The Pros And Cons Of Banning Books

Many school districts do not have “manga”or “anime” banned (Debate.org). This style of literature is often considered non educational. Books should at least have censorship when profanity or have sexually explicit content are used. Reading this content as a student is 100% unnecessary. In a study done in 2000-09 by the American Library Association, about 1,250 books were challenged because of offensive language. Around 1,600 books were challenged in that same study for being sexually explicit (Butler.edu). During this, almost all books that were banned were either in school libraries or schools. A common example of a banned book is Harry Potter by J.Kk. Rowling. This book has a “presence of witchcraft”’(Butler.edu). In many people's’ minds, witchcraft is extremely bad, and completely unnecessary to discuss those topics. Since many people are against witchcraft, if that was to be discussed in schools, awful consequences for teacher as well as student could result.

Although it is ridiculous to ban books, it is somewhat understandable. Some books are extremely heavy on the controversial side, and include a boat load of inappropriate content. “My corduroys. My boxers. Two layers. I could feel the warmth of her cheek on my thigh. There are times when it is appropriate, even preferable, to get an erection when someone’s face is in close proximity to your penis” (Green). It is easy to see why someone with a closed mind would take offense to this kind of content being in a book for young

Parents don’t like their kids reading anything “inappropriate” or “too old for them” so they take their problems to the school board or the city to get the books banned. Religious groups don’t want people in their religion reading books that go against them. In Board of Education, Island Trees School District V. Pico in 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court stated “Local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books…”. Schools cannot just remove their books from their libraries. First, and inquiry must be made about the motivation and intent of whoever is pushing for a removal. The intention of keeping students from certain ideas in a particular work is against the first amendment. Although, if complaints are made about a book, the school might choose to just quietly remove it instead of making a big deal out of it. Most incidents only happen at a local level. It’s hard to successfully pull off a book banning past that. According to an article called Banned Books on firstamendmentcenter.org, books are most frequently challenged because “they contain profanity or violence, sex or sex education, homosexuality, witchcraft and the occult, ‘secular humanism’ or ‘new age’ philosophies, portrayals of rebellious children, or ‘politically incorrect ‘ racist or sexist

Isn't banning books disobeying the freedom of speech, and infringing on the freedom of the press? First Amendment, states that "citizens must be free to seek out any media, regardless of content, that they deem appropriate for entertainment, information, or education. With said, banning books stunts the extension of education. In addition, Books containing “Racial Issues, Blasphemous Dialogue, and Sexual Situations” parents' supervision is indicated. So, if read by children; banning books will not be an antidote for bad parenting. But, Most opponents of book banning understand parental preferences regarding their own child’s reading material, but they refuse to grant them the right to make a decision on behalf of all parents about what is or isn’t appropriate. The disadvantages, books can teach you a negative habits and that’s why some books should be banned. Literature will fully-develop children for the real-world.

Books are not becoming banned because the authorities want to protect the public from certain beliefs, violence or language. Books are becoming banned because those books contain something in them that a higher authority, such as the government, doesn’t want released to the public. It is for the good of the people to have higher authorities agree to a more diverse selection of books open to the public. Censorship is something that the government and institutions created to deny access to something, whether it be a book or video game or music. It contains a message that isn’t meant to be heard.

The article “Speaking out on Book Banning,” writes “Those parents who are in favor of banning the books feel that books can have a very depressing effect on sensitive teenagers if they are compelled to read passages in which the language is very strong or in which the descriptions of cruelty and brutality are extremely realistic.”  “Those parents who are in favor of banning the books feel that books can have a very depressing effect on sensitive teenagers if they are compelled to read passages in which the language is very strong or in which the descriptions of cruelty and brutality are extremely realistic” (“Speaking out on Book Banning”). While, yes, reading books that fit this description can effect some teenagers, it does not affect all. If a student is highly affected by a book, they can be given a different reading assignment that works for them. Reading a piece of literature is supposed to make a person feel something. If a book makes them feel nothing, then what did they gain from reading it? Nothing. They gain nothing from reading it, instead all they got to experience was reading a book that had no meaning or feel to them. Honestly, sometimes brutality and cruelty may be the best or only way to grab a reader's attention and keep it long enough for them to really learn

Condren also argues that “The power and danger in book banning lies in someone’s ability to think their opinion is the only one that matters, and, thereby, the only one that is allowed.” This argument shows a valid insight into the minds of

