Since Banned Books week is coming to a close, I thought discussing censorship would be a perfect way to end the week.
When this annual event occurs, it always amazes how underappreciated reading is in society. Really, think about it. Book lovers show appreciation for it all the time, but rest of the world? They take advantage of it and don’t really listen to what the words have to say.
Take a look at these frequently challenged books from the ALA. Can you imagine these books not being accessible to the public due to people having difficulties with what is being said. My answer to that:
Don’t read it.
As a human being, we were all endowed with free will, a choice. And we use that free will to ensure that we are making the right decisions for ourselves. So if there is something you don’t like that you are seeing or reading, that is your right. No one expects you to like everything you read. But you don’t have the right to prevent others reading from that said questionable reading material. In your opinion, you find it offensive and inappropriate but you can’t impose your own ideas on others.
Censorship is a very dangerous thing, especially when it deals with reading. Look back at all the great books you read, how you admire them for their ideas, love the stories that they told, and gain new knowledge along the way. Now think about if those said books were censored and banned from libraries or bookstores. What type of person would you be today? People think that having certain books banned would not make that much of a difference. But they’re wrong. Having our reading censored belittles us and causes us to be ignorant about the world surrounding us. Reading helps us gain knowledge. Censorship just hampers it. Is that the kind of message we to show to young readers?
I am glad that my parents did not suppressed by reading list. But unfortunately, not everyone is as lucky as me. So that is why need to have Banned Books Week, not just one week out of the year, but every week to show the importance and our prided for the freedom of reading.
And the parents out there who choose to censor their child’s reading? I’m not here to question your parenting skills, but shielding them from real knowledge is has no benefit. In fact you might being doing more harm than good.
What are your views on censorship? Post your comments below.
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i think censorship is a slippery slope. It’s fine with me if someone chooses not to read a book for whatever reason but I’d really rather they didn’t force their preference on everyone else. If certain books are really a problem, why can’t we do with books what we do with CDs and put a warning label on them?
The only way I censor my 6 year old’s reading is in “is this book too hard for her to read?” I don’t care what the theme is, she will read whatever she wants as she hits the appropriate reading level. Something I read made a lot of sense – the most commonly banned books are ones that talk about issues some of us, as a people, don’t want to talk about / would rather forget. So she will read whatever she wants, and we will talk about it.