the american library association promotes the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinions, even if that opinion may be considered unorthodox or unpopular, and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those views to all who want to read them. The following is a list of frequently asked questions about banned and questioned books:
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You are reading: Why are books banned
what is the difference between a challenge or a ban?
a challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based on the objections of an individual or group. a ban is the removal of those materials. challenges do not simply involve one person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or the library, thereby restricting access by others. Due to the commitment of librarians, teachers, parents, students, and other concerned citizens, most challenges are unsuccessful, and most materials remain in the school curriculum or library collection.
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You are reading: Why are books banned
why are books being questioned?
Books are often questioned with the best of intentions: to protect others, often children, from difficult ideas and information.
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Censorship can be subtle, almost imperceptible, as well as blatant and overt, but harmful nonetheless. as john stuart mill wrote about liberty: “if all mankind but one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind, if an opinion were a personal possession worthless except to the owner, if the obstruction in the enjoyment of it were merely private harm, would it make any difference whether the harm was inflicted only on a few persons or about many, but the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is robbing the human race, both posterity and the existing generation, from those who dissent from the opinion, even more than from those who hold it …if the opinion is correct, they are deprived of the opportunity to exchange error for truth: if it is incorrect, they lose what is almost as great a benefit, the clearest perception and the most vivid impression of the v truth, produced by its collision with error.
Challenges are often motivated by a desire to protect children from “inappropriate” sexual content or “offensive” language. the following were the top three reasons cited for challenging the materials as reported to the office of intellectual freedom:
- the material was deemed “sexually explicit”
- the material contained “offensive language”
- the material was “not suitable for any age group”
Although this is a laudable motivation, access to library resources and services for minors, one interpretation of the library’s bill of rights (the wing’s basic policy on access to information) states that, ” librarians and governing bodies must maintain that parents—and parents alone—have the right and responsibility to restrict their children—and only their children—access to library resources.” librarians of constitutionally protected speech, whether for protection or for any other reason, violates the first amendment.
As Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., in Texas v. Johnson, said most eloquently: “If there is one fundamental principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government cannot prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or distasteful.” .”
if we’re going to continue to protect our first amendment, we’d do well to heed these words of noam chomsky: “if we don’t believe in free speech for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.”
or these words from supreme court justice william o. Douglas, in the only anti-American act: “the restriction of freedom of thought and expression is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the only anti-American act that could most easily defeat us.”
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You are reading: Why are books banned
who defies the books?
Throughout history, more and different types of people and groups of all faiths than you might at first suppose, who, for all sorts of reasons, have tried, and continue to try, to suppress anything that conflict with or anyone who disagrees with your own beliefs.
In his book Freedom of Speech for Me, But Not for You: How America’s Left and Right Relentlessly Censor Each Other, Nat Hentoff writes that “the desire to suppress can come from any direction.” He quotes Phil Kerby, former editor of the Los Angeles Times, as saying: “Censorship is the strongest impulse of human nature; sex is a weak second.”
According to our infographics, parents challenge materials more often than any other group.
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You are reading: Why are books banned
Does wing forbid books?
not. The Wing’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) receives reports from libraries, schools, and the media about attempts to ban books in communities across the country. We compile lists of challenged books to inform the public about censorship efforts affecting libraries and schools. the wing condemns censorship and works to ensure free access to information. To learn more about wing’s efforts to raise awareness of censorship and promote reading freedom, explore Banned Books Week.
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