Banned Books: Moral superiority, or fear of ideas?
73It's dangerous. Check with your mom first.
We are nearing the end of Banned Books Week (September 26 – October 3). In honor of our censored brethren, let’s take a moment to reflect.
When I was ten years old, my mother went on a quest.
She drove to Alpena County Library every week to see if the book I so badly wanted to read was available. Week after week, it was not there. Checked out, not returned. I was giving up hope as only a ten-year-old can when finally she hit paydirt.
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How to Eat Fried Worms
Price: $2.47
List Price: $5.99 |
It was a day I won’t forget. With a triumphant smile, she handed me the book and said, “Fried worms. Eat ‘em!”
How To Eat Fried Worms was published in 1973 by Thomas Rockwell. During a conversation about how gross salmon casserole is, Billy bets his buddies $50 that he can eat fifteen worms in fifteen days. After getting sick from worm number five, Billy decides to get his parents involved. They take him to a doctor who assures them there is no harm in eating a worm.
And then they help him out with his bet.
It’s a disgusting, scary, and fun adventure. Billy learns how brave he is. He learns how important it is to keep his word. He also learns that when he needs them, his parents are right there for him.
What a great story for a ten-year-old! Oh, wait - no. Nope. Back up.
Eating worms is not normal behavior. And children betting? That’s gotta go.
Morally superior school boards throughout the U.S. banned this book during the 90’s. Claiming the story promoted anti-social behavior, and would expose impressionable children to the illicit underworld of gambling, they wiped my favorite book right off the shelves.
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Catch-22
Price: $3.99
List Price: $16.00 |
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Slaughterhouse-Five: A Novel
Price: $6.44
List Price: $15.00 |
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Gone with the Wind
Price: $10.90
List Price: $18.00 |
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The Call of the Wild (Aladdin Classics)
Price: $1.78
List Price: $4.99 |
I’ll bet you have read some of these dangerous and immoral Banned Books:
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
- Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
- Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
- The Call of the Wild by Jack London
These cornerstones of literature have all been given Outlaw Status at some point and place.
The ideas found in all of these books, and countless others, have so offended (or frightened) people of apparent authority that they have been removed from schools and libraries.
Maybe I only find this shameful because I’ve read these books; I mean, maybe my mind has just simply been perverted by the poisonous ideas created by these mind-criminals.
Are my morals and common sense forever damaged because I read Alice in Wonderland? Hmm...
This is what happens when censorship goes out of control
- CENSORSHIP IN THE USA
To further explore censorship in America, please visit my friend and fellow Hubber, Quilligrapher.
Show your Outlaw Pride!
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I Read Banned Books! Sweatshirt Medium White
Price: $21.95
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I Read Banned Books Bracelet_teen Titles
Price: $15.00
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I Read Banned Books Bracelet_ adult titles
Price: $22.00
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I Read Banned Books! Mug
Price: $9.99
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Here is the nifty thing about Freedom of the Press: there is no clause that requires people to read things they don’t want to.
Everyone is free to accept or reject ideas they are exposed to.
That can’t happen though, if the ideas are not allowed to be shared.
To commemorate Banned Books Week, let’s all read one.
The list we can choose from is outrageously long.
(Mom: rest easy. I'm still not betting on worm eating. It’s too hard to figure out the over/under anyway.)
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Comments
I felt a little naive myself when I saw the how long this list is. I expected the standard Mein Kampf... All I can say is WTF. (What's The Fuss - and the other standard meaning too)
Thanks for your input :-)
Jen
Great post. I love the tone and attacking nature of the prose. Way to go. "The Sun Also Rises?" With the sort of commercials for male enhancement and this Viagra movement, it is no surprise the parents wanted to hide impotency. The prior generation probably wanted to save all these old men from future embarrassment, should of listened.
Wow! I never realized that the "fried worms" book was banned! How asinine. Glad I got to read it :)
Excellent hub, Jen. Excellent rallying call for all writers!
I didn't know that books were being banned either! I knew OJ's book was boycotted, and if anything should've been banned...I digress.
Where can I find this list of banned books? I'm totally intrigued! Great hub!
