Banning Books Should Be Banned

As United States citizens, we have the right of freedom of expression; the First Amendment of the United States constitution states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press…" (First Amendment Oct. 20, 2013). As this concerns books, people should have the freedom to choose what they want to read and what they don't want to read. By banning books, our basic rights as US citizens are abused. Book banning affects many different people, from the people who read books to the people who write them. Why do

What is a banned book? A banned/challenged book is a book that has or is in the process of being removed from school libraries. Three reasons a book would be banned or challenged are profanity, sexually explicit content, and alcohol. There are others reasons a book could be banned, but those I listed are just examples. Also those are also reasons the book “Harris and me” is banned.

“It’s not books you need; it’s some of the things that once were in books” Page 82 of Fahrenheit 451. I agree with this statement completely because many of the topics in many books are beneficial to know. However, I believe that certain concepts portrayed in books are one sided and vague and not completely suited to teach young or maturing minds the concepts they attempt to portray. I personally believe that books should be censored, at will, by parents who believe they have a more appropriate way to teach their own son or daughter about the topics they are censoring from them. I must add that banning all books as Fahrenheit 451 suggests is not the answer. Many literary works have the same concepts but teach these concepts from different viewpoints

What is a banned book? A banned book is a book that has been removed from the shelves because of its content. There are many reasons a book can be banned, a few of those reasons are is it contains offensive language, promotion of a religious viewpoint, unsuited to an age group, and many more. Lots of people and organizations have and still attempt to ban books. Some organizations that have banned books are The Anti – Defamation league, The Christian Voters League, and The Central Intelligence Agency.

It is often argued that schools should be able to ban books Nevertheless, it is absolutely imperative that schools not be allowed to ban books because books help people understand other ways of life, books help people gain empathy, and books help

The community should do what they want to do. They shouldn’t be told to ban books from their school district. They should be able to read what they want to read especially in schools. I don’t think any books at our school are banned from our school library because Illinois I don’t think has any banned books.

Banning books is one of the most unnecessary occurences to be brought to light. The administrators who ban books don’t take into account how much the kids will want to read it now that it is “banned”. They will wonder why the book is so bad that the administration has banned the book. Like any other curious kid, they are going to read it to find out because they were told not to. The parenting perspective is understandable kids shouldn’t have to learn about some inappropriate topics until the child is ready, but unfortunately, if the kid doesn’t learn it from the book they will learn about it some other way.

''Banning books gives us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight.''

Historically, banning books is not a new practice, because for as long as writers have written books, people have been wanting to ban them. Before the printing press, only a few handwritten copies of each book existed. If leaders deemed a book ‘inappropriate’ or ‘undesirable’, they burned the few copies that existed, ensuring people would no longer read the knowledge inside them again. After the invention of the printing press, books could be printed in mass quantities, leaving book burning an ineffective form of censorship. Soon after, an Archbishop in Germany begged for town officials to ban “dangerous publications” that allowed for people to question the church, thus creating the first official book censorship. Throughout America’s

Banning books is a practice that has been used all throughout history. It affects many people such as authors, religious groups, students, and other citizens. When books are banned, it limits the amount a person can read or learn about a certain topic. Banning books is a key component in the novel, Fahrenheit 451, as well as in society throughout history.

The parents who want to ban books from libraries do not seem to trust their children to know what books they are ready for or not. If a child starts to read a book and does not like the content that is in it, then they can decide to stop reading it and choose a book that they like better. The people who ban books do not trust their children to be able make the right decisions for themselves, and thus do not respect them in their decisions. Additionally, banning books often has the opposite effect of what was planned, making more people interested in the book and want to read it.

The subject of censorship is a very controversial one, especially the banning of books. Many people believe they must protect themselves and others from the "evils" of many classic books and works of art because they can be deemed "indecent" in one way or another. Many believe that this is absurd and censorship in its current form is a violation of our First Amendment right to free speech. Personally, I align myself with the latter, however I do feel there are occasions where censorship is justifiable.

What would you do if your favorite book got taken out of the local library? That’s been happening all over the United States for many years. Books shouldn’t be banned because they help to educate the reader feelings and concepts, expose the youth and others to reality, and embed ideas to revolutionize the world around us. To begin, books shouldn’t be banned because it helps to teach readers ideas, feelings, and concepts they may not fully understand.

Article 19 states, "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference" ("Introduction" 14). Individuals have the right to express themselves through writing and art, whether it be unpleasant or not. If authors or artists want to convey themselves creatively through offensive types of art, then they can and should be able to. People who are sensitive to objectionable topics should just refrain from reading or seeing these pieces of art. Banning books and censoring art for the offended prevents the millions of others who find interest and enjoy offensive related topics in art and writing. An extreme example of censorship was the ritual destruction, book burning, under the Nazi regime on May 10, 1993 (“Book”). Book burning was university students burning 25,000 volumes of “un-German” books to try and “purify” Germany (“Book”). This example is one of the most famous book burning in history. Authorities were attempting to synchronize organizations with Nazi ideology and purge any work where Nazi ideologues were labeled degenerate. That kind of censoring was taken too far and lost many famous author's works to this "celebration" such as Helen Keller and Ernest Hemingway ("Book"). Books and art should not be banned or censored because they are a border perspective into worlds with unpleasant topics.

Does it feel like an elementary child, has been exposed to too much turmoil? Well, in today’s society, elementary children are reading books that reveal unbefitting aspects. An organization called Banned Books Week, is trying to take a stand on this situation, by banning these books. These books have impacted the students negatively, to where they’re making bad decisions. Children are naturally curious about things. If they hear or read something, they’re more likely to try it. Putting themselves into harm's way. Children are exposed to graphic elements, profanity, violence, negativity, and witchcraft. Books should be banned. By banning these books, it can help save the mindsets of growing children.