In the past, many books were banned in the United States by federal courts. That meant that possessing them was a federal crime, punishable by incarceration. Books are still challenged today and removed from library shelves so they are purposely unavailable for people to read. Here is a link to a list of banned or challenged books at Renne Library. Do you recognize any of the titles? We are celebrating Banned Books Week at MSU beginning Monday, Sept. 29-Friday October 4 to celebrate the freedom to read and to express. What are some of the reasons certain books are banned or challenged in this country? Do you agree that these are sometimes good reasons?
Tim Donahue
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I do recognize a lot of the titles on the list of banned books. I am surprised at many of the titles on that list. Some books are probably banned because someone found it offensive or obscene, even though others may not agree. Some of the books I have not read, and would not understand why one would feel the need to ban them, but of the ones I have read, I see no reason to ban those books. If a book offends someone, like many movies offend people… just don’t read it.
I recognize a couple of the books of the banned boos list. I am pretty surpized because I was assigined by my school to read lots of them. I feal like people should stop trying to shealter our youth and let them figure stuff out for them self.
Andrew Koski
Some books are banned because of many reasons. First, some books talks about against some famous people, laws of country and sometimes against the whole country which may be not tolerable by them. Second, some books emphasizes people to do crime and not socially accepted activities like rape. Third, some books may have negative impact on people making them believe in fake things. Fourth, some books uses vulgar and sexually abusive languages. These are some of the reasons why some country ban certain books and I think it is good.
I recognized most of the titles. many of them seem to be well known classics that I read in high school. I don't feel like too many books are banned in this country. I would even go as far as to say that banned books are more popular than many books that haven't been banned. In the past, and in other parts of the world however, perhaps books have been and are still banned. This is probably because the people who have control do not want the masses reading material that they fear might be detrimental to their control. I think another reason may be that people want to protect the younger population from explicit material like the age requirement for renting "rated R" movies. I guess keeping explicit material from young children is like not swearing in front of young children which I try not to do, so perhaps it is a good thing. I am thankful that I live in a place and time that I am able to get my hands on most anything I would want to read.
I recognize close to ninety percent of the titles on this list, possibly one of the most recognizable ones being Harry Potter. Along with this are books such as Catcher in the Rye and Of Mice and Men. These are required books in high school English classes and it surprises me that they would be part of the banned book list and on the required reading list for many students. Books are banned for many reasons, some of which include religion, whether it be pro-religion or what some might see as satanism or witch craft which I believe is the reason the Harry Potter series is banned. Books can also be banned for violence, language, and the overall message of the book. It is not right to ban a book, especially in the United States where we are built upon free speech.
I want to be circumspect in my choice of words on this topic. Banning of reading material in any form can and is a volatile issue both for individuals and entire countries. To begin with, the list we’re presented with within this blog is a list of books that have all been “challenged” at one time or another. Since all of these books sit on shelves in Renne library we really can’t say that we’re banned from having them. Submitting a challenge about a book etc. is a terrific privilege that people here in the US have. Books, in particular, have been challenged for a multitude of reasons; Naresh enumerated many of these reasons quite well, as did Casey. Here in the US when a challenge to a book is raised a process is initiated which could end up banning a book from a classroom, library, community, state or even a country. This however is part of an individual’s prerogative in a democratic republic. An individuals or even a group’s desire very seldom ends up banning a book from a very wide circle or for very long. It often becomes an issue of “community” standards. Do you desire to have porn stores and strip bars in your community? Do you want “that” book in your library or classroom? It’s up to the community (usually).
Again, as has been said, this often leads to more publicity and an increase in reader interest. As for me and my house we avoid watching what we deem offensive whether it be at the movies, INTERNET (guys), or on TV. The literature we read is the same. I’m not concerned with someone becoming a raving anarchist upon reading Steal This Book or Mein Kampf or a serial killer by watching Taxi Driver, It’s that if we are cognizant of what leads to wisdom, there are better ways to spend our time. Don’t get me wrong I and my family have our various forms of vegging out, purist’s we’re not. Maybe that’s a discussion for a future blog.
I recognized a few books on this list and have even read a couple of them. I think that books are banned or challenged because they may not represent the views or ideas that certain groups, political organizations, or governments may want the people to view. If you look at other countries that are rule by other types of governmental systems, their public is heavily censored so that no one will be "against" that government by viewing other ideas other than those of the government. Obviously that doesn't happen so much here in the United States, but some schools or state governments may try to, and have, banned or challenged books that may not represent the views of those groups (i.e. religious oriented schools). I can see where these organizations views would conflict with the books that they ban, but I am a strong proponent of free speech and disagree with anyone banning any book. If it is a horrible book, then I trust that people will see it as such and just not read it.
Mike Pasque
I recognize a good percentage of these book and i'm surprised to see a lot of them here. Most of them i was asked to read in High School. Many of these books are banned probably due to the fact that someone found the content of them to be offensive or obscene. I don't fell that we should be banning books. By banning books and limiting us to what we read we are basically controlling everyones thoughts. You are unable to form your own opinions and that is unfair.
I have read the majority of the books on the banned list and i must say it amuses me to no end that some of these books are on here. Most of these books i read in high school. People ask for books to be banned because people want to live in their own perfect worlds without people saying real things that make them think about death, misery, suffering. In order to keep from thinking about things that they don't want in their lives, they simply ban the books as opposed to just not reading them. Personally i think a banned book list is a violation of freedom of speech and expression, but I guess enough people disagree with me to keep it up and running.
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