# "I read banned books!" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 15, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864 "2008-11-15T14:52:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/41 "2008-11-16T00:43:30Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I’ve actually seen it on the shelves here in recent years. Either they quietly unbanned it or, more likely, everyone forgot about the ban after a few years once the fuss died down. Sales in the U.S. increased pretty significantly after the fatwa was issued–as is typical when books are banned or challenged. The fatwa was lifted after about 10 years and Rushdie was able to come out of hiding. You can get the book almost anywhere these days except the most hard-core Muslim communities. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/42 "2008-11-16T00:48:19Z")
[http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/banned-books.html](http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/banned-books.html) Knock yourselves out! \ ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/43 "2008-11-16T02:43:54Z")
Wow, anal much, **Zsofia**? I think “challenged” would be a little hard to fit on a button, no? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/44 "2008-11-16T02:46:07Z")
Do editions of the Bible in living languages qualify as ‘banned’? They were strenuously suppressed in various parts of Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance as part of the Catholic Church’s campaign against Protestantism and other heresies of the era. These days the Holy Church itself uses them and even conducts mass in the languages of the laity. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/45 "2008-11-16T03:47:11Z")
I read Kitty Kelley’s _The Royals_ in the UK when it was banned there. So **I’ve** read a banned book! Ha! ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/46 "2008-11-16T03:56:07Z")
The way I see it, someone who abuses a pronoun into a particularly grating endearment has little call to criticize others word usage. I mean, really. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/47 "2008-11-16T04:07:49Z")
Since I live in the so-called Bible Belt, I wouldn’t mind a button that says, **I make it a point to read banned books.** That is a way of letting those who would challenge books know that such action just draws attention to the book itself. It’s a way of protesting censorship. Are there many books that the US government is currently banning – other than ones on how to make nuclear weapons, etc.? I wasn’t allowed to teach _Huckleberry Finn_ when I taught English in Nashville (1969-89). Actually, I _could_ teach it, but if an offended parent took me to court, I would not have the support of the Board of Education (or something like that). It’s been a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/48 "2008-11-16T04:20:09Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > Are there many books that the US government is currently banning – other than ones on how to make nuclear weapons, etc.? Very little about how to make nuclear weapons is actually banned. The controls in place are all about making sure details about specific weapons aren’t leaked and, of course, specific information about how to get nuclear materials (passcodes, locations of classified areas, and so on). ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/49 "2008-11-16T04:41:29Z")
> [@CaerieD](#): > > Oh, fine, **garygnu**. Just go ahead and make a concise and perfectly logical point there, why don’t you? 😉 Sorry, I forgot what fucking forum this goddamned thread was in. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/50 "2008-11-16T17:45:39Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > Are there many books that the US government is currently banning – other than ones on how to make nuclear weapons, etc.? I don’t know of any books the U.S. Government is banning. Unless they can classify it as a direct threat to national security, I don’t think the First Amendment would even allow that. “Banned” books in the U.S. are banned by state and municipal governments and boards (e.g., library board, school board). ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/51 "2008-11-16T19:58:21Z")
> [@Q.E.D](#): > > The way I see it, someone who abuses a pronoun into a particularly grating endearment has little call to criticize others word usage. I mean, really. I LOVE that that pisses you off. It makes me smile just like reading “It’s Perfectly Normal” or “In The Night Kitchen.” It’s just my thinking that it can be counterproductive for organizations like the ALA to oversimplify the issue and just yelled “banned books!” They could be doing a lot more good by talking about the real problems of nosy narrow-minded book challengers AND serious actual restrictions on other people’s intellectual freedom. You can feel all good about yourself and your book about the gay penguins - fine. But don’t forget that people in China can’t read a web page about them. I think the big issues get lost in the feel-good holiday and that it mostly just creates a sense of smug faux-activism instead of the real thing. Now I have to go back to saving ACTUAL BOOKS from the library flood. You know, real ones. That I defend your right to read every damned day, thanks so much. I had to Explain Policy with a patron about ads in the Village Voice just last week, so trust me, I know what a book challenge is. Fucker ripped out the ad and took it home with him so his son and other children would be “protected” from it. That isn’t banning a book; that’s petty vandalism and we will not have it. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/52 "2008-11-16T23:03:12Z")
**Harriet the Spry** pretty much nailed it. I think the OP is missing the point of the “I read banned books” slogan. It isn’t meant to be taken as “I have bravely risked imprisonment to read books outlawed by my own government”, but rather “Just because a book is controversial doesn’t mean it isn’t worth reading. You might be surprised at how many great books have been banned or challenged!” That’s also the reason for circulating lists of frequently challenged books. It’s not so people can feel all special for having read them, it’s so everyone can see that books with obvious literary merit can be the target of censorship. Incidentally, the ALA is not solely responsible for Banned Books Week, it works in cooperation with several other organizations. The ALA addresses why the term “banned” rather than “challenged” is used on its [Banned Books Week Basics](http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/bannedbooksweek/backgroundb/background.cfm) website, but I’ll quote the relevant portion: > [@ALA](#): > > Each year, the American Library Association (ALA) is asked why the week is called “Banned Books Week” instead of “Challenged Books Week,” since the majority of the books featured during the week are not banned, but “merely” challenged. There are two reasons. One, ALA does not “own” the name Banned Books Week, but is just one of several cosponsors of BBW; therefore, ALA cannot change the name without all the cosponsors agreeing to a change. Two, none want to do so, primarily because a challenge is an attempt to ban or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A successful challenge would result in materials being banned or restricted. (The same page also explains the difference between banning and challenging.) > [@Zsofia](#): > > It’s just my thinking that it can be counterproductive for organizations like the ALA to oversimplify the issue and just yelled “banned books!” They could be doing a lot more good by talking about the real problems of nosy narrow-minded book challengers AND serious actual restrictions on other people’s intellectual freedom. They already do the former, and the latter is really outside the scope of the American Library Association. The ALA doesn’t have any influence over the policies of foreign governments. