Should books every be censored/banned?

[Biop]

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.

I have at least ten of those. Like my completed weaponry, you'll have to pry them from my cold, dead hands.

Ten? Names and places to buy em please XD

[The Rich Port]

... There's books for that?

You can learn how to do that easy.

You just sharpen shit to a point.

You don't even need a book for that.

What if they don't know how to sharpen shit

Feh, then they're on the same level as chimps.

It is our inability to make our own weapons that will eventually loose the Cockroach War of 2021.

[Ovisterra]

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 any backwoods skill books?

[Celephais]

Or, ya know, military technical manuals and the like!

[Keronians]

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.

... There's books for that?

You can learn how to do that easy.

You just sharpen shit to a point.

You don't even need a book for that.

Obtain toluene. Prepare a 50/50 mixture of concentrated sulphuric and nitric acid. Use it to nitrate the toluene. Filter, and seal. Nitrate the solution again. Filter, and seal. Finally, prepare a mixture of oleum and nitric acid, and re-nitrate the filtered solution. Seal.

You now have TNT.

[The Emerald Legion]

If anyone fells that a book which is in print is slanderous, then they shold reserve the right to sue the author/publisher/whoever owns the copyright.

What about the country whose people aren't "reasonable" and "civilized" enough to bother with a lawsuit? What about the country where they simply burn down the publishing office and riot until their demands for the book's censorship are met? I can think of a few, especially in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Then they are terrorists.

[Celephais]

Obtain toluene. Prepare a 50/50 mixture of concentrated sulphuric and nitric acid. Use it to nitrate the toluene. Filter, and seal. Nitrate the solution again. Filter, and seal. Finally, prepare a mixture of oleum and nitric acid, and re-nitrate the filtered solution. Seal.

You now have TNT.

It's a shame Tesco just shut because I was about to go and grab those ingredients

[The Rich Port]

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 any backwoods skill books?

Or hunting books.

If you think about it, men are just fancy deer with tinyer heads for targets.

You're good at this sarcasm tag thing. Have a pat on the back. *pat*

[New Heathera]

Never. Even as a fierce anti-nazi activist I wouldn't even ban Mein Kampf. I'd stay away from it unless you're into learning about nazi ideology, but I wouldn't ban it. Books can't speak. Books can't kill (besides as a blunt object). There's no harm. Even if a book is extremely offensive in nature, I'd post "read at your own peril" on it and walk away.

[Keronians]

Obtain toluene. Prepare a 50/50 mixture of concentrated sulphuric and nitric acid. Use it to nitrate the toluene. Filter, and seal. Nitrate the solution again. Filter, and seal. Finally, prepare a mixture of oleum and nitric acid, and re-nitrate the filtered solution. Seal.

You now have TNT.

It's a shame Tesco just shut because I was about to go and grab those ingredients

You probably have some calcium carbonate around.

Feed it heat until it changes colour. Light a stick of wood (a tooth pick or whatever) and put it in.

You'll see a nice bright light (though be careful, it may be too bright) as the thing gets oxidised and reduced.

[Suidwes-Afrika]

Never. Even as a fierce anti-nazi activist I wouldn't even ban Mein Kampf. I'd stay away from it unless you're into learning about nazi ideology, but I wouldn't ban it. Books can't speak. Books can't kill (besides as a blunt object). There's no harm. Even if a book is extremely offensive in nature, I'd post "read at your own peril" on it and walk away.

This reminds me of an interesting saying: "He who burns books will soon burn people."

It was applied to the Nazi practice of using subversive publications to light the bonfires at their rallies.

[Sociobiology]

Even then it still would violate freedom of speech. Unless that nation doesn't give a fuck about freedom of speech then it can ban it even though it shouldn't.

Eh, what about a theocracy, or an extremely religious state? Should they allow a book into their country whose only purpose is to put down the people's faith without any facts whatsoever, just slander?

yes, if for no other reason than it may lead to them NOT being a theocracy.

[Imsogone]

Censorship is anathema. The idea that some nutcase (like Tipper Gore) thinks that he or she is smarter than I am and can, therefore restrict what I read, hear or say sets my teeth on edge. My only concession to censorship would be to state that parents have the right (Hell, the obligation) to monitor what their kids read and place restrictions on it (and those restrictions end the minute the kid turns 18 and it's understood that even if Mom and Dad say no, it's only going to lead to the kid reading on the sly). Schools don't have this right, Churches don't have this right, the government doesn't have this right and Mrs. Grundy down the street doesn't have this right. I refuse to give up my copy of the Anarchist's Cookbook just because somebody is afraid of words.

[Suidwes-Afrika]

yes, if for no other reason than it may lead to them NOT being a theocracy.

You simply can't civilize certain mentalities, and there will always be a nation of fanatics somewhere.

[Person012345]

^ HAR HAR SO ORIGINAL

you're not being clever, you know that right

Oh noes!

[Lackadaisical2]

^ HAR HAR SO ORIGINAL

you're not being clever, you know that right

Oh noes!

A Person citing, how unusual... hey man.

To all those saying "no censorship of books, period." would you extend the same consideration to other forms of speech?

[Katganistan]

Except the whole thing about burning books, and burning down the houses of people who read books, and keeping records on and following suspected book readers... and explicitly saying the only acceptable reading material were porn magazines, comics, and fluffy "true romance" magazines....

I've read the book, and one of the biggest points he makes is the mindlessness of Montag's wife, who is constantly watching TV. It's about people rejecting books, not about censorship. It also helps that he's specifically said this.

He also wrote this and appended it to Fahrenheit. And yes, people were mindless about TV and the seashells, but you appear to have missed Beatty's speech about being the Sunshine Boys, tasked to keep everyone happy and ignorant by burning books and the point that Montag's raison d'etre before meeting Clarisse was to uphold society's ban on books by burning them and the houses of people who had them -- who were subsequently imprisoned or institutionalized for daring to read.

[Celephais]

To all those saying "no censorship of books, period." would you extend the same consideration to other forms of speech?

Probably most people saying that aren't categorising libel laws as censorship.

[Lackadaisical2]

To all those saying "no censorship of books, period." would you extend the same consideration to other forms of speech?

Probably most people saying that aren't categorising libel laws as censorship.

Even excepting libel/slander.

[Samozaryadnyastan]

Sometimes, but only in incredibly limited situations. For example, the writings of the girl who committed brutal murders at the age of 12.

[The Emerald Legion]

yes, if for no other reason than it may lead to them NOT being a theocracy.

You simply can't civilize certain mentalities, and there will always be a nation of fanatics somewhere.

Sure you can!

And if they don't... well they obviously don't need to be left around to ruin existence for the rest of us.

[The Rich Port]

To all those saying "no censorship of books, period." would you extend the same consideration to other forms of speech?

Probably most people saying that aren't categorising libel laws as censorship.

I have my own problems with "libel".

Sometimes, literature damaging to your character is usually a necessity, especially if your character is, in fact, worth about as much as the dead hookers in your trunk.

[Lackadaisical2]

Probably most people saying that aren't categorising libel laws as censorship.

I have my own problems with "libel".

Sometimes, literature damaging to your character is usually a necessity, especially if your character is, in fact, worth about as much as the dead hookers in your trunk.

In the US at least, it doesn't qualify as libel if its true.

[Lackadaisical2]

Sometimes, but only in incredibly limited situations. For example, the writings of the girl who committed brutal murders at the age of 12.

Why should that, of all things, be censored?

[Imsogone]

Sometimes, but only in incredibly limited situations. For example, the writings of the girl who committed brutal murders at the age of 12.

No, not even then!