It's banned books week

@hingehead,

Bless the hippies and censors.

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I have never considered a book worth the reading, simply because it is banned. But I always begin such with a hunch the authorities want to take away something valuable. Often the hunch is correct. And I remember reading that D H Lawrence considered Ulysses ban worthy, while James Joyce considered Lady Chatterley's Lover ban worthy. So it turns out even the banned are not immune from the disease.

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@edgarblythe,

edgarblythe wrote:

So it turns out even the banned are not immune from the disease.

Even the very best of us can be guilty of intolerant language.

Quote:

Nelson Mandela said that the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi had helped to topple apartheid in South Africa. Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I, was also an admirer. "Mahatma Gandhi will always be remembered as long as free men and those who love freedom and justice live," he said. Yet not all African leaders are inspired by the man known as the "Father of India".

An online petition, which has been signed by more than 1,000 people, has been started by professors at the University of Ghana. They call for the removal of a statue of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi from the campus grounds in Accra. The academics say that Gandhi, who has been praised by public figures for leading India's non-violent movement to freedom from British colonial rule during the mid 20th century, had a "racist identity".

The petition lists quotes from the writings of the Indian leader, in which he described Africans as "savages or the Natives of Africa" and "kaffirs" (an insulting racial slur for a black African).

One example comes from a letter written by Gandhi to the Natal parliament of South Africa in 1893, saying that a "general belief seems to prevail in the Colony that the Indians are a little better, if at all, than savages or the Natives of Africa."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-37430324

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@izzythepush,

I have to say, there are people I cannot tolerate. I suppose I cannot claim the high road, either

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@edgarblythe,

It's never a good idea to do that, it can always come back and bite you on the arse.

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Are any books banned in the West anymore?

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Good question. Who has the answer?

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@edgarblythe,

I think there is a large distinction between "banning" books from a school library and from sale in a city, state or nation.

I imagine there are still incidents of banning certain books from school libraries, and I don't necessarily have a problem with that, even when the reasons are silly.

As you've pointed out, some kids may not be ready to read certain works and I think that until they are adults, their parents should be able to make the call.

A 15 year old who is deprived of the the pleasure of reading Tropic of Cancer or 50 Shades of Grey will not be stunted in his or her intellectual development.

Public schools are, for better or worse, an extension of the State. Some work better with community parents than others, but I'm not comfortable with the State overruling parent's wishes except in extreme situations where the life and well being of the child is clearly in danger. Reading a banned book is not such a situation.

Banning books from sale to the general public is an entirely different matter.

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@edgarblythe,

pdf of books banned in 2014-15 (2015-2016 is $) - seems to be primarily a US list though I see at least one book noted in Canada, one in Singapore and one in India

http://www.ala.org/bbooks/sites/ala.org.bbooks/files/content/2015BannedList.pdf

__

pdf's from 2004 to 2015

http://www.ala.org/bbooks/bannedbooksweek/ideasandresources/freedownloads#lists

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@ehBeth,

Hmph.
All I can do is reiterate: I would not ban books for high schoolers and older. I can see controlling what little kids read, but am not prepared to be the one to make a selection.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Quote:

...some kids may not be ready...

As I indicated earlier in this thread, the idea of a school official deciding and determining an individual is not ready for a particular read is idiocy at its best. If the school had had their way I'd have been left with nothing of interest to read.

Certain books, movies, art exhibits and the such are not only of no interest to me, but, I find them to be offensive for one reason or another. That said, I'd never ask for then to be banned.

Until a person reaches a certain age (to be determined by their parent or guardian), the restrictions should be made only by the person or persons who have custodial care of the individual. To assign a set age is useless, since, a 12 year old often has and exercises a greater level of comprehension and maturity than a 20 or 25 year old. Why penalize the youngster?

The one thing banning has been shown to do, is, to peak curiosity, which, then sends the young person looking elsewhere for the banned item. So, what purpose or good did the ban actually have?

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@Sturgis,

This all reminds me that I've still not read Voltaire (on the C. church condemned list, The Index). No idea if it still is, or even if they have a condemned list at all, these days... I just remember learning it was on the list when I was in high school, moons ago. I'd read him gladly if I ran across a book by him in a used book store.

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@Sturgis,

It's hard enough getting some children/people to read. The idea of banning/restricting access to any reading material puts me off.

I learned to read English before my mother did. My father was learning English a step or two ahead of me. I was a voracious reader very early on. Miss Bustard, who went on to become my hometown's head librarian, got me an adult library card when I was about five - I'd finished off everything I could stand from the children's section by then. She was a wonderful women. She let my dad bring me to Story Hour about two years early - and continued to be MY check-out person even when she became the boss.

