Slashdot Mirror
Libraries Release Most-Censored Books List
destinyland writes "The American Library Association released this year's list of the most-frequently censored books. (Included in the top 10 are two best-selling novels — Twilight and The Hunger Games — as well as Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.) The annual list celebrates 'the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment,' according to the library association, highlighting 'the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship.' Interestingly, seven of the ten most-censored books are now available on Amazon's Kindle — more than twice as many as last year."
This week is banned books week. Celebrate (?) by reading a banned book - say no to censorship :)
In this age of hyperbole, where everything is worked up to be a huge scandal (Obama is the antichrist, Bush is Hitler, and social security is a Ponzi scheme), it's worth mentioning that censorship here is not government censorship, it means someone decided to remove that book from their library. All these materials are easily available elsewhere.
And frankly, if they're going to remove something from their library, Twilight is a great choice. Bravo, friends, bravo.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
...the US Constitution.
"The illegal we can do right now; the unconstitutional will take a little longer." --Henry Kissinger
It's been a while since I read it - what is it exactly that people object to in Brave New World?
At worst, I remember it being a bit preachy.
sic transit gloria mundi
It amazes me that books like these are censored while the Qur'an and Hadith, which tell Muslims to subdue or kill non-Muslims to enter paradise, is allowed.
Strange that there are no examples of right wing hate literature on the list. I mean with the country being overrun by freedom hating liberals and all, you would think the list would consist almost exclusivly of works by "conservative" authors.
...it reads like a must-not-read for the christian right... christians have a messiah too.. like the nazi cult...
The list is about "challenged" books, not about them being censored. Please RTFA!
Sig?
Does anyone else find it a tad ironic that 1984 is among the books "censored"? Maybe they should remove Fahrenheit 451 as well. :)
I think they tried to censor the bad writing, but the book came out empty.
The article lists the most *challenged* books. Challenging a book doesn't result in it being censored. The title of the article is incredibly misleading.
Move sig!
I question the claim that these parents are being protective of their children. I think they are doing nothing more than being bad parents by avoiding difficult but important conversations with their children.
I am reminded of the fact that people who never learn to swim are much more likely to drown. You might think that they don't know how to swim, and so they will stay out of the water and be safer that way. The real world doesn't work that way.
the article said:
"majority of challenges were initiated by parents (almost exactly 48%),"
(Maybe they meant 'the most frequent source of challenges')
All I see is up to 2010.
Did I go back in time without realizing it? If so get out of Northern Japan early next year.
The article notes that these are books challenged and requested removal in public or school libraries. So I think you're going to see a bias towards books for teenagers which adults feel are inappropriate for their dear children: more emphasis on requests for censorship because of rude words, sex scenes and unconventional ideas than because of religious thought.
I can see conservative parents getting upset about a whole range of exciting contemporary teenage literature while I would imagine only the most radically conservative are going to get upset about school libraries stock religious works, they'll more likely accept the concept of teaching comparative religion.
My guess is all the world's religious works have some pretty horrific sections, you might be upset about the Qur'an but everybody here at slashdot loves the way the Lego Bible picks out the extreme sections of the Christian holy books... I'd guess the Christians can give the Muslims a good run for their money in terms of tough edicts on people who don't follow the holy words... (stonings, killings, etc). Within a school or library context I don't think people blink when they see a shelf with the different world religions holy books next to each other (probably they yawn).
Alexie's book, written for teenagers, yet quite satisfying reading for adults, has a few references to jacking off as I recall. Any parent of teenagers who thinks this would be foreign territory to their spawn is delusional. But Nickel and Dimed?? Are the uber-capitalists now descending on libraries to challenge the sort of books that illustrate that the economic status-quo is not exactly peachy for everyone?
The man who dies rich dies disgraced. -- Andrew Carnegie
Am I reading this right? 8) Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich? I know it get's bandied about politically, but why censor it? I read it and didn't find it objectionable. Anyone know why?
It's actually quite easy.
If some authority disaollows you from reading a certain work and removes said work everywhere in their area of influence (and maybe even puts some sort of punishment on creating, owning, reading, knowing, trading, .. this work), it's "censored".
If you confuse "censored" and "challenged" when submitting a slashdot article (your own TFA even says "challenged" for the love of everything!) then you are "challenged".
I'm curious as to why "Nickel and Dimed", an 8 year old book about how crappy it is to have a minimum wage job suddenly appeared on the list in 2010.
