Banned Books Week

[lyrasoze]

I really love Banned Books Week.

I love that it falls during the week of my birthday (very appropriate I would say). I love the campaign that the ALA has put together this year. I love that so many bookstores and libraries come together to celebrate my favorite amendment and to combat intolerance.

I've never understood the concept of banning books

Comments

[darksylvia]

Ahahah, gosh, I've read a lot of these.

[la_tempete]

My particular favorites are the ones that are banned (i.e. And Tango Makes Three) because they are "promoting and encouraging homosexuality." Clearly a picture book outlining the true story of two male *Penguins* adopting a hatchling will turn 8 year olds gay. Obviously. The fact of the matter is that people are stupid and ignorant. Let me know if you find that eleven inch rowan wand with a phoenix feather core - we can have a witches' duel for it...

[lyrasoze]

So true. I spent about an hour browsing the ALA website and they have all sorts of fun statistics about challenges. Parents represent about 55% of all challenges to reading material. I also need to own "And Tango Makes Three" because any book that tops the challenge list for three years running is my kind of fun.

I'll keep you posted about the wand. The more the merrier, I say. :)

[mouradar]

I don't think most works of fiction should be banned but there are works out there that are just inherently dangerous. The Anarchist's Cookbook immediately comes to mind. I'm not a big fan of teaching people how to build impromptu bombs or dangerously modified weapons. Idiots like that shouldn't have a guide and should be subjected to trial and error - which will hopefully knock them out of the gene pool long before they make any headway.

That being said, books which espouse a particular form of sexuality should never be banned nor books talking about race or religion. Books only become dangerous when they pose a legitimate threat to people's lives.