Readers worldwide have been shocked by a strange epidemic: Banning Books. If you are a reader or author, you should be concerned as well and even those who aren’t have reason to worry.
Those who ban books try villainizing the books they try to destroy. According to ineducationonline.org, people commonly list reasons such as offensive content, political ideologies, and religious objections. Sexually explicit material is another prevalent reason for the banning of several books. You may be wondering why you should care about the banning of these books, and maybe you even agree with this practice. However, it is important to consider the founding of this nation and how the banning of books goes against the very principles it was built on. The First Amendment protects freedom of speech, and banning books harms this fundamental American right.
Some books can be argued against for harmful ideologies, but we can not discriminate against certain books with that argument. This would just give more room for people to argue against more and more books until, eventually, we are back in the Middle Ages when the Catholic Church was banning any and all books for heresy. Books that are now commonly accepted as facts, such as the Heliocentric model (with some minor differences), were considered to be blasphemy against the church and could get the author executed. We don’t want to return to such dark times as a nation.
The legality behind banning books is covered with court officials telling public officials at all levels that they can take ‘community standards’ into account when deciding whether or not a book is of sensitive material. This information comes from firstamendment.mtsu.edu, and they go further into depth about this topic. This ruling is highly subjective and could change on a whim. This is not a good way to decide something so important; it is never good to leave your freedom in the hands of those who may not have your best interest at heart.
Media literacy and critical thinking have been taught throughout a person’s educational journey. As such, people should be able to read something controversial and come away with a better understanding of the topic or discount it altogether instead of being influenced negatively. You should be able to read about differing perspectives and have it add to your own knowledge, not drag down your ideals. Senior Rena Kerndl thinks that books should never be banned, no matter what. They say that if needed, media can be restricted for younger audiences, but it should never be completely eliminated.
Books are an important part of society and allow humanity to keep track of how the world has changed. There are a countless number of books that have been used for the betterment of society. Banning books is never a good route to take because we never know how far it will go.
