Should books every be censored/banned?

[Farnhamia]

Why?

They proclaims immorality, violence and harm to society..

So? By banning them you make them more attractive to people. And anyway, what gives you the right to say what I may or may not read?

[Vestr-Norig]

Why?

Yeah I'd like to know as well. Because they make you uncomfortable?

This: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocost
And this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Nazism

[The Rich Port]

Yeah I'd like to know as well. Because they make you uncomfortable?

This: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocost
And this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Nazism

Unfortunately, that's not a very good reason to ban them. Like I said, it's more of a reason to NOT ban them.

People need to know what the Nazis did. EVERYBODY needs to know what they did.

Mein Kampf counts as a historical document; censoring it is censoring history. Don't we have enough of that?

[Farnhamia]

Yeah I'd like to know as well. Because they make you uncomfortable?

This: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocost
And this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Nazism

You know who also banned books? Look, you've become the very thing you say you're against.

[Cill Charthaigh]

By the way, libraries not carrying books like the Anarchist Cookbook, the Bible, the Quran, Twilight, Huck Finn, etc. isn't censorship, it's just them not carrying it. It's like saying Walmart is racist because they don't carry Indian food. I think they do, but I haven't been to Walmart in a while.

EDIT: SO MUCH GODWIN

[Chinese Regions]

What about banning books on the basis that they are poorly written?

[Vestr-Norig]

This: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocost
And this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Nazism

Unfortunately, that's not a very good reason to ban them. Like I said, it's more of a reason to NOT ban them.

People need to know what the Nazis did. EVERYBODY needs to know what they did.

Mein Kampf counts as a historical document; censoring it is censoring history. Don't we have enough of that?

People can still read history. I am just saying, I won't have books in the stores that proclaims the extermination of all jews, written by the person who invaded and occupied my country for five, long years.

[Salandriagado]

I believe some books should be banned, such as Mein Kampf, The Breivik manuscript, and the socalled Satanic Bible, just to mention a few.

I've read all of the above. That no more makes me insane than having read the Communist Mannifesto makes me a communist, having read Atlas Shrugged makes me a Randian objectivist (though it did make me asleep a few times), having read the bible makes me a Christian or having read the Quran makes me a Muslim. It is also notable that if you did want to ban books based on the amount of violence and general calling for massacres of anyone that isn't in some specific group goes, you should probably start with the last two I mentioned.

Unfortunately, that's not a very good reason to ban them. Like I said, it's more of a reason to NOT ban them.

People need to know what the Nazis did. EVERYBODY needs to know what they did.

Mein Kampf counts as a historical document; censoring it is censoring history. Don't we have enough of that?

People can still read history. I am just saying, I won't have books in the stores that proclaims the extermination of all jews, written by the person who invaded and occupied my country for five, long years.

Whereas the bible, at various points, calls for the extermination of... very nearly everybody. In great detail. And fairly gory ways. On what basis to you ban, say, Mein Kampf without also banning the Bible?

[The Rich Port]

Unfortunately, that's not a very good reason to ban them. Like I said, it's more of a reason to NOT ban them.

People need to know what the Nazis did. EVERYBODY needs to know what they did.

Mein Kampf counts as a historical document; censoring it is censoring history. Don't we have enough of that?

People can still read history. I am just saying, I won't have books in the stores that proclaims the extermination of all jews, written by the person who invaded and occupied my country for five, long years.

And... Where are you going to get it if not from first-hand documents, written during the period?

If you copy from other history books when you're writing your own history book, it's called PLAGIARISM. Ever heard of that word before? It's a big no-no in the academic world, and unless you document primary sources, you can't write an original analytical document.

[Cruciland]

What about banning books on the basis that they are poorly written?

That would mean banning the Twilight series!

[Chinese Regions]

What about banning books on the basis that they are poorly written?

That would mean banning the Twilight series!

[The Rich Port]

What about banning books on the basis that they are poorly written?

I'm working on it, dammit. I'm not a miracle worker.

I'm inclined to disagree. If you hate Twilight so goddamn much, do what I do: tell your friends not to buy it, so they can tell their friends not to buy it, and so on and so forth. Oh, and sabotage your family's attempt at renting, buying, or borrowing a DVD or any sort of merchandise.

That would mean banning the Twilight series!

Congrats on spotting the very obvious joke.

[Chinese Regions]

What about banning books on the basis that they are poorly written?

I'm working on it, dammit. I'm not a miracle worker.

I'm inclined to disagree. If you hate Twilight so goddamn much, do what I do: tell your friends not to buy it, so they can tell their friends not to buy it, and so on and so forth. Oh, and sabotage your family's attempt at renting, buying, or borrowing a DVD or any sort of merchandise.