I picked the titles from a list I found at aclu.org. From the research I did, it seems HTEFW has for the most part been un-banned. I saw quite a few lesson plans available for teachers to use.
There are books about "banned books" with deeper explanations about why & where they were banned. I didn't put any of them from Amazon in this hub - maybe I should have - but I saw several titles.
I laughed when this mom tried to ban "Fahrenheit 451". Terrible irony!
The Grapes of Wrath? A Color Purple? In the 90s?...sounds about right. That's when the Right Wing Conservative thought police started wrapping themselves in the flag, thumping bibles, and burning books.
Alex - hilarious! Thanks for stopping by.
Friendly: I read HTEFW in the 80's, before the grown-ups decided I was too impressionable to understand the concept of FICTION. Compare childhood in the 90's, and even today, with childhood as written in Stand By Me, or It from Stephen King. Or mine :-) Guess which one I think is better...
When you can learn a lesson from a book, you won't need to learn that lesson in life-at your own expense.
I think the Though Police are less interested in Control than they are interested Being Superior.
Thanks for your comment!
I read six of those banned books ...hope I;m not labelled as bad for society, lol. Great article! :)
Society thanks you, Dame. We need more rogue readers.
:-)
I am 'book worm' in a sense that I read anything that I can hold of /books, magazines, leaflets../ and I have read some of your 'banned books' already and I promise to read more.
I grew up in Communist country where everything from west was banned because of ideological reasons. It was not only banned, we just could not get hold of it. Migrating to western world and learning English /at least to some level/ opened the world of literature for me. But I realized just like you that 'western world' started to be overprotective,
/there are signs everywhere just in case you decide to fall and sue your council for it/
/movies, music and literature are labeled and banned if any explicit or 'dangerous' material is there which could 'mentally unstable' us/
We are sacrificing our own democracy and freedom just because we are overprotective...
It's a little disturbing that the people who are our leaders are so paranoid and think they know what we can handle and can't. Actually, writing a controversial book is the best advertising! I don't think The Da Vinci Code would have done as well if the Christian community hadn't rasied such a fuss. But book banning is just a little too Nazi for me. Let parents decided what their children can handle. Great hub, thanks!
I myself read the Da Vinci Code because of the fuss - and the publicity that the fuss created. We actually found a hidden code in the dust jacket! Very cool. If you have a copy of the hard cover, I'll give you a clue ;-)
You're right about the advertising. It occurred to me as I was writing out the list of books that the authors would be smiling. Even if they don't understand what back-links are.
By the way, fellow Michigander: Do you ever hear "Da Vinci Code" without thinking "Da Yoopers"? Dey live in Da UP, y'know! I'm a life-long troll myself, having grown up under the bridge. People in Detroit sometimes tell me they think I'm Canadian when I talk. Go figure.
I am not keen on book banning, but the bible and quoran need a classification of fiction. :)
Hello earnest my friend.
The two books you mention are indeed based on fiction. Each does contain valuable philosophy, but they both have been perverted far beyond what that positive value could ever be.
These two books also contain enough contradiction within their own content to leave a non-believer wondering how they could be so significant in our culture.
Regardless, I agree whole heartedly. Never ban. Although I doubt the official re-classification will happen for us any time soon. :-)
Peace
Jen
Hey Jen, I stopped by to read one of your hubs and I selected this, and I like it. I voted it up too.(lol)
Thank you for sharing. I appreciate it.
Why, thank you.
I think the new video adds depth of censorship, yes?
There is a link to my friend Q's related hub.
Harry Potter I believe is banned by some clergymen and women for that matter banning books is bogus, the more you read, the more you need! and a banned book is 1 less book to read it reminds me of that ayn rand book...what is the name of it again!! ANTHEM thats the name! Have you read her stuff? she is also a fellow athiest..
Hmm... actually I haven't read Ayn Rand yet, although I have a copy of Atlas Shrugged that I'm getting ready to read.
I'm like the Netflix of books. I have several in the cue...
Thanks :-)
lmmartin says:
2 months ago
Call me an innocent, but I had no idea books were still being banned. Are they? We must be a populace of tender children indeed, if we need to be protected from this list of subversive, demoralizing titles. Great hub.