The United States Constitution’s First Amendment says; “Congress shall make no law respecting...abridging the freedom of speech...” If there should be no impeachment on this right then why is there a banned book list? For those of you who have not heard of banned books, a banned book is a book that has been prohibited to be read in; religions, organizations and schools. This is due to the government and other organizations deeming a book inappropriate to be read in certain places. Books have been banned for reasons such as; violence, witchcraft, language and more. However, this goes against all that we stand for, it is an invasion on our freedom and should not be accepted in our nation.
These Censorships have been placed there by single-minded cowards who sit in the shadows too afraid of a new perspective. Sites like; gtbe.com, wpaag.org, factsonfiction.org, pabbis.com and humanevents.com, wish to shelter the world from “harmful books.” To quote the banned book; Fahrenheit 451; “Do you know why books such as this are so important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book has pores.”
The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, The Bible and Captain Underpants, all of these books are on the banned book list and each teach something valuable. Harry Potter teaches the value of good triumphing over evil, Hunger Games teaches the effect media can have on our society and the bible teaches valuable lessons that are precious to so many religions. Parents, Government Officials and Organizations wish to take away our right and are robbing our Citizens of priceless opportunities to learn.
There is no such thing as bad literature. Though we may not agree with the values in some books, that does not mean we should mark it as taboo and restrict others from reading it. That is the point of literature to teach us outlooks on life. What we do with that knowledge is our choice. That is why our forefathers came to American in the first place; Religious Freedom. They wished to have the freedom to believe in there view points because they were not permitted to in their countries. Many died to give us the freedoms that we have today, so why are we restricted in what we read. Did not we fight for so long and struggle sacrificing the blood of many and do we not continue this fight?
Though we travel across the seas and wager war to protect our home, there is a war being fought with the most powerful weapon we have; words. To quote John F. Kennedy; "A man may die, nations may rise and fall but an idea lives on." If that source of inspiration and ideas is taken from us then those that take it from us are as guilty as those that burn the books in Fahrenheit 451. Though what they do is worse, far worse. They are killing possible ideas that could become and could shape a person.
"Banned Books" make us think differently and is that not the difference between the wise and the foolish? As Eleanor Roosevelt said; "Small minds discuss people; average minds discuss events; great minds discuss ideas." If the chance for us to receive ideas is taken, then how can we ever amount to having great minds? We cannot do so. Having a great mind does not mean agreeing with all ideas, however it does mean being open to others ideas. If these Organizations wish to shut our minds to others ideas because they fear them then we cannot move forward and will remain single minded from every generation on.
Is that not how the dark ages start, is that not how wars star, did not racism come from this? The Dark Ages started because people believed that you only certain people should have information, words -or lack thereof- have brought nations to their knees, once minds are made one sided they do not bend in thought, so they are divided, and conquered. By banning books they are developing future; racists, wars, captivity and are destroying the chances that the future leaders of America have to develop a better perspective on the world.
Preventing Freedom of the Press, preventing freedom to read what we want destroys ideas, these lack of ideas will be passed on from generation to generation until history becomes distorted and all that remains are closed minded, one track people. Which is why we need to end banned books, and to those that wish to create closed minded children; with every little word, metaphor and book you ban, you kill thousands of ideas in this generation. Though many ideas we will not agree with, it may be in those that we learn the most and shape who we are and we can be.
Which is why I raise my voice and proclaim that we need to abolish the banning of books from our society. By not allowing books to be read, you are not killing an idea that you wish to protect us from, you are sheltering us from the rain and when the time comes for us to go into the world then we will not know what to do in the rain, we will not know what to avoid and how to shelter ourselves. In that lies the key to protecting us and the future. Not hiding us, but allowing us to learn why or why not. To quote George Brenard; "Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything."
