"Maybe more people should try reading books instead of burning them."
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Banned Books
The pen is mightier than the sword. And apparantly this reallllly bothers some people. I am opposed to censorship in any form. Period. Freedom of Speech is one of the most precious rights we have in our Constitution. My fear is that if we can reduce and eliminate it, what would be next. We should be afraid of those people who believe censorship will be for the betterment of society. I fail to see where restricting the flow of infomation and ideas will actually help us to become a better sociey.
"I disagree with what you said,
but I will fight to the death to allow you to say it"
...One of our founding fathers
If all else, I have to look at the Nazis, the U.S.S.R. and China as examples of what can happen when censorship becomes societies norm.
Even today, in our country, I still raise the battlecry when I see books being banned. (or any other medium) If you disagree with what you consider offensive...DON'T BUY IT! At least, read it with an open mind. If you don't like Penthouse magazine...DON'T BUY IT!!!! I don't care what your religious/moral reasons are...DON'T BUY IT!!! Your morals are different than mine. So are your religious, food preferances, clothing, and home furnishings tastes. Huckelberry Finn is a satire on the immorality of slavery. Animal Farm is a satire on the failings of Communism. Both books are of social value, but are banned for offensive subject matter. I don't know about you...but any books that point out the failures of morally wrong social ills is Aokay in my book. (by the way, I have read both of these books, and highly recomend them). Watch out for the religious right. They Love to censor books. I worry about any religion that forbids its people to enrich their minds. What is the religion afraid of? The Mormans do this, and the Catholic church did up until this century. Scary, huh? And religion wants to rule the world? Hello, Dark Ages! All I am saying, "Beware of any entity that presumes to protect you by removing your basic right to choose." Who knows what else they will remove next in the disguise of protection. My guess would be religion and the right to peacfully assemble. (Remember Tiananmen Square in China????) Now...On to the show...
"Just Doin My Part to Piss Off the Religious Right"Below is a listing of Banned Books. It is in no way complete because every year more are added. I have read many of them, and make it a point to read as many new banned books as possible. I encourage you to read them also, if nothing else, it will enrich your mind. I have 116 books on this list. Please go visit your local library today!
A friend of mine suggested I clarify what a banned book is. I am not concentrating on books banned in the US, but books banned in communities, schools, and/or towns. Usually these books are banned by people who don't bother to study, or sometimes read, the books they are protesting. Many of the books that follow have been unbanned in one town, only to become banned in another. I feel that a parent does a great disservice to a child by removing a dissenting opinion. If you want a child to learn, explain the book to the child, don't remove it. If only one side of an opinion is learned by a child, how can they be prepared for real life?
This section is for books I have read.
Anthem, Animal Farm, Treasure Island, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, The Diary of Anne Frank, Moby Dick, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol, Rosemary's Baby, The Great Gatsby, Oedipus Rex, Gulliver's Travels, The Color Purple, Robinson Crusoe, The Crucible, Candide, Lysistrata, Canterbury Tales, Leaves of Grass, The Rights of Man, The Bible, The Qu'ran, Lady Chatterley's Lover, Origin of Species, Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Merchant of Venice, Of Mice and Men, A Wrinkle in Time, Blubber, How to Eat Fried Worms, Christine, James and the Giant Peach, The Grapes of Wrath, Cujo, Then again, Maybe I Won't, The Handmaid's Tale, American Heritage Dictionary, Clan of the Cave Bear, Carrie, A Light in the Attic, Private Parts, The Wizard of Oz, Little House in the Big Woods and all other books in the series, Our Bodies OurSelves.
This section is for books that I have not read yet
Atlas Shrugged, Catcher in the Rye, Fahrenheit 451, The Red Pony, As I Lay Dying, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Flowers for Algernon, Pigman, Mein Kampf, The Satanic Verses, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Ulysses, The Red Badge of Courage, The Call of the Wild, To Kill a Mockingbird, Fanny Hill, Lord of the Flies, Catch 22, Moll Flanders, Decameron, Family Limatation, Confessions, E for Ecstasy, Voyages of Dr. Dolittle, The Story of Little Black Sambo, Impressions, The Chocolate War, Bridge to Terabithia, Scary Stories in the Dark, More Scary Stories in the Dark, The Witches, Daddy's Roomate, Curses Hexes, and Spells, Revolting Rhymes, Halloween ABC, A Day No Pigs Would Die, Heather Has Two Mommies, Fallen Angels, The New Teenage Body Book, The Headless Cupid, Night Chills, A Separate Peace, Slaughterhouse-Five, The Learning Tree, The Witches of Worm, My Brother Sam is Dead, The Great Gilly Hopkins, The Figure in the Shadows, On My Honor, In the Night Kitchen, I Have to Go, Annie on My Mind, My House, Witches Pumpkins and Grinning Ghosts:The Story of the Halloween Symbols, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Scary Stories 3:More Tales to Chill Your Bones, Changing Bodies Changing Lives, Forever, The Graphic Work of M. C. Escher, Jambo Means Hello: The Swahili Alphabet, One Hundred Questions and Answers about AIDS, Voodoo and Hoodoo, Brave New World, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Manet, The Sound of Waves, The Celluoid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies, Live From Golgotha, Native Son
To flip through the pages of my BOS faster...
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Brightest of Blessings