Banned books week

[wiccansamurai]

This week is nearly to an end, but i thought I'd post this anyway.

This week is banned books week. There is a list of around 4,000 books somne people wish to ban. The ones that are really being pushed, however, are books like "Harry Potter", "Lord of the Rings", "Farenheit 451", ironically a book about book banning. "Huckleberry Finn", "Tom Sawyer", "To Kill a Mocking Bird".
Also, erotic books and books dealing with homosexuals. This includes some health education books.
Books with the main characters being caucasion but the setting during the slavery periods of America are being banned by a group of African Americans.
Even "Where's Waldo" is being banned!

The banning starts in school libraries, goes t public libraries, moves to book stores. It's a horrible thing, as some of the literature are classics and are even required reading for some schools. This is the week for going against the destruction of good literature. How do you feel about the banning of American literature? I, myself, find it outrageous.

[Sol-Blade]

Banned Books...that just rolls off the tongue doesn't it? I have heard only very little of it, infact I heard only a mention of it in today's news but I also thought that it was completely ridiculous. People are getting to concerned over "Harry Potter" saying it encourages kids to believe in magic and...I quote..."To run into walls for the sake of finding a train station.", I mean seriously...are you parents [I]that[/I] shocked by the book? As for why they want to ban the book "To Kill A Mocking Bird" by Nelle Lee Harper is [I]beyond[/I] me.

[Japan]

[COLOR=Navy]Each book that you specifically listed except for Harry Potter all teach you a lesson. I mean...Fahrenheight 451 teaches you to think about stuff more closely, and question whether or not certain rules are good. I don't really know why anyone would want to ban Huck Finn. It was just written at that time period.

Classics should not be banned, nor should Harry Potter. Harry Potter is just a story, and if you are not old even to realize that, you shouldn't read it. If you don't like the books either, there's no stopping you to just not read the book, and leave well enough alone.

As for the health books, I can certainly understand why they should be banned. They are pretty erotic for young people, especially for pre teens and teen agers.[/COLOR]

[Boba Fett]

[color=green]My school has done a tremendous job of promoting banned books this week, and I?m very glad people are finally taking notice of some of these classic works of literature. Although, our teachers have done a pretty thorough job of using banned books in our curriculum anyhow.

However, some books aren?t allowed in our school library for a reason. Like Japan_86 pointed out, there are some pretty risqué Sex Ed book out there, and some pretty explicit novels. Those books shouldn?t be in a high school library, pure and simple. They definitely should be available, just not in this setting.

Funny how these ?banned? books probably often get more press and reading time than most other works.[/color]

[Guest Rinku]

[COLOR=DeepSkyBlue]You know what, if they start banning books like the ones mentioned above, than are they not building a future like Fahrenheight 451? what's the point if making a good book if it get's banned? But my queation is how can they bann books like Harry Potter, and LOTR? If peopel want kids to read why take our books away? their are to many questions, but so few answers. [/COLOR]

[Spiritbreeze]

[CENTER][COLOR=Plum]~Gasp!~[/COLOR]

:( [COLOR=DarkOrchid]How dare any book ever be banned! I hate when people try to ban books just because they disagree with them. Books are simply the authors views, ideas, opinions, whatever. It doesn't mean you have to read them if you don't want to!

So, that's what I have to say about banned books.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=Plum]Just please don't take my books away, my precious books!

Yay for addicted bookworms![/COLOR] :love: [/CENTER]

[Guest Midnight Rush]

Banning books is an incredibly stupid thing to do. It not only shows lack of intelligence and perception, it just shows that society would rather embrace ignorance than learning.

That said, although I feel all books should be [i]availible[/i], I also believe that there is a time and place for everything. The time and place for the Kama Sutra or the Perfumed Garden is not at highschool. No matter how much I disagree with an author, or a topic, for the sake of civilization, you cannot censor it entirely.

[wiccansamurai]

I agree with not having anything erotic around a high school.

People wish to ban Harry Potter because they think kids will begin to beleive in wand waving and magic, or walk into walls to catch a train.

I think there's a problem with your 11 year old if he runs into a brick wall looking for a train. And it has very little to do with the book.

Tom Sawyer and such are being banned for the the use of language that is condsidered offensive.

I think banning any book from public (Excluding some books from schools.) is wrong.

I actually know a kid whose parents have banned him from Lord of the Rings. He read it so much his grades fell. lol

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]I was at Barnes and Noble the other day and there was a display of a few of these proposed "banned books." I realized that most of them I read throughout elementary, middle, and high school, and a few I had even read in college. One of them was my absolute favoritie book of all time, [b]A Wrinkle in Time.[/b] I think it is so ridiculous to ban books. Whatever happened to the freedom of speech and the freedom of press? If you don't want your children reading the book, then don't buy it for them. It's that simple. It's not like kids actually make an effort nowadays to read, so when they do find a book they like, the last thing you want to do is BAN IT. I'm sorry, whatever happened to fiction? Fantasy? Fairy tales? I guess all books are supposed to just be based on reality or otherwise parents might FREAK.