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/53 "2008-11-17T00:30:58Z")
I have Mein Kampf right there on my bookshelf, which would cost me a sentence jut a few hundred kilometres south. I have browsed randomly but can’t say I have read much since it comes off as a rambling mess, but if someone could point me highlights I’d be right on it. Perhaps there is a t-shirt or button for us who have merely browsed lazily in banned books? Funny how the stupid Germans think banning books is the correct response to Nazi book bonfires. And the stupid Germans want to extend their idiotic ban out all over the EU. Screw them up the ass with a Russian made Kalashnikov. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/54 "2008-11-17T04:42:09Z")
Does it count if I read a book containing excerpts from books that Canada Customs prohibited from entering the country? (_Forbidden Passages_, ed. by Patrick Califia.) ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/55 "2008-11-17T07:12:09Z")
(Hey, even I get the urge to ban Califia sometimes.) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/56 "2008-11-17T14:21:30Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > They already do the former, and the latter is really outside the scope of the American Library Association. The ALA doesn’t have any influence over the policies of foreign governments. The ALA sticks its nose where it has no business all the time. I’m really glad that they’re using my membership dues to draft statements against the use of torture, for example. People complain about their stance on Cuba’s librarians (and whether they’re librarians or not) but that’s about libraries and information freedom, regardless of whether you agree with it or not. If the ALA wanted to, say, spend some time and effort and money urging that we impose trade sanctions on China unless and until they clean up their human rights shit, they could certainly do that. If they wanted to partner with Amnesty International and roll out a program as widely publicized as Banned Books Week about information freedom around the world, they could do that. It probably wouldn’t do so hot, though, because unlike sashaying your way down to Borders to pick up a Judy Blume book, it might be kind of a downer and it might upset people. Just my opinion. You don’t have to agree with it. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/57 "2008-11-17T15:17:16Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > IPerhaps there is a t-shirt or button for us who have merely browsed lazily in banned books? I’ll see if I can work up some “I do my best to read and/or browse lazily through books that have been banned or challenged somewhere at sometime…” Oh, screw it. How about some “Censorship sucks” buttons? > [@Zsofia](#): > > The ALA sticks its nose where it has no business all the time. I’m really glad that they’re using my membership dues to draft statements against the use of torture, for example. For the most part, we seem to agree on things, **Zsofia**. For example, I’m quite against the use of torture. I’m an ABA (American Booksellers Association) member rather than an ALA member, but our goals are often the same, and I support our local library whenever I can. What I don’t like, however, is for organizations to lose their focus. Why should the ALA or ABA be expending efforts on human rights unrelated to books–or outside the U.S.? There are other organizations that deal with those issues. If the ABA were to lobby for U.S. legislation imposing trade sanctions against China until they start honoring copyrights, I’d be all for it. That has to do with books. It makes sense. Amnesty International is much better at dealing with human rights than the ALA. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/58 "2008-11-17T15:41:19Z")
I meant “human rights” in the “freedom to read” sense, which would be appropriate for ALA’s scope. I am very relieved that the American Library Association has sworn not to torture me, though. I sleep better at night knowing that. ---
**Author:** ![lalenin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@lalenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lalenin)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/59 "2008-11-17T15:59:28Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I meant “human rights” in the “freedom to read” sense, which would be appropriate for ALA’s scope. > > I am very relieved that the American Library Association has sworn not to torture me, though. I sleep better at night knowing that. A banned book, “La Nada Cotidiana” by Zoe Valdes, changed my life. It’s an account of life in Cuba during the special period, and as I read the book I realized that I was not the only one who felt like I did, that the Cuban Revolution was an abject failure and a betrayal. I read the entire book in a couple of hours, then copied it long-hand and returned it to the friend who had loaned it to me. It was not the first banned book I had read, in Cuba just about everything you can read has been banned, but it was the one book that changed the way the world looked. I read my hand written copy many times, and added my own stories that mirrored Zoe’s experiences. When I decided to leave Cuba I burned those pages, but “La Nada Cotidiana” was the first book I bought in Canada. On a related note, the ALA are a bunch of assholes. For years they have refused to condemn the treatment of independent librarians in Cuba, who are routinely imprisoned for the mere act of lending books. This article provides more detail: [http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6301300.html](http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6301300.html) ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864/60 "2008-11-17T18:04:45Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I am very relieved that the American Library Association has sworn not to torture me, though. I sleep better at night knowing that. Excellent point. If you’ll pardon me, I’m going to run off and see if I can get our local Chamber of Commerce to implement a similar resolution. I worry about those dudes sometimes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-read-banned-books/472864.md?page=2)