Book banning in the USA

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nobspeople
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Book banning in the USA

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Post by nobspeople »

Recently, a friend posted something that's going on with her kids (10 & 13 I believe they are) school. There is a book - called Unicorn something or the like - I never read or seen it until now, but it seems to be about a unique person (the unicorn) standing up for themselves in an area of no unicorns - that the school board is wanting to ban.
The school board is said it's for 'protecting the children'. I suspect it's more for 'protecting the adults' than any children, as this seems to be the case in some many of these cases as of late.
My friend's oldest kid said 'Why do adults have to be so dramatic? It's just a book!' It's worth nothing, her oldest has stood up for many a picked on kid this year alone.

This isn't the only time, in the USA, book banning has been attempted and or done.
I've always found it odd that schools and parents want their kids to learn to read yet, for some parents, only read what they want them to read.

For discussion:
Is 'book banning' a way of protecting anything outside of racism and the like, or is it a legit way to censor?
What books should be banned, if any?
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Re: Book banning in the USA

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Post by Miles »

I don't understand the concern others, principally parents, have for the reading materiel of other children. (actually, I do. It's either one of those I-know-what's-better-for-your-kid-than-you-do things, OR it's Whose-going-to-watch-what-my-kid-reads-if-you-don't? things) If you don't want your child to read Beguiling Babes of the Basement Bedroom then make sure they don't, but don't try keeping my kid from reading it. Likewise, I won't try to keep your kid from reading all the immorality in the Bible such as:

"Adultery: Biblical hero Abraham impregnates his wife's servant.

Animal cruelty: Jesus sends 2,000 pigs plunging into the sea where they choke to death.

Anti-family values: Jesus proclaims, 'For I am come to set man against his father, and daughter against her mother ... '

Bigamy: Biblical hero Solomon possessed 700 wives.

Bigotry: God gives Moses the commandment to put all homosexuals to death.

Cannibalism: 'This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him.'

Child abuse: 'Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against stones.'

Deceit: Biblical hero King David befriends Uriah and then has him killed so he can have Uriah's wife.

Incest: Lot's daughters get their father drunk and both get pregnant by him.

Intolerance, egomania and cruel mindedness: 'He that believeth not shall be damned.'

Slavery: Bible gives rules concerning a slave's obedience to his owner.

Violence: 'And we took all his cities and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones.'

Woman abuse
: Biblical hero Moses dictates. 'But all the woman children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.'"
source

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Re: Book banning in the USA

Post #3

Post by Tcg »

[Replying to nobspeople in post #1]

I don't think any book should be banned for any reason. If someone is reading a book they find offensive they can stop reading it.


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Re: Book banning in the USA

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Post by Purple Knight »

This is another one where I'm going to have to say I don't know, very firmly.

Now I don't think there's a need for this and I don't think it'll happen, but suppose there is some argument in, for example, Mein Kampf that will convince the average person from suppose an IQ of 95 to 105 that racism is permissible. Suppose that there is a flaw in the argument but it won't be apparent unless the person reading it is smart and critical enough. So we have a situation where massive amounts of people start reading a book and doing something objectively wrong because they now think it's right.

What's the right thing to do here? It's a form of misinformation, making an argument that seems good but isn't, either a genius targeting roughly average or even a little above, or a con man targeting the stupid. It happens all the time. So how do we address misinformation in society if it'll be snapped up by people who find it attractive because they're unable to see its flaws?

Selfishly I want to live in a world where I can read whatever I want of course, but I have to ask if it's doing right by everyone to have that principle guide society just because I like it. And this is not just a minor want, at least for me. It's very important to me on an extremely high level (in other words, would go hungry for this) that information be available to me.

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Re: Book banning in the USA

Post #5

Post by nobspeople »

Tcg wrote: Fri Apr 08, 2022 8:00 pm [Replying to nobspeople in post #1]

I don't think any book should be banned for any reason. If someone is reading a book they find offensive they can stop reading it.


Tcg
Right?
If someone reads something they don't understand, then WORK TO UNDERSTAND IT. Ignoring it doesn't make one 'smarter' or 'better' for doing so.
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Re: Book banning in the USA

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Post by William »


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Re: Book banning in the USA

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Post by Difflugia »

nobspeople wrote: Fri Apr 08, 2022 12:50 pmFor discussion:
Is 'book banning' a way of protecting anything outside of racism and the like, or is it a legit way to censor?
What books should be banned, if any?
"Book banning" in a school for minors is fine in principle. I have no objection to, for example, pornography or instructions for making improvised guns being excluded from school libraries by policy. If a school board thinks that teaching children to respect themselves and others is harmful to them, then I disagree with their particular judgements, but not the exclusion of the books per se.

Banning adults from certain forms of information isn't the same thing. I would only object if the book (or whatever) would necessarily involve some other violation in its production, with certain forms of child pornography being the obvious example. Certain kinds of photographs or media necessarily require the involvement of children under circumstances from which they should be legally protected. Aside from things like that or issues of legitimate national security, I don't think banning any books from adults based on subject matter is justifiable.
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Re: Book banning in the USA

Post #8

Post by nobspeople »

Difflugia wrote: Tue Apr 12, 2022 10:44 am
nobspeople wrote: Fri Apr 08, 2022 12:50 pmFor discussion:
Is 'book banning' a way of protecting anything outside of racism and the like, or is it a legit way to censor?
What books should be banned, if any?
"Book banning" in a school for minors is fine in principle. I have no objection to, for example, pornography or instructions for making improvised guns being excluded from school libraries by policy. If a school board thinks that teaching children to respect themselves and others is harmful to them, then I disagree with their particular judgements, but not the exclusion of the books per se.

Banning adults from certain forms of information isn't the same thing. I would only object if the book (or whatever) would necessarily involve some other violation in its production, with certain forms of child pornography being the obvious example. Certain kinds of photographs or media necessarily require the involvement of children under circumstances from which they should be legally protected. Aside from things like that or issues of legitimate national security, I don't think banning any books from adults based on subject matter is justifiable.
Good points. Something to consider as the 'book banning' seems to be over-reaching, be-all-end-all kind of statement. Thanks for the clarification!
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Re: Book banning in the USA

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Post by JoeyKnothead »

I need a new butt.

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Re: Book banning in the USA

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Post by benchwarmer »

JoeyKnothead wrote: Thu Apr 14, 2022 11:39 am
I need a new butt.

Mine's cracked.

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