Questioning Society discussion

Why do people ban books? Why are they allowed to?
Should they be allowed to? What's the point of banning books?
All of these are questions that come to my mind when the subject of banning books arise. Personally, I'm against it and don't see the point of it. I mean, sure you can't go to the libary or the store and get it there if it's banned there, but there's always the internate, so it's not like you're really being stopped, so why ban them in the first place?

No one should be banning books, i mean, we all have liberty to read whatever we want!

banning books shouldnt be allowed but i do understand banning books in certain places

why would the idea even come up?! books are the things that give us education, that teach us. getting rid of them will just change everything

When i was in second grade We weren't alowed to read books from any place other than this one tiny section of the library. I read at a higher reading level than that section of books but the librarian wouldn't let me check those books out. Put them on a higher shelf or rate them like PG-13, PG, R,X, G. Whatever just don't ban them

mmk i thought about it a little more n ya ur right, banning books isnt right newhere

Banning books is like getting rid of a kids imagination! Sure, some kids can invent things out of nothing, but books inspire people to do something or think differently or something else. Getting rid of that would make a more dull world.

Excactly, so way would they do it?

Well, if you were a parent would you want your cild to read a book about sex or reading a book that has a swear word every two sentences?

But, to ban a book from your child, and not allowing them to read it until they are older is one thing, but to ban it from everyone, includind bored 60 yr olds, is another.

true

very true

exactly!

i agree

we need to find someone who doesn't agree, or someone who bans books so we can try to see why they do.

ill ban books just for the sake of the argument

okay. and I'll be a crazy person that doesn't know how to argue well.

yo man, like why ya ban'n me books man, like come on, man i like thought we was cool.

these books say things that will drive a person like u crazy whith their graphicness

well maybe i like good graphics..........

I forgot who said this:
"Where we are burning books, we will soon be burning people."
The person who said this was speaking in reference to the burning of books by the Nazis (this is a valid point, so no Goodwin's Law, please), before the Second World War. Where there is no freedom to read what you want, there is even less freedom of thought.
That said, I have two lovely nieces, and I think it is important to control what they see and hear. There is a time and place to introduce them to everything, so I have no problem with restricting the access of minors.

I agree with you there,
somethings are not appropraite for young children. But to restrict and to banned are different, it's not like how in movies you can't see an R rated film with out an Idea, proving your age, banning books bans them from everyone.

i think banning books is only a protective parent's way to try to get other kids not to read certain books

since ive had a mom who doesn't care what i read as long as the cover doesn't look like porn, i've read whatever i wanted all my life, and i honestly think i turned out ok

i mean, i haven't killed anyone yet or made a complete fool of myself (ok, maybe once)

but doing that is stupid, because someone will find a way (they always do ;)

Like Air said, just rate it higher. And like some of you have been saying, it's one thing for a parent not to let their child read a book, but banning everyone from reading it, it doesn't seem right. Once you get to be a certain age, your parents have to let you go, read, watch, and do what you want.

And while the government may control the economy and govern the laws and what not, they are not our parents.

Stop lights are something that, by law, we must obey. And this is totally logical. But banning a book has nothing to do with our or someone else's safety, does it? What we read does not directly affect other people.

Now, in other countries, they have their own laws. Banning, say, the Bible. It is because they are trying to keep religion out or force a different religion on. Not everyone has a free society. With other governments, banning books is more understandable.

But in our country, where we have freedom of speech and freedom of the pursuit of happiness, hey, what if I think reading a banned book is helping to pursue my happiness?

our govt. hasnt banned ne books that i know of so read the book if that is how u pursue ur happiness

at one of the libraries i go to in manga books they rip out the oages that are too "adult" which is soo unfair because you miss a whole page or more in the book and you get do confused ur just like what just happened

my library doesn't have that kind of thing

of course they may have a problem with a 5 year old girl reading the Gossip Girl series, but i consider that being practical

I'd rather them get rid of the bok than damage it.