I do not have a problem with Twilight being censored. I don't know what the big deal is about.
I noticed that Harry Potter got challenged quite a bit but not any more!
My 7 year old was learning about HP at school, it was part of her school's curriculum last year used to encourage kids to think about fantasy situations to help with with their creative writing skills. After they'd all finished the book they also sat and watched the film to see how their interpretations differed from the film maker's. I can imagine the people who complained back in 2002 would have a fit if they knew what was happening my kid's school, LOL!
I love this bullshit! "Quick, hide it! If we hide enough bad stuff our kiddies will be safe forever!". Roll forward several years. "Oh no why are our kids so screwed up and can't cope?! Why do they feel the need to run, hide and perhaps even contemplate suicide to escape from the nasty things in life? Could it be that we hid so much from they they don't understand how to cope with horrible things in life?".
I guess there's people out there with too much fucking free time on their hands they feel the need to complain to public libraries and request books be taken off shelves!
Alright don't show an 8 year old a mangled corpse or pictures from a vivisection lab or slaughter house, but discussing persecution ( Kill a Mocking Bird ), censorship ( Farhenheit 451 ) , repression ( 1984 ), magic and witch-craft ( Harry Potter ) is not going to screw your kids up, denying them these things most likely will!
Note that I used 'over-protective'. It's probably just as well parents being lazy, but the end result is the same regardless.
Using your analogy: children won't learn to swim if their parents steer them away from water.
Those parents might do so because they think it is too risky. They might not want to put in the effort. They might not be able to swim themselves. Regardless of their reasons or how they explain their actions, they are indeed harming their children in the long run.
This sig is intentionally left blank
How can the submitter use the word "censored" in the very hyperlink that points to a page containing a list of the most "challenged" books?
let me make this 100% clear:
THESE BOOKS ARE NOT, HAVE NOT, AND HAVE NEVER BEEN CENSORED.
Are there missing pages? black redaction lines? No.
This is a list of the most frequently challenged books that parents and fundamentalists complain about because they just happen to challenge their preconceptions or prejudices.
That was a real eye opener for me when I read it for the first time and I 'grew up' during the summer of love in '68.
It's ironic that these books targeted for censorship are available for the Kindle, given the fact that Amazon engages in censorship of the Kindle store.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Seriously, we seem to be constantly under the impression that somehow, if we don't expose kids at all human sexuality, then somehow they won't become sexual. IE somehow readings lists can trump millions of years of evolution...
:P
Here's a hint, the only kids interested in reading about "orgy porgy" are probably the only ones not actually recreating it
Monstar L
4,660: Registered challenges to books since the beginning of the century. .0000015%, of the population is responsible for
311,800,000: Approximate population of the United States in 2011.
So, 1.49454779e-5, or
the "Frequently challenged books of the 21st century" list.
It's mind boggling that so few could affect the lives, or get the attention
of, so many.
Welcome to the era of rule by the lunatic fringe.
Some days it's just not worth
chewing through my restraints.
this list is basically one of the public's complaints against books, not an actual list of censorship
Which is really ironic.
You see, there's an endocrinologist I know who makes a nice living giving normal upper middle class kids growth hormone because their parents are concerned that their son will be under six feet when he finishes growing. Why, a young man who looked like he was going to peek at 5' 9" was given hormones at the insistence of his parents.
Brave New World - we're already there. I guess parents don't want it shoved in their faces. I don't have a problem with it - tall (and good looking) people have an edge in this society and if a parent can do something to improve their kid's chances, I say go for it.
It is interesting, the whole "censorship" thing, in the end though as the years tick by we seem to find ourselves laughing a bit at books that had been banned in the past (I note with intrigue that a lot of the books on the list were actually on my school study list for "English" )
We recently had a book that we submitted banned by Amazon, ripped apart by B&N (but still there), rejected by Kobo and a few other distributors due to it being "offensive" because of its intense sexual nature and the context. That said, we're not entirely surprised, however on Goodreads we're picking up nice 5-star reviews and a good dosage of 4 & 5 star reviews elsewhere around the net.
Fortunately in this *day and age*, we can just sell it direct on eBooks :)
I think the ALA made a mistake - Twilight was listed as number 10, not number 1.