Gah, this topic always makes me so angry. I don't even want to say anymore right now. ESPECIALLY don't get me going on Christians versus Harry Potter. *Shudders angrily*[/color][/size]

[Bio]

[font=Trebuchet MS]Banning LOTR and Harry Potter? What, kids can't read anything made up? So now imagination is innapropriate. Great.

I'm just glad that there's no way this can be officially enforced.

Farenheit 451!? Teaching children to question laws? To have opinions? [i]Gasp.[/i][/font]

[Godelsensei]

[COLOR=Gray][FONT=Courier New]The banning of literature is rediculous. While there are certain books that are not appropriate for school etc... environments (ie porn in a high-school library), there is no reason why the author should be smothered by zealots, soccer-moms with nothing better to do, or authoritarian governments.

You have to understand, the people who want to ban Harry Potter are morons who seem to believe that magic is real, and that it can be called upon by the flick of the wrist. Trying to identify with morons is always fruitless.

Some people just need to be laughed at until they get the message that no one cares.

Edit:

Just remembered: check my sig. I've got the method society needs to deal with the issue covered right there.^^ [/FONT][/COLOR]

[Fyxe]

[size=1][color=darkblue]Yeah, I've noticed those signs up every where. I find it so incredibly stupid to ban books. The more books banned from schools, libraries, and book stores, the less liteature we have. Soon we will have just a limited and carefully picked collection of books. Liteature and reading is all about diversity and finding what you enjoy. If you take that away, what are kids supposed to do, to dream about, wonder about, and what will make them think? What will teach them the every day problems and common sence they need to know? Books teach children so many things they need for the outside world, and no, I'm not just talking about text books, but just any kind of book. Parents and teachers encourage us to read, but if they start banning these things, how do they expect us to [i]want[/i] to read if everything that interests us is gone?

We are morons.[/color][/size]

[Panda]

My mother-in-law is an elementary school librarian and you should hear the ruckus some of the parents make about the books in the library. One parent was totally offended because there was a book that mentioned the word "homosexual" in the library. Don't even mention anything about world religions unless you want to open up a messy can of worms!

I remember a couple of years ago seeing a display of banned books at Barnes and Noble. I was quite suprised by some of the books on the display. I was expecting to see books like Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Joy of Sex, Go Ask Alice (Which I highly recommend!) and The Bible. Georgia O'Keefe's art book was on the table because of her suggestive "flower art". "In the Night Kitchen", a childrens book was banned because the main character looses his pajamas in his journey to the kitchen. Many, many books dealing with homosexuality were on the table.

It is quite disturbing to see how closed minded people are. Just because it is published does not mean you have to buy it.

[Hevn]

[COLOR=RoyalBlue][SIZE=1][B]My friend's LOTR books and stuffs were burned by her parents. After learning that LOTR is not a threat to their beliefs or religion, they started allowing my friend to buy those items again.

I say there is no sensible reason to ban [I]any[/I] book and nobody has the right to say what goes and what stays. I'm afraid that the next thing that people will ban are the authors of the books themselves.

PS. Our national hero was imprisoned for writing books against our colonizers.[/B][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[DetectiveMikeRS]

[QUOTE=Japan_86][COLOR=Navy]Each book that you specifically listed except for Harry Potter all teach you a lesson. I mean...Fahrenheight 451 teaches you to think about stuff more closely, and question whether or not certain rules are good. I don't really know why anyone would want to ban Huck Finn. It was just written at that time period.

Classics should not be banned, nor should Harry Potter. Harry Potter is just a story, and if you are not old even to realize that, you shouldn't read it. If you don't like the books either, there's no stopping you to just not read the book, and leave well enough alone.

As for the health books, I can certainly understand why they should be banned. They are pretty erotic for young people, especially for pre teens and teen agers.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Tolkein said his Lord of the Rings series is filled with Cristian morals and beliefs (I had to do a paper on it for my religion class at my private high school, he even said in an interview long ago that it was a Christian moral tale). They're probably banning that because of the "evil" such as magic and fantasy. But the Christian aspect may be a case too. But people have to learn that great moral values can be found in the books, not on TV. And some of them are just stories! It's no big deal!

I wonder if these people would treat Homer that way if they lived in his era as he traveled the land telling the tales of The Illiad and The Odyssey...

[Guest Midnight Rush]

Book burning, which someone mentioned, can be ranked among the top five most barbaric things to do. If you have a problem with an idea, refute it! Don't ******* erase it... geez, these book burning fanatics give ConChris' a bad name...