Wow, Rachel, your library sucks. No Offence.

okay.

yep, I agree. they ban so many books that it's driving me crazy! if people don't like the book, then here's an idea: DON'T READ IT!!!

♥ Bella♥ {Hold Me: I’m a Fermata} wrote: "Why do people ban books? Why are they allowed to?
Should they be allowed to? What's the point of banning books?
All of these are questions that come to my mind when the subject of banning books a..."

I have absolutely no idea why books are banned. What makes absolutely no sense is that if we have freedom to read, we have freedom NOT to read. So simply put, if one doesn't want to read a book, don't. I cannot believe the sheer number of books that have been banned, or books that have had to change names to be published. Every book has something one can learn from. Even if what we learn is NOT to do something. Can you believe in some states the Dictionary has been banned? Also books such as the Bible, Encyclopedias, "The Diary of Anne Frank", "The Crucible", There is a saying that people who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it. Cannot agree more. Look at the problems we have in society that could easily be rectified by students being allowed to read "Night", the experience of a man living in a Concentration camp during World War !!. "The Crucible" is the story of the Salem Witchcraft trials, the the dangers of pointing fingers and being gullible to believe in children, ant not holding children responsible for their actions. DO you know that "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was actually entitled "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", and the Oompa Loompa"s were originally black? Do you know what the book title was changed? Because the book came out in the 1960's and Charlie was another name for black people, and of course the black Oompa Loompa's. Americas felt this was an expression of hatred for blacks. Even Shel Stilverstein's book "The Giving Tree" has been banned because, heaven forbid it teachers MORALS. Perhaps if more people had morals and common sense this world would not be in the mess it is in.

AS and English and Linguistics major, I love words and books. So I am against all banned books. As a matter of fact, I have two buttons regarding banned books. They read

"A book worth banning is a book worth reading"
"Everything I know about life I learned from reading banned books."

love the quotes... and you're right.

Yeah, I don't think that banning books is right. Like at my friend's school they banned the Twilight series just because of the last book.

yeah well the idea of third graders reading twilight makes uneasy

yeah, my sis isnt allowed to read it and shes in sixth grade (not to mention shes a year younger than everyone else)

yeah third grade reading twilight? that is out of the question, exspecially the 4th book. but still why would an elementary school have that book at their library? Still they shouldn't ban books. (besides third grades could understand every aspect so twilght would probably be weird to them if you know what I mean.)
Like I said, It's one thing to tell your child/children they can't read a book becasue of their maturity, but to ban it from everyone in a community-that is bull.

I don't think that people should be allowed to ban books. I have heard some of the reasons why certain books have been banned, and some of them are pretty silly. Also, some of the best books have been banned. To Kill a Mockingbird is banned because one of the main characters is black. The same is true of Huckleberry Finn. Maya Angelou's books have been banned. I agree with Bella. If you don't want your child to read a book, restrict it. Don't ban it from all of society. That is not fair, and it certainly is not dealing with freedom.

Excactly.

by the way Perpendicularandi- I'm not trying to get off topic, but I love your name!!

same here

i read my first romance book in 5th grade and i was weirded out
not to say i didn't like the genre but it did make me uncomfortable at the time

and my first book that mentions drugs in 7th grade
kinda surprised at first but i got into it

and in 7th grade I read "Less than Zero"
I do admit I read that one way too early. Damn, it still gives me the creeps (and it's not even a horror novel!)

Well, it is a middle school, not an elementry school. So, I don't think it is fair!

"In his 1821 play, Almansor, the German writer Heinrich Heine — referring to the burning of the Muslim holy book, the Qur'an, during the Spanish Inquisition — wrote, "Where they burn books, so too will they in the end burn human beings." ("Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen.")"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_bur...

Banning is one step away from burning.

true that

yeah.

first they ban the books...what else next?

Think, 1984-esqu.

Banning books is ridiculous.

I agree. People can read whatever they want.

Yeah, i agree