The most common reason for the basis of the challenges is the poem “Ice Capades” which describes how Sophie is fascinated by her breasts’ reaction to a cold window pane
Go to your school's library and you will find that it is rarely available. You can't donate one. You can't check one out.
it's worth mentioning that censorship here is not government censorship, it means someone decided to remove that book from their library. All these materials are easily available elsewhere.
Not unless the child in question has a ride to said "elsewhere".
"This action has been cited as one of the worst examples of censorship in U.S. history." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich#1956:_Book_burning
It would be nice if they listed the challenges specific to each book.
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is also available on-line for free ... unless, that is, you have to go through a censoring web proxy.
I recommend it. It is not that long. It is interesting how much in sci-fi movies and literature that has been influenced by it.
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
It is incredibly telling and depressing that "And Tango makes Three" is the number one most challenged book. From the summary of the book: "At New York City's Central Park Zoo, two male penguins fall in love and start a family by taking turns sitting on an abandoned egg until it hatches." Wow... This country has a long way to go on the way for tolerance.
Everybody complaining about the headline using the wrong word is absolutely right, but missing the point.
These aren't people who don't want their own kids reading something they don't like. A parent has full power to deal with that at home.
These are people complaining that other people's kids are reading things they personally don't want them to. Note that just about every "library" in the USA is run by some arm of the government. So if the librariies in question were to act on any of these complaints, it most certianly would constitute government censorship, and thus these are all attempts to get the government to censor materials some person doesn't agree with other people having free access to.
Why would this book be challenged by somebody to be removed from a library. I have read this book recently. In it, the author goes undercover and works as non-skilled worker in various professions in different parts of united states (Key west, Maine and Minnesota). The book is about observations of various difficulties including renting, finding a job etc. Just does not make any sense.
I read "Nickel and Dimed" in undergrad. I found it insightful. I had no idea it was so hated and/or feared by any establishment. I think I'll read it again since it's still on my book shelf.
I love librarians-- the rebellious rabble-rouses!
I have decided to remove the tax code from my library.
These are lists of books that were most frequently the target of a complaint.
I would hope that a complaint does not automatically lead to censorship.
You know, the world is full of complainers. Some people have nothing better to do than to get outraged at books and lodge complaints with a library.
For the most part, these should go straight to the trash.
Anyone complaining about classic literature is a certified twit.
Looking at the list from 2003, I am surprised to see one "nonfiction" book: Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture, by Michael Bellesiles. That book got a lot of good press, but then became the only book ever to have a Bancroft Prize revoked after it turned out the author basically made the whole thing up. Most of the books make the list because religious groups want to get rid of books with sex, drugs, etc., but it looks like this book was opposed because it was factually incorrect, (and "scholarly dishonest" - Bellesiles had to leave Emory University after his book came under scrutiny). That the book was very much opposed to the gun lobby didn't help. I'll admit that I had a copy - but a little research quickly shows how worthless it is. I am normally not in favor of burning books, but that trash should never have been published as nonfiction.
Of course, nobody is mentioning Holocaust revisionists books, which are censored while authors are being harassed, sued, thrown in jail or even killed for their writings.
I just don't get why so many parent think it's a smart thing to shield their kids (and young adults) completely from the real world. The culture shock when they suddenly find themselves in the middle of it is so much greater, complete with greater potential of it overwhelming the kids to such a degree that they get seriously hurt (and even lead to suicide).
Okay, so some of the parents really are stupid but most should know better. Their kids doesn't become homosexual from reading about it, nor do they become racists from reading the Color Purple, Tom Sawyer or similar, or vampires/pagans from reading Twilight or similar. But they're "shielding" the kids, probably with the best of intentions, but unavoidably cause more harm than good. We - as a society - simply shouldn't let them censor what's available for the kids to read.
Perhaps the parents simply fear their kids becoming smarter than the parents on an intellectual level., perhaps even questioning some of the dogmas in the family and their views on the world. A generation of kids that are able to think for themselves and thus most likely questioning what the parents believe... Scary!
"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --
The ALA top 10 challenged book list is faked to promote the political interests of the ALA. For evidence, I recorded "banned" author #9 on the list essentially saying other books where challenged more than hers. See for yourself: http://safelibraries.blogspot.com/2011/09/banned-books-week-is-gay-promotion.html
Yes, words are dangerous, especially when its recorded that the ALA faked it annual challenged book list of 2010. I'll bet the other lists from previous years are similarly stacked.