Burning Books/Banning Books

Bloodraine:

A book itself cannot make you racist, or sexist, or bigoted, or atheist, or to hold any other viewpoint whatsoever.

Can't propaganda make you racist?

kafka.:

Can't propaganda make you racist?

What happened to free will? The only thing that makes you anything is yourself. Obviously propaganda is something that pushes an idea, and books can be very influential, but when it comes right down to it you're the one who makes the decision of what you do and do not believe. If you think something else makes you feel this way, then you must be an incredibly impressionable person.

The beauty of free will is that we are not little puppets, we are wise, thinking human beings with our own opinions. A book can't send a little buzz to our brain that says, "Think this way!" It just gives you information about an opinion.

About Huck Finn; according to Wikipedia:
Twain wrote a novel that embodies the search for freedom. He wrote during the post-Civil War period when there was an intense white reaction against blacks. Twain took aim squarely against racial prejudice, increasing segregation, lynchings, and the generally accepted belief that blacks were sub-human. He "made it clear that Jim was good, deeply loving, human, and anxious for freedom.

So, no. I don't think Mark Twain was trying to make anyone racist.

kafka.:

Bloodraine:

A book itself cannot make you racist, or sexist, or bigoted, or atheist, or to hold any other viewpoint whatsoever.

Can't propaganda make you racist?

Could it make me racist?
I doubt that very much. I have a somewhat independent way of thinking. The BNP have been known to send their 'propaganda' around my neighbourhood and I don't think it affects me because it's basically lies. I can't be the only one who questions everything they read, surely?

I don't think books should be banned entirlely, just for some age groups. It really depends on a person's level of maturity; then again, how would people be able to know how mature you are? So I guess they'd have to ban things according to the reader's age.
That's why I freaking love Mibba. :cute:

Revolting.:

I don't think books should be banned entirlely, just for some age groups. It really depends on a person's level of maturity; then again, how would people be able to know how mature you are? So I guess they'd have to ban things according to the reader's age.
That's why I freaking love Mibba. :cute:

That's not really banning though. Just regulating.
Like rated 'R' movies. You have to be seventeen to get in, but the movie isn't banned. It's just rated and regulated.
Like you have to be a certain age to buy erotica [sometimes].
My fourteen-year-old friend buys sex manuals though.

druscilla; smiles.:

Revolting.:

I don't think books should be banned entirlely, just for some age groups. It really depends on a person's level of maturity; then again, how would people be able to know how mature you are? So I guess they'd have to ban things according to the reader's age.
That's why I freaking love Mibba. :cute:

That's not really banning though. Just regulating.
Like rated 'R' movies. You have to be seventeen to get in, but the movie isn't banned. It's just rated and regulated.
Like you have to be a certain age to buy erotica [sometimes].
My fourteen-year-old friend buys sex manuals though.

Oh, thanks for pointing that out. I get the difference. :think:

Burning books is terrible!! omgno:
Just because someone somewhere says it's wrong or it goes against some sort of rule doesn't mean it should be banned or burned.
I mean come on!
For one thing they tried to ban 'Where's Waldo"
Hello that was just a retarded move there - it's just pictures
and how it offends some one - I have no clue why you'd get pissed at that.
I guess haters banned books and burned them because they were afraid of change
Well change is good and books no matter how many people ban them or try to have them burned will always be read.
Whether it is out in the open or in hiding banned and burned books will always be read no matter how hard some haters try.

emily.:

However, individual books, I think, should not be able to turn our opinions that drastically. My outlook on life has been changed by many books, books have made me think differently and realise different things at times, but I think if you begin to hate on a race just because a book does, then you are - as fool's paradise said - a very impressionable person.

That's what I meant, singular novel propaganda. Sorry if ity was misunderstood. In cases like Nazi Germany, well, yeah, there's no escaping that. But in the case of an individual novel, I find it silly that people believe it can influence one enough to change their entire opinion of something.

Burning and banning books is un-American. Whatever happened to the Amendments???

kllyqtpie15:

Burning and banning books is un-American. Whatever happened to the Amendments???

The world, on the other hand, is not American. The American constitution isn't universally adhered to, even if the first amendment is a good thing.
'American' isn't a synonym for good, or right, or just. Banning books and burning them is bad, it's an insult to liberty and freedom of speech, but these concepts aren't soley American ones.

I don't think books should be burned, whatever they contain. The author has the right to free speech. Even if they live in a dictatoral country, they should have the right.

More than half of the books I read are ''banned'' books. I mean, Harry Potter is ''banned'' in some places because it supports magic, didn't stop me from reading it.

Some books are banned for the stupidest reasons. I mean, Alice in Wonderland was ''banned in the province of Hunan, China for the portrayal of anthropomorphized animals acting on the same level as humans.'' The Grapes of Wrath was banned in California because it 'made the residents of the region look bad'.

Seriously.

Don't like it, don't read it.

EDIT: I'm sorry if I offended anyone, I was just stating my opinion. I feel very strongly about this subject.

"The Lorax" by Dr. Suess has been banned in certain palces because it makes the "foresting industry look bad".

Spaztastic:

I don't think any town in Illinois has banned books, but I'm not sure. I know for sure, thought, that no suburbs of Chicago have. I've found Go Ask Alice and A Clockwork Orange in the public library.

I live 49 miles from Chicago, we're such a small town we haven't banned any books yet. Our public library even has a banned book week, and they display them all for everyone to check out.

The Lost Years.:

I live 49 miles from Chicago, we're such a small town we haven't banned any books yet. Our public library even has a banned book week, and they display them all for everyone to check out.

The town I grew up in was really small.
1200 people.
There were fifty-two people in my graduating class.
We banned a book called "Annie's Baby".
The town next to us was even smaller. They banned the "Harry Potter" series.

druscilla's number 9:

The Lost Years.:

I live 49 miles from Chicago, we're such a small town we haven't banned any books yet. Our public library even has a banned book week, and they display them all for everyone to check out.

The town I grew up in was really small.
1200 people.
There were fifty-two people in my graduating class.
We banned a book called "Annie's Baby".
The town next to us was even smaller. They banned the "Harry Potter" series.

Wow. There's an elementary school a town away, my friends went there, they said that they wouldn't let anyone under 3rd grade check them out.

Small towns can be worse because diversity may not be accepted and therefore they can be extremely conservative. A lot of my town was extremely conservative and thought Harry Potter was evil.

druscilla's over.:

Small towns can be worse because diversity may not be accepted and therefore they can be extremely conservative. A lot of my town was extremely conservative and thought Harry Potter was evil.

I never thought about it that way.

druscilla's way.:

Small towns can be worse because diversity may not be accepted and therefore they can be extremely conservative. A lot of my town was extremely conservative and thought Harry Potter was evil.

I don't understand why some people view Harry Potter as evil :(