Books and Censorship

Assignment 3:

I think books should be different as far as censorship. Music is influenced by the media in more ways then books are. There are TV stations such as MTV and VH1 that can help influence children with their music selection. Books are a bit different in that they don’t get as much media attention overall as music does, so of course music lyrics would be on the forefront no matter what. I don’t think they should go as far as banning books unless they’re a serious problem which I will go into later. I don’t think the Harry Potter series is enough to warrant a ban. Just because a serious of books is extremely popular in the public eye, why should that be a reason to take it off the shelves in libraries. I think lyrics that can be seen as offensive have more of a negative effect then a book that has an imaginary story to it. If they start banning these books then what’s next. At the rate it’s going I think the answer is anything can be banned. We need to draw the line somewhere, why take away from an author’s good idea to write books that have become extremely successful. If I was the author J.K. Rowling I know I’d be upset knowing that my books meant for children have been banned for no solid reason.

I think having warning labels for music, television, video games, and movies are the right thing to do. It’s the way things have been going and why take the warning labels off and create more problems. The public is having enough trouble with young children and the negative influences that these sources of media have on them. Music, Television, Video Games and Movies are not as beneficial to us as reading is. Why ban what can really help develop younger children’s minds. Yes Harry Potter isn’t the most educational book but if students see that other students are reading it they’ll want to pick up on it also. It can lead to young children getting into positive habits. Why ban on certain books, it doesn’t present any good. Media such as TV and movies do the thinking for us, putting a ban and warning labels on that is one thing in that it doesn’t make a human being any smarter then would be to pick up and read a book. Movies and music contain much more offensive actions and language that a young child can understand then a book does. Leaving the ratings system on music, television, video games, and TV is fine the way it is, I say leave the books alone. If anything we need to get books out to the younger generation more then it is now. Maybe that’s why we have ratings on these other outlets because they shoved it in our face so much that they don’t know where the ratings and banning to start and where to finish.

One book that I remembered to have seeing was called The Anarchist Cookbook; it contained ways to make different explosives. This is the only way I can see banning come about. It wasn’t a book it was an instructional manual on how to possibly hurt yourself. When I look at this book and the banning of Harry Potter it’s such a world of difference between the two yet libraries are quick to jump at Harry Potter because of the mainstream coverage it gets. What about these books that are rarer, the media should take a look at those for right reasons rather then jump at stories of fantasy.