censored

Oh yeah, and you thought that meant there would be porn or something on here, right? suckers!

No, I was only referring to the censored book list on my school's library webpage. It's a little disconcerting, and not only for the fact that I've read 85 % of those books listed. I see censorship as a way to keep people in the dark by coloring their choices as "bad" or "good". Sometimes it's not that easy, right? The web page makes the point that banning the books was done with "good intentions"-again with the "good". I think about how many times I've tried to shelter my daughters from something, applying rationale that I was only doing it for their own good, with good intentions. While they are young it is obviously necessary to shield them from certain things that may be potentially harmful. But as they grow and become wiser and hopefully more discerning, I hope that I will not feel it necessary to protect them so much. And I certainly hope with all my heart that my best intentions will not get in the way of their learning.

I think book censorship is a load of crap, and anyone who feels otherwise can argue it out, I'll listen.

The thing is, what good does it do to supposedly protect someone from something like, oh, I don't know, racism, or sexuality, or history? Isn't that what we are meant to do-to experience life through doing and reading?

And don't be fooled, gentle readers, into thinking this whole banning is something of the past. Nope, there are several books on that list from the 21st century. Censorship is alive and well, and permeating the places where freedom of speech and free thinking should be fostered-libraries, public and otherwise.

"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."—Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas," The One Un-American Act." Nieman Reports, vol. 7, no. 1 (Jan. 1953): p. 20.

If you are at all interested in learning more about what constitutes a banned book, how to challenge it, and for more info. on the Banned Book Week-check out the ALA website.