it was good but didn't end up reading it becuase of some stupid reason.