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Originally posted by Odd
Banning a book is the first step on the road to fascism... the day we start doing that is the day my rioting buddies and I load up the van and head to Washington with some submachine guns.
Originally posted by Elfwood
I think i heared something about harry potter being banned in some placese in america(i cant rember if it was a state/toen/city/other) because it promoted witch carft.
Originally posted by JediMaster
In my mind, no book should be burned, banned, censored or rewritten. But I have come across several "Parent" groups that want many books, many classics as well, prevented from being read by school children. Some of the claims can be vaild such as not letting a 3rd grader read a book with a lot of profane language and sex but banning it from the schools is no answer. Some of the reasons I've come across are....
Promotion,acceptance, or support of Homosexuality.
Language
Violence
Teaches "bad things" (Such as questioning authority)
Sex
Racism
And the list goes on and on. But it is sick to see that people want books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn being prevented from being read by kids because of the word "'n-word'".
I believe that it is a growing threat that groups like these wants books, many classics included, from being totally banned, censored, and/or rewritten in schools. A book I read in 3rd grade was banned. It was entiteled "How to eat friend worms", since it promotes a bad thing.
Someone once said "Censorship like charity should begin in the home, but unlike charity it should end there" and I wholeheartidly agree.
I have taken it up to read controversial books on my free time in my school, because I enjoy the books and its defiance against those who want to ban it. I've struck up some aruguments over "A Clockwork Orange", "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and "Mein Kampf" already.
But my question is should we in schools prevent children from reading books and ban them from school shelves, books like those I mentioned and many others because of language, racism, promoting "bad things" etc. Or should it be a job of the parent? What good comes from preventing kids from reading "bad" books? Any good at all?
Originally posted by jupiter869
What a stupid question.
Why would you want the government to control what you read?
Monitoring and reading with children is a parent's responsibility.
Why would you want the government to take the responsibility of a parent?
How much government control do you personally need?
You should try reading Feirenheit 451...
...before it gets banned.
[edit on 22-12-2004 by jupiter869]