5 ms·

A distinction should be made between banned books that were actually censored by governments, and "banned books" that merely featured in pathetic political quar

A distinction should be made between banned books that were actually censored by governments, and "banned books" that merely featured in pathetic political quarrels at American middle schools and whose "banning" consisted of a school board of boomers removing them from the school library

kiba 5y ago
Schools are part of the government.
- wizard-beta 5y ago
  So? If the extent of the "ban" is discontinue of availability at a middle school by the authority of a local government or citizen school board in Oklahoma or some such place, it is still a very feeble form of censorship that I don't find interesting at all - just as I'm not interested in what books are or aren't available at the premises of any other local Oklahoma government department building. Anyone can just buy these supposedly banned books themselves if they want to read it. It's not comparable to books that are actually banned.
  - Miner49er 5y ago
    These bans probably mostly effect kids, who are probably the least likely people to be able to buy the books themselves.
Amezarak 5y ago
Yes, the annual banned books list is essentially a list of books favored by the averaged ideology of education majors, librarians, and journalists. There is never anything actually suppressed or controversial on the list. I'm not even arguing that truly censored books do have intrinsic merit, but the banned books list is just a list of books certain people want you to think are edgy and that you should read to advance their ideology. It's marketing. Amazon and other bookstores are actually banning books, often in collaboration with government funded NGOs. 95% of these books are actual trash fires, sure, but those are banned books. On top of that, public libraries are performing slow, partly ideological purges of existing collections - there's probably more books being permanently destroyed/lost today than in the history of mankind.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- kiba 5y ago
  These listed books are nonetheless targeted. Yes, they are basically books people want to read, but busybodies complain about these books, not the garbage fire of books that nobody will ever bother reading.
  - Amezarak 5y ago
    There are plenty of busybodies running the school libraries ensuring books people would read never get bought and purging collections of books now deemed heretical. There are plenty of busybodies lobbying bookstores to stop selling books. These books don't, or rarely, make banned book lists. It's done quietly out and out of the public view. The books that get shilled as 'banned books' are all largely (not wholly) books agreeable to a particular class of people. For example, a very popular children's author who passed away some time ago is completely banned from my library system for ideological reasons.
    - mcphage 5y ago
      > For example, a very popular children's author who passed away some time ago is completely banned from my library system for ideological reasons. Which author, and which library system?
    - camjohnson26 5y ago
      Yeah seems like this should have made the list. https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2021/03/04/dr-seuss-books-sales-spike-after-some-banned-racist-imagery/6917679002/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2021/03/0...
colpabar 5y ago
It's funny that the latter description is probably just as accurate for the people who banned To Kill a Mockingbird as it is for the people who banned Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, given that the two groups are probably diametrically opposed to each other politically. Both groups seem to have a problem with depictions of racism.

kiba 5y ago

Schools are part of the government.

wizard-beta 5y ago
So? If the extent of the "ban" is discontinue of availability at a middle school by the authority of a local government or citizen school board in Oklahoma or some such place, it is still a very feeble form of censorship that I don't find interesting at all - just as I'm not interested in what books are or aren't available at the premises of any other local Oklahoma government department building. Anyone can just buy these supposedly banned books themselves if they want to read it. It's not comparable to books that are actually banned.
- Miner49er 5y ago
  These bans probably mostly effect kids, who are probably the least likely people to be able to buy the books themselves.

Amezarak 5y ago

Yes, the annual banned books list is essentially a list of books favored by the averaged ideology of education majors, librarians, and journalists. There is never anything actually suppressed or controversial on the list. I'm not even arguing that truly censored books do have intrinsic merit, but the banned books list is just a list of books certain people want you to think are edgy and that you should read to advance their ideology. It's marketing. Amazon and other bookstores are actually banning books, often in collaboration with government funded NGOs. 95% of these books are actual trash fires, sure, but those are banned books. On top of that, public libraries are performing slow, partly ideological purges of existing collections - there's probably more books being permanently destroyed/lost today than in the history of mankind.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
kiba 5y ago
These listed books are nonetheless targeted. Yes, they are basically books people want to read, but busybodies complain about these books, not the garbage fire of books that nobody will ever bother reading.
- Amezarak 5y ago
  There are plenty of busybodies running the school libraries ensuring books people would read never get bought and purging collections of books now deemed heretical. There are plenty of busybodies lobbying bookstores to stop selling books. These books don't, or rarely, make banned book lists. It's done quietly out and out of the public view. The books that get shilled as 'banned books' are all largely (not wholly) books agreeable to a particular class of people. For example, a very popular children's author who passed away some time ago is completely banned from my library system for ideological reasons.
  - mcphage 5y ago
    > For example, a very popular children's author who passed away some time ago is completely banned from my library system for ideological reasons. Which author, and which library system?
  - camjohnson26 5y ago
    Yeah seems like this should have made the list. https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2021/03/04/dr-seuss-books-sales-spike-after-some-banned-racist-imagery/6917679002/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2021/03/0...

colpabar 5y ago

It's funny that the latter description is probably just as accurate for the people who banned To Kill a Mockingbird as it is for the people who banned Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, given that the two groups are probably diametrically opposed to each other politically. Both groups seem to have a problem with depictions of racism.