I read things that were decidedly non-kid books early - including Galsworthy and de la Roche. It was fun discovering kid staples when I was an adult.

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@ehBeth,

I love your Miss Bustard!

Sort of Tangent warning - libraries:

In my day, I couldn't access the adult library until I turned 14 (thanks, Santa Monica Library, not kidding, I was a happy girl that day.) I would feed on the adult books in the aisles - that's where I got going on the history of medicine and much else. I forget how many books I could take out at a time, but I took the max. Damn, I wish I cared about art books earlier than I did, art was my cousins' thing. I caught up though, in my late teens and twenties.

In retrospect, my favorite library is/was the UCLA Research Library. Probably gone by now, the campus being a different place than I knew at different times, going there free pre Reagan, working there in two different fields with at least two different main interests. I remember the day I first went to class there, thinking there was no limit to what I could learn from this commie school (the Notre Dame nuns at it again, not sending students transcripts, back in 1959). Er, Glitterbag and I experienced two different orders of Notre Dame nuns, she is much more of a fan.

The college I went to first, Mount St. Mary's, was happy to send my data. I liked that place, cool nuns, but we couldn't afford it. I think the high school nuns might have sent my transcript by then too. Besides, MSM's seemed unlikely to have women become doctors from there, my dream back then, unlikely to happen in the next few years, until our world broke loose with the civil rights act.

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There were no books in my home, prior to my getting drafted into grade school. After I learned to read and began to strike out on my own, in Calwa, CA, I don't recall knowing about a school library. Could be I just did not know. I walked to the public library for my books. Nobody told me what I could have access to and my parents did not care what I read, but I mostly wanted horse and dog oriented stories anyway. I don't recall when I discovered Oliver Twist. It was before high school. This book transformed my world. From that point I became interested in grown up literature. In my lifetime, I was only somewhat censored for reading material three times. I told my oldest brother that I would like to become a writer and turn out the sort of stuff written by Henry Miller. He said, "If you do I will disown you." One of the bosses at the apartments insisted that we all not read Harry Potter or allow the children. I promptly read the first four books of the series. Then, there was the time I came home with The Satanic Verses. My wife is a Christian. She does not hold with the churches and ministers so much but there is no doubt where she stands. When she saw the cover of my book, she said, "You're not going to read that, are you?" She seemed full of dread and misgivings. I put it down that day and waited a week before opening it. Turns out it did not have a beginning to grab me and I gave the book away, unread.

I would not have let my own children read about the holocaust in too graphic a presentation, before high school and there are doubtless other books I would have kept from them.

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@edgarblythe,

You probably know I'm a fan of Primo Levi's Reawakening. They could probably handle that.

I was a dog and horse stories kid too.

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I did see at an early age a small booklet showing photos of Dachau. I'll guess when I was eleven or so, maybe twelve, my father showing me. Or not, maybe I found it and asked. Long time ago.

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@Sturgis,

The reality is that the school official is not deciding whether or not a child is ready to read something or not. If it was, I would agree with you. When books are banned from school libraries it is most often because of the reaction of the community either directly or through their elected school board members.

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@ehBeth,

ehBeth wrote:

It's hard enough getting some children/people to read. The idea of banning/restricting access to any reading material puts me off.

I learned to read English before my mother did. My father was learning English a step or two ahead of me. I was a voracious reader very early on. Miss Bustard, who went on to become my hometown's head librarian, got me an adult library card when I was about five - I'd finished off everything I could stand from the children's section by then. She was a wonderful women. She let my dad bring me to Story Hour about two years early - and continued to be MY check-out person even when she became the boss.

I read things that were decidedly non-kid books early - including Galsworthy and de la Roche. It was fun discovering kid staples when I was an adult.

There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of books that are not banned. The idea that banning a relative handful of controversial books somehow retards youthful reading is a a very big stretch.

All the banned books will be there waiting for them when they reach the age of majority. I very much doubt that any of them would have been life changing, in a positive way, for any child.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

The process of "banning books" is the issue IMHO. Not allowing individual readers to make up their own minds by removing the books or magazines because some organization has deemed it harmful, seems kinda like what you are always trying to pin on the lefties.
In my experience, banning has never really accomplished what it was meant to accomplish, no matter how virtuous the banners may have felt in their missions.

It just wastes a lot of time and banning is ultimately defeated.

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It's banned books week

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