[Deedlit]

[quote name='Bio][font=Trebuchet MS']Banning LOTR and Harry Potter? What, kids can't read anything made up? So now imagination is innapropriate. Great.[/font][/quote]
[color=#009966]Bio, I loved that so much I'm going to quote it.

Literature is a form of art. Why is it that people try to ban / destroy books when they don't try to ban / destroy artwork? Everyone hears that people (mainly Christians) are causing riots over Harry Potter, but you never hear non-Christians pitching fits when they see paintings of Jesus in textbooks or anything like that. *sarcasm* Hey, that gives me an idea! Let's try and ban school textbooks! :worried:

Ergh. This is so stupid. The day they ban LOTR and Harry Potter is the day that I take my collections of books and start reprinting them illegally.[/color]

[Tigervx]

[FONT=Arial][COLOR=Teal] My teacher put a list of the banned books on our wall on monday, and some of the books are really weird. I mean, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings are not some horrible evil Wica books which will make your kids believe in magic! They teach valuable lesson. One I found extremely strange is James and the Giant Peach...

I don't see why the books are banned in the first place. Books are meant to spread information, so why ban them? We used books in our war against the British in the revolutionary war, it just really doesn't make sense to me. You can not give them to children, but why ban them entirely?[/COLOR][/FONT]

[Dagger]

[quote name='wiccansamurai']The banning starts in school libraries, goes t public libraries, moves to book stores.[/quote]
Which books have been banned from actual bookstores? I understand why some novels and nonfiction texts are kept out of (public) school libraries, but I've never received any indication that these restrictions might also apply to private companies.

~Dagger~

[wiccansamurai]

It doesn't happen much, I'm pretty sure. I found a website with a few of the books that were banned in the past.

[url]http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/banned-books.html[/url]

I hope this helps a little. If you find any that are currently banned from stores, I would like to know. Most of the information on my first page was received through an E-mail from a friend. If anything, it may not mean large book store chains, but small localized book stores.

[Guest finespicypowder]

WTF?!??!?!?!?!?!?!? Banned books?! Now, Im no nerd (well, maybe i am, i am in marching band after all) but banning books is rediculous. It is unconstitutional, and its just stupid! Some one puts all that effort in it, it gets published, anbd then someone says no one can read it? Thats harsh. Its basically like saying hey see this million dollars? Its yours. And then just when your about to spend it, "Hey give me that money i wnat it back just because! well, thats my opinion anyway.
HEY!!! To all you medieval crazy people, ROCK THE FRICK ON!!!!!!!!!

Byea

[wiccansamurai]

Bandies aren't nerds, they're geeks.

Yes, I beleive it is vrey unconstitutional. Which is why I love banned books week. Too bad its over all ready.

My English class should start reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" soon. I hope.

What books on the lists has everyone else read? I read a few.

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1]This is happening in America, isn't it. [i]America[/i]. Why is it that these kind of outrageous acts of stupidty always seem to occur there?

Oh, we have some people who think that Harry Potter is bad for kids, or that other books are evil. But really, they're lone voices. The thing is, most people [even in America, I'd imagine] would know that this is crap. There are two skills being used here. One: caution. Two: stupidity.

Obviously there are some books that are unsuitable for schools. I have read a few in my library that are rather risquè and maybe a tad innappropriate...at least for Yr 8's. Monitoring distribution of books like that is exercising Skill number One: Caution.

Now, banning Harry Potter, LOTR etc. brings us to a whole other issue. Perhaps the idea of magic is somewhat a religious taboo, oh my god. Don't expect everyone to feel the same way. If it is an issue, then Catholic schools should probably not have those books. It is senseless and silly, but hey what should you expect? On the other hand, wanting a nationwide banning of those books is the epitome of Skill number Two: Stupidity.

I think people should have a closer look at Skill number One, and do their utmost to avoid Skill number Two.
[/size]

[Deedlit]

[QUOTE=Tigervx][font=Arial][color=teal] One I found extremely strange is James and the Giant Peach...
[/color][/font][/QUOTE]
[color=#009966]Maybe they want to ban it because it teaches kids to run away? *shrugs* In that case they have a lot more books to try and get rid of....>_>[/color]

[Arcadia]

[size=1]What about our Bill of Rights? Freedom of the press? Or even religion? The banning of books may not be a direct violation of these laws, but it still makes me a little uncomfortable to think that there are still people out there who want to restrict and control what we read and write and think.

I don't know why these people are afraid of books or afraid of their children reading them. What's wrong with learning about new places, new ideas, new people, new cultures? What's wrong with making up your own mind about something? What's wrong with stretching the limits, or daring to think outside the box? I always thought these were things that we tried to encourage.

Somebody else mentioned the irony in trying to ban a book like [i]Fahrenheight 451[/i], and I guess I just want to emphasize that. How can a person honestly try and ban this book when they know what it's about? This whole thing just screams [i]stupid[/i] to me.[/size]