Supporters of banning say profanity can negatively influence the actions and thoughts of readers, especially younger readers that may not have heard or read many corrupt words. Huckleberry Finn, a book commonly inveighed for its use of contentious racial language, is commonly challenged for that reason. For USA Today, Martha Moore wrote, “When the younger reader is staring at that word five times on a given page and the instructor is saying, 'Mark Twain didn't mean this and you have to read it with an appreciation of irony,' you're asking a lot of a younger reader”. Granted, foul vocabulary is a challenge that academies need to address, but not through barring novels. Besides, if the reader is sufficiently mature for the book, they can still learn from it. For instance, some racial characterizations do not intentionally persecute people, but show the contrasting tensions between them, conforming to the time period. Again, the article “Huck Finn Navigating Choppy Waters Again” revealed, “The word is there for a reason… The word is terrible, it's hurtful, but it's there for a reason” (Moore). The racial epithets used in that book convey the attitude of Missouri in the 1840s when friction between African Americans and white people was rising. Additionally, banning a book due to concerns about the language is not beneficial to pupils because it prevents them from learning from other components of the book. “Often the organizations or schools that ban these books fail to see the book as a whole; they often center on the one page, the one scene or even the one word containing the offensive language or meaning and judge the whole book based on that one aspect,” according to an article by Adriana Lopez. She makes a sound point. A book contains a whole plot with themes that

Books provide so much more knowledge for students and people of all ages in our society. Some books, however, can be considered harmful to readers, or too graphic for certain individuals. Many parents do not want their children reading a lot of the content in more mature books, especially in school where a lot of the reading is done out loud. Books should be banned to the extent of specific age groups and locations. Books should be banned from locations, such as schools, if they feature very graphic or ideologically sensitive material that some parents may not be comfortable with their children reading or learning about.

“Book Banning” may seem like an issue of the past, but, in fact, it is still a very pertinent issue in the U.S. today. These classic books have been banned at one time or another: Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Color Purple, Huckleberry Finn, The Grapes of Wrath, The Harry Potter series. You’re probably wondering how these, extremely famous, books can be so censored in America today. There are many reasons that are given in regards to book censorship. For instance, language or profanity, violence, sexual explicitness, or “uncomfortable” topics, such as rape and race relations. Christian groups have requested that a countless number of books, with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, or Queer (LGBTQ+) themes, be taken out of schools and libraries The banning and censorship of books can happen in many places and ways; taking them off school reading lists, or even out of libraries and bookstores.

Books have been challenged and banned from schools and libraries for countless years. “To Kill a Mockingbird”, “Catcher in the Rye” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” are two of the most challenged books of their time. Many parents and faculty member in schools and libraries see these books and others like them as “inappropriate” and “wrong.” (Doyle). Books have been banned throughout history for their takes on issues such as race, damaging lifestyles, Sexual content, violence, and even their political angles (“Banned Books: Reasons for Banning Books.”).

Many books have been challenged or censored during different places and time periods. For example, the earliest book censorship in America was done by the Puritans in the 1600s. Seven decades ago, the Nazi Regime censored and modified The Bible in order to create a version that suited their ideologies. Today, “10 percent of all books” are removed from the public view (“2016 Book”). Nearly “ninety-nine percent” of the books that are challenged are pulled, or essentially banned, from three locations that need it the most: “the public library, school, and school library” (“2016 Book”). These are the places where people obtain knowledge from and it would be a loss to libraries to have a book removed from their shelves. Right now, the two largest demographics that support censorship are “parents and patrons” (”2016 Book”). In the past, they have had an upper hand due to financial backing from patrons, people or organizations that commit to a cause. These supporters believe that censorship must exist to prevent harm towards readers. On the other

“It’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written, the books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers” (Blume 1999). Judy Blume can not explain the problem of book censorship any clearer. The children are the real losers because they are the ones that are not able to read the classic works of literature which are the backbone of classroom discussions all across the United States.

Books have many life lessons that are useful, themes that are valuable, and morals that should be kept. First off, “Libraries, to me, are safe spaces, and if young readers can’t explore the themes in my book there, where can they?” (Strum, “Banning Books¨ ). Libraries are supposed to be a place

It is my belief that since by the time the child is required to read such literature in school, they are at an age where they can distinguish between things that should and should not be said and it is the job of the parents to educate the child that just because they say it in a book does not mean he or she should.Another subject common to banned and censored books is sexuality.