Book banning

Book Banning has existed in America since colonial times, when legislatures and royal governors enacted laws against blasphemy and seditious libel. Legislatures in the early American republic passed laws against obscenity. Though freedom of the press has grown significantly over the course of the twentieth century, book banning and related forms of censorship have persisted due to cyclical concerns about affronts to cultural, political, moral, and religious belief. Drugs, sex, and profanity are daily topics for today’s society. Students around the world are faced with all these topics everyday. Why ban books that could help students understand more of the situations that they will have to deal with in life. Sometimes it is hard to talk to parents, so books are an outlet for some teens in the nation. Banning this type of text is unethical, but yet still happening. A good example of this type of text is Ask Alice, a girl’s diary that was released as a book. In this book she discusses her struggles with drugs and sex. Although she shared her story as a cry for help, she eventually died from a drug overdose. This book would help teens think twice about their actions and life, but yet they can never experience it because it is banned for its’ sexual and drug abuse context. One of the most challenging books of the twenty-first century is the Harry Potter series. J. K. Rowling, author of Harry Potter, started the series in 2000. Harry Potter is a book series about seven years of a young wizard’s life. This book is detested because of the witchcraft and adventure. These books have sold million of copies world wide. Not only is it a New-York Best Seller, there are even essay contests on how Harry Potter Books have changed peoples’ lives. Tyler Walton wrote that the series helped him through his leukemia treatments. Another contest named Ashley, wrote that the series helped her cope with the constant change of different foster cares. She believed that her and Harry Potter have a lot of copy, such as they both have horrible scars to remind them of their past. Something that is so inspirational, why is it so frequently challenged? Macbeth, written in the eighteenth century is taught nation wide. Shakespeare, the author, wrote of a man that was told prophecies and acted on them through a wide variety adventures, including in his death. This story is yet not as inspirational as the Harry Potter series and almost impossible to read without side notes. These two tolerably stories are the same in context, but yet one is banned and one is taught nation wide as an example of great literature. In I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing, Maya Angelou talks about her life experiences as a young black woman in the south during the 1930’s. She struggles through her life with racism and other tribulations. This book has been frequently challenged for the over the years. It, The Lost Boy, and A Man Named Dave, written by Dave Pelzer, is a series written to describe the long time abuse of his childhood that started when he was a child. Now to the dismay to certain beliefs both stories would be relatively good to be taught in a classroom setting. The only problem one is banned for the racism context. So why is child abuse an approachable subject, but racism isn’t? So why ban books. What are people trying to prove by taking something away from students that they could actually learn from? Authors spend a lot of time and effort in trying to catch the eye of a young reader, and when they do, it either has drugs, sex, witchcraft, or something thing that doesn’t appeal to the aspect of what society wants people to learns. No matter what, people to know what is real in the world. Racism, sex, drugs, and death are all things and events that we will have to deal with in our life once in a while. Banning books has become somewhat of a double standard. What is next, banning mythology and medieval literature? Just because society doesn’t like the truth of the nation, doesn’t mean that teens, children, or even adults should have to experience book banning. There is no way to stop banning books. If there is something a person doesn’t appreciate because of the reality they are going to fight as hard as the can to get it banned. Banning books has lasted this long, nothing is going to make book banning go away.