That would mean banning the Twilight series!

Congrats on spotting the very obvious joke.

Expand it to all forms of media, censor games, not because they are "not suitable for children" because they contain "violence" or "sex" but censor them on the basis that their game play is absolute rubbish.

[The Rich Port]

I'm working on it, dammit. I'm not a miracle worker.

I'm inclined to disagree. If you hate Twilight so goddamn much, do what I do: tell your friends not to buy it, so they can tell their friends not to buy it, and so on and so forth. Oh, and sabotage your family's attempt at renting, buying, or borrowing a DVD or any sort of merchandise.



Congrats on spotting the very obvious joke.

Expand it to all forms of media, censor games, not because they are "not suitable for children" because they contain "violence" or "sex" but censor them on the basis that their game play is absolute rubbish.

A better term for that is "quality control".

While that's usually left up to the video game companies (and the morons who buy shitty games, therefore voting for more shitty games), a board that reviews video games for quality rather than morality is supremely interesting.

What would it be called?

[The Corparation]

What about banning books on the basis that they are poorly written?

IF they're thayt poorly written then I don't think they qualify as books so there's no need to censor actual books!!

[Johz]

i personally think that books should never be censored/banned, no matter what language they use or what their subject matter is.

the reason I am asking is because my language teacher is forcing us to buy the censored version of huckleberry finn, and it really annoys me that we are forced to read a watered down version of one of the greatest books of all time.


what are your thoughts, NS?

If I remember rightly, the censored version of Huckleberry Finn changes one marginally offensive word for a word which implies similar meaning, but is generally considered less offensive. While, of course, censorship is bad, and we should be able to read every word that the authors wanted us to read, I feel like you may be making overmuch of a deal of it. Do you really read every single word that the author writes? Every single last one? Even every 'and' and 'the'?

I suspect not. Can you, instead of whining about the quality of the books you are buying, ask your teacher to discuss the principle of capitalisation in sentences?

[The Corparation]

i personally think that books should never be censored/banned, no matter what language they use or what their subject matter is.

the reason I am asking is because my language teacher is forcing us to buy the censored version of huckleberry finn, and it really annoys me that we are forced to read a watered down version of one of the greatest books of all time.


what are your thoughts, NS?

If I remember rightly, the censored version of Huckleberry Finn changes one marginally offensive word for a word which implies similar meaning, but is generally considered less offensive. While, of course, censorship is bad, and we should be able to read every word that the authors wanted us to read, I feel like you may be making overmuch of a deal of it. Do you really read every single word that the author writes? Every single last one? Even every 'and' and 'the'?

I suspect not. Can you, instead of whining about the quality of the books you are buying, ask your teacher to discuss the principle of capitalisation in sentences?

The problem is that in changing that one word. You lose a big part of the story. Nigger may be offensive but it was commonly used at the time and part of the books is showing the racism and hatred for blacks that the south had. Changing it to black or the like doesn't convey the same tone even though the meaning is technically the same. Its the difference between calling someone a faggot and saying they're gay. Both mean that they're homosexual but the first one is derogatory while the second is merely descriptive, (usually) .

[Neo Bretonnia]

Someone said earlier that banning books is wrong for the same reason banning free speech would be but people don't often articulate why, exactly that's wrong.

My answer is that if you decide that banning books or limiting free speech is okay, then that means somebody gets the job of deciding what gets banned and what doesn't. Who? Who gets to decide? Which ideology gets to be the dominant one? Shall it be a conservative one? a progressive one? Shall we just pick one out of a hat? Maybe those with the loudest voices should decide, or maybe the ones who can hit the hardest. The majority? A protected minority? Will it change over time?

No... this is why free speech and free thought are sacrosanct... Nobody among us is qualified to be the arbiter of what's worthy to be read and what isn't.

[Virabia]

LOL. No.

[Greater Tezdrian]

Censored? No. Banned? Yes.

[Shadowlandistan]

No, but the only books that should be banned are books that teach one how to make weapons. Even then, it's hard to enforce.

[Tekania]

I don't believe in censoring/banning books. If you don't like the content feel free to simply not read it, just don't make the determination that no one else can either.

[Spiral Sun]

Mein Kampf counts as a historical document; censoring it is censoring history. Don't we have enough of that?

Plus the Nazis had it censored in the United States to remove the more violent rhetoric, sueing the pants off those who made accurate translations.

[Chinese Regions]

Censored? No. Banned? Yes.

Sarkasmus?

[Tekania]

No, but the only books that should be banned are books that teach one how to make weapons. Even then, it's hard to enforce.

So, ban chemistry and physics textbooks?