Are Books Bad?

I just learned about Banned Book Week, so I decided to search on the Internet a little bit and see what books are banned or challenged and why. Although Banned Book Week just ended, I figure it is not too late; we can still take action. Some of the results I found baffled me. Honestly, I find this ridiculous.

One of the big reason books are banned is racial issues. A big issue is the "N-word". I do not condone racism, the use of the "N-word" or other derogatory terms, but many of the books that use the "N-word" or portray African Americans in a negative way were written in a different time; a time when different things were acceptable. It is important to understand that these books were not written today. If parents teach their children what is acceptable and what is not, there should not be a problem with them reading a book with the "N-word" in it or other racial issues. If children know that racism and the "N-word" is unacceptable, that is what is important. Children may question why the "N-word" was used in a particular book, and that is okay, but then it is important to explain to them that the book was written in a different time where different things were acceptable in society, and that it is still an unacceptable word. Through out my school career, I have read some of the banned and challenged books that use the "N-word". I knew then and I still know now that the "N-word" is unacceptable. Reading these books helped me understand why things have changed and how much we have come along as a country, as the world, since the time the book was written.

Other books are banned for sexual content and I find that ridiculous. Books banned for sexual content and nudity are at the middle school reading level or above. If parents find that too young, they have another thing coming at them. Kids start having sex in middle school. Kids learn sex education in middle school. When I was in 8th grade, a girl my age was pregnant, and we did not read any books with sexual content in them while I was in middle school. Therefore, she obviously did not get the idea from a book we read in class. Therefore, it is very hard to blame books for that. Where I went to school we did not have sex education until 8^th grade, and obviously even that is too late for some. If people have a problem with their children reading about nudity in books, thinking it could influence kids, they should be worrying more about when sex education is taught. I don't really understand why sexuality and nudity is looked upon as a negative thing; I never really have and I probably never will. As long as it is not porn in books that children and teens read, I don't see a problem with it. Sex and nudity are a part of life. It should not be something we are ashamed of or something we look down on. We cannot hide sexuality and nudity from children, it will happen eventually.

Some books are banned because they are anti-Christian. How can you ban something because it is anti-Christian, especially in the United States? We have the right to choose our religion, to practice what religion we want, and what we believe in. The United States is not just a Christian country. It is a country of all religions. Banning books because they are anti-Christian, takes away the right to our own religions away from us. If we ban anti-Christian books, should we ban books that are anti other religions? As long as we have the right to practice whatever religion we like, we should be able to read whatever books we want, no matter what religion they involve.

If we continue to allow books to be banned, we will be denying children the opportunity of new worlds, the opportunity of learning, the opportunity of becoming well rounded, and the opportunity of using their imagination and getting away from watch television or playing video games all day. We are denying children of culture and new experiences. I recently read George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four for the first time, and I read Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 quite a few years ago. Both of these books are about censorship and banning certain things in society so people are not offended or very different from each other. Ironically, both of these books have been challenged or banned. If we keep allowing books to be banned or challenged, aren't we falling into the world these two books have created? A world of censorship? Are we going to allow ourselves to be brainwashed and let our freedom of speech and expression be taken away from us too? I say NO! We should have the freedom to read what we want. So, pick up a banned or challenged book and read it!

For more information on banned and challenged books, you can check out websites such as:

http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bannedbooksweek.htm

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/banned-books.html

http://www.banned-books.com/

http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~jyanosko/forbidden/

and many others.