Banned+Books

x xxx x Banned Books x xxx x
 * [|Banned Books that Shaped America]
 * [|17 Banned Books You Read as a Child]
 * [|Banned Book Week]
 * [|Book Burning]
 * [|Book Burning 213 BC–2011 AD]

Throughout history, all kinds of people have attempted-and continue to attempt-to suppress anything or any one who disagrees with their own beliefs. Censorship can be subtle, almost imperceptible, as well as blatant and overt, but, nonetheless, harmful. As John Stuart Mill wrote in On Liberty:

If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. Were an opinion a personal possession of no value except to the owner; if to be obstructed in the enjoyment of it were simply a private injury, it would make some difference whether the injury was inflicted only on a few persons or on many. But the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error. - On Liberty, John Stuart Mill

Often challenges are motivated by a desire to protect children from "inappropriate" sexual content or "offensive" language. The following were the top three reasons cited for challenging materials as reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom:


 * the material was considered to be "sexually explicit"
 * the material contained "offensive language"
 * the materials was "unsuited to any age group"

"Book burning" refers to the ritual destruction by fire of books or other written materials. Usually carried out in a public context, the burning of books represents an element of censorship and usually proceeds from a cultural, religious, or political opposition to the materials in question.

As Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., in Texas v. Johnson, said most eloquently: "If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable..... Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us."

There is a saying I like; "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."- Beatrice Hall, The Friends of Voltaire, 1906 Until everyone can speak, none of us are really free.