Banned Books and Censorship

For every controversial book written, there seems to be someone determined to censor it. Whether it is because the book contains profanity, sexual explicitness, or even material considered to be too radical, many people seem to believe that banning books is the best way to protect the world from material deemed inappropriate to them.

Of books that have been banned recently, I found that many are books that display positive themes on homosexuality. This past week, it was revealed that Amazon had apparently been censoring books such as Annie Proulx’s “Brokeback Mountain”, and other novels containing homosexual material (The Associated Press, 2009). Amazon claims that this was simply a glitch in the system and not an act to censor such books (The Associated Press, 2009). Many people are skeptical, however, because this alleged glitch only affected novels containing homosexual material, labeling them as “erotic” (The Associated Press, 2009).

This censorship of gay themed books has been commonly seen for many years. In 2006, a book entitled “King & King” was banned in a Massachusetts school, because parents were outraged at the advancement of the “gay agenda” it presented (Doyle, 2008). The excuse parents gave as to why this book should be banned, was, "Let kids be kids…  and not worry about homosexuality, race, or religion. Just let them live freely as kids (Doyle, 2008)." Unless being a kid entails not being introduced to important life issues or acknowledging diversity, these parents are only sheltering their children from the real world.

What is truly shocking is that many “controversial” books are being banned before even being read. For instance, Sarah Palin removed the children’s book “Daddy’s Roommate” from a local library, because its depiction of a normal, loving family with two fathers went against her moral beliefs (Kranich, 2008). Palin did not even read the book to form her opinion, but ignorantly assumed it was inappropriate (Kranich, 2008). Many people against the banning of books have argued that controversial topics are a part of life, and one cannot rid the world of such things based on their own opinions simply by banning reading material. 

This is supposedly a free country, and if a person is so desperately against the subject matter presented in certain books, perhaps they should simply leave those books closed on the shelf and stop forcing their beliefs on the rest of society.