I've been noticing that a lot of the books that we read--really anywhere--have been challenged or banned in certain parts of the country and stuff. It's starting to really frustrate me because a lot of times it's for stupid reasons. I think that there are some books that really shouldn't be out there, but there aren't that many. At least not the amount that are challenged.
A lot of times there are books that are challenged because something in it is not what adults think people our/my age should read. I think that is ridiculous a lot of the times because the stuff they are trying to hide from us is what is actually happening in the world. Most of the times it's stuff that we really should read about to know what is going on in the world. Other times it's stuff that maybe isn't the best, but we see it everywhere else. Personally, when I read something that could probably be a reason to ban a book, I pretty much ignore it. It's not like I decide to start saying the words that characters say or doing the things that characters do. I think that the people challenging books need to be a little less strict.
Well, remember the short story we read on Wednesday where the main character (I think his name is Phil or something) Dan, and Mo? Phil read that book triangle over and over to perfect his plan. If that book was banned, do you imagine an alternate ending is possible?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you Megan; people always say that we have to learn history to learn from our mistakes, but we can't avoid those mistakes if they ban us from learning what really happened in America's past. For instance, both Huckleberry Fin and To Kill A Mockingbird use realistic events to demote racism in America, and yet both have been banned. What's even more aggravating is that the majority of challenges of those books come from African-American people. I don't know if they're ignorant of their true meanings, or they've just never read the books, but either way, they shouldn't be challenging either book.
ReplyDeleteYou also bring up the good point that we've read a lot of those challenged books, and we haven't been corrupted by them. I haven't started to brew toad stew since reading Harry Potter, and I haven't gone on a murdering rampage since reading Lord of the Rings. They're harmless. There are obviously some books that have no place in low-level schools. For instance, I don't think any first grader should be reading Sex by Madonna. As teenagers, however, I think we can handle pretty much anything, and to deny us certain literature goes against the first amendment. Who besides us should be able to decide what ideas we're exposed to and what things we're interested in?