(no subject)

[naelany]

Can someone please explain to me the concept of banning books? I mean...Sherlock Holmes is on the banned book list? WTF? Little House on the Prairie? Clan of the Cavebear? Even books that were on my required list back when I was in High School, like Moll Flanders, The Color Purple.... I mean..come on!

Comments

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

I always think it's a waste of time, to be honest. Because human nature dictates that if something is denied to us, we'll seek even harder to have it. Banning books just makes them even more popular in the end.

[naelany.livejournal.com]

Banning books makes you look a bit dumb, if you ask me lol

[arianadream.livejournal.com]

Well, one thing to consider is that the banned book list really lists books that have been banned anywhere, I think...which means that if some school library or church or what have you decided a book was offensive in any way, then the book would appear on the list. If you look at it from that perspective, it makes more sense - nearly everything has offended at least someone at one time or another. It doesn't make it any less ridiculous, however, to ban things like "Where's Waldo". It just means there's no overall American institution out there banning books and telling people what they can or can't read.

Also, Clan of the Cavebear is not one I have read, but I have heard it has a good deal of sex in it. Might not bother me but I can see why it might be banned in some places, such as a middle school library. (Ironic as it was a book highly recommended by my seventh grade teacher, but then, she was a little odd in the first place...)

[naelany.livejournal.com]

Now that would be really bad, if there were such a thing in place. I still think it's rediculous though.

Yes, Clan of the Cavebear has sex in it, both the kind with and without consent. But it's not to be graphic about sex and blatently having it, but more as a way of showing how "society" back then worked. The whole "club over the head means I love you" kind of deal. You know? And it is a good series

[http://users.livejournal.com/_holly/]

Banned books are books that have been or once were banned someplace because someone disliked what was in them enough to fight for their being banned. Books usually banned for a school district, not a wide-spread area. Usually the it's a Christian group fighting for the books to be banned because they don't like that there is such-and-such a thing in the book, like witchcraft or adultery, etc.

[naelany.livejournal.com]

eh, people need to keep an open mind. If you close the mind, you don't learn

[http://users.livejournal.com/_holly/]

You're preaching to the choir on that one.

[naelany.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I am ^_^

[brightshadowsky.livejournal.com]

(Sorry for the deleted comment, stupid HTML...)

If you want to hear something really dumb:

One school system made this push to ban Fahrenheit 451, a book about a frightening future where books are burned and intelligence is squashed. Whoever it was was trying to keep it from being used in the cirriculum as well as taken out of the library. When they finally relented and allowed the book to be taught, the school blacked out and cencored all the swear words. 0_o

Another instance with the same book: (from Wikipedia)
One particularly ironic circumstance is that, unbeknownst to Bradbury, his publisher released a censored edition in 1967 that eliminated the words "damn" and "hell" for distribution to schools. Later editions with all words restored include a "Coda" from the author describing this event and further thoughts on censorship and "well-meaning" revisionism.

The world sure is a bizzare place.

[naelany.livejournal.com]

no kidding! I really don't understand it. Especially with certain books. Did we really "suffer" from reading books like Sherlock Holmes or even Moll Flanders?

[brightshadowsky.livejournal.com]

No, of course not. But it made other people uncomfortable, so of course it shouldn't be around. >_< Hell, the book Night by Elie Wiesel made me uncomfortable, too - descriptions of hangings will do that to a person. But no way would i ever try to keep my kid from reading it. It's something they should know about, so that something like the Holocaust won't happen again.

[naelany.livejournal.com]

No kidding. If you were to ban everything that made you uncomfortable, then there'd be nothing about the wars and Holocausts the world has known. Those things certainly make me uncomfortable, but I read/see them all the same