Hello everyone! I was browsing my Pinterest (which you should check out because I think I'm funny) when I saw a list of 25 banned books. One of them happened to be Alice in Wonderland, which was banned in China because the "animals are scary".
NO.
JUST. NO.
There are so many things wrong with that, I don't even know where to start. Maybe how the animals aren't even that scary. Or the fact that just because SOME people are freaked out, doesn't mean you ruin it for everyone else.
Which brings me to my main problem with Banned books: you're stopping everyone from reading something just because a percentage (can be small, can be big) are too appalled by it.
Mark Twain (the best quote-person ever) once said "Censorship is telling a man he can't have steak just because a baby can't chew it".
Banning books just seems like something so simple to stop. Why are you denying people their natural right to read what they want?
If I want to read Fifty Shades of Grey (I don't) at 16-years-old, I will. If I want to read Are You There God, It's Me Margaret? at age 8 (and I did), I will. If a teacher wants to assign me to read Speak (a book about a girl who is raped) because of its fantastic message to speak up for yourself, then they should.
If it comes to people in school and of school-age, you can't protect us forever. Especially since we have the internet. I'm going to learn about sex, pregnancy, STDs, and other adult-stuff in the world. People who ban books are also banning open conversations that parents should be having with their teenagers. I'm fortunate enough to feel like I could talk to my parents about everything. And I get a lot of my questions from reading books that could be seen as "risque" (by which I mean YA books featuring off-the-page sex).
But if it comes to books of any age that happen to feature any other kind of risque material (sex, homosexuality, politics that aren't in agreement with the government, etc.), then I'm just like WHY?
What is so wrong with that stuff? If you really don't like that stuff or reading about it, then don't read it. Why stop other people from reading it? So what if I want to read a children's book about a same-sex family? Erie, Illinois should not be able to stop me.
And, even then, there can be some stuff about the book that is appalling to read. I read one on the Pinterest list that was banned in Germany because the author is Pro-Nazi. While being a Nazi is DEFINITELY not okay, books should still not be banned. Just don't read it and then, hopefully, the book will go out of print so you're not supporting a Nazi.
But yes, those are my thoughts. Tell me what you think in the comments here or on Facebook!
Owyn
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