# What is the opposite of book-banning? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 24, 2024, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160 "2024-08-24T21:32:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/21 "2024-08-26T13:37:10Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > No actual librarian is going to put actual pornography on a school library shelf. Other than that one section of the Bible that talks about donkey penises or whatever, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/22 "2024-08-26T13:38:59Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Other than that one section of the Bible that talks about donkey penises “That’s not _pornography_ that’s _erotica_.” \*Erotica: noun; Pornography that I’m willing to admit I like ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/23 "2024-08-26T13:46:01Z")
Haha! Like that Grey book. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/24 "2024-08-26T13:47:13Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > \*Erotica: noun; Pornography that I’m willing to admit I like Don’t remember the source: > [@](#): > > The difference between erotica and pornography is lighting. ---
**Author:** ![SailorHG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@SailorHG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SailorHG)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/25 "2024-08-26T13:48:25Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The opposite of book banning would be _forcing_ everyone to read a specific book or set of books. The conservatives have that end of the spectrum covered, too: trying to force the bible into all schools and classrooms and requiring it to be used in class curricula. I heard Oklahoma and Louisiana are dealing with that right now? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/26 "2024-08-26T13:57:33Z")
Oh, interesting point! Yes, that seems like the opposite of book banning, contrary to anything that’s in the first post of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/27 "2024-08-26T14:02:18Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > But…if the government is buying the books. Paying the school librarian. Funding the school, they have the last call. What is ‘the government’ here? School funds are, in places I’m familiar with anyway, very local. Typically paid for by local property taxes, and administered by the local school board. It is one reason why radical right wing attacks on school libraries are so effective. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/28 "2024-08-26T14:50:41Z")
I believe you cannot download. That would have you in possession of banned material, and Minecraft guilty of providing it! You just go to the library and read the material. So the material is never ‘in’ NKorea, nor ever in your possession! Important details! Since it’s not physically in any location, nothing is legally actionable, whatever your physical location, i believe. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/29 "2024-08-26T14:55:23Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Since it’s not physically in any location, nothing is legally actionable, whatever your physical location, i believe. That sounds like the kind of legal reasoning a Sovereign Citizen uses just before they get sent to jail. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/30 "2024-08-26T17:12:01Z")
Haha! You’re kinda right! Sorry, it’s only a reflection of how few of the details I actually know about this. Even less the correct lingo for the arrangement. Mostly I know it exists, I don’t Minecraft. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/31 "2024-08-26T17:20:46Z")
I believe an adult should be allowed to write any book they wish\*, another adult should be allowed to publish and sell it, and other adults should be allowed to read it. Any restrictions of what children read should be made by their parents. The parents may delegate that decision making to other people but only for their own children. \*I’d be willing to accept a few exceptions like private personal information and maybe some instructions for carrying out criminal acts. But these exceptions should be as narrow as possible. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/32 "2024-08-26T17:47:01Z")
There are some interesting replies in this thread. I’m looking forward to @HeyHomie’s take. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/33 "2024-08-26T18:40:41Z")
Here is the [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Uncensored_Library) article on it Its run by [reporters without borders](https://www.uncensoredlibrary.com/en/v/about-the-library). Its not directed at the sort of censorship we have in America but instead at political censorship that might land you in prison. You can move your avatar into a library which is sorted by country and interact with books that have the banned material transcribed, to read them. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/34 "2024-08-26T20:02:34Z")
> [@MulderMuffin](#): > > I haven’t ever heard of this. That’s pretty cool. What’s the mechanism for reading them? Right there in the game, or can they be downloaded? That would have serious copyright issues. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/35 "2024-08-26T20:31:18Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > I believe you cannot download. That would have you in possession of banned material, and Minecraft guilty of providing it! You certainly DO download the map, and the books (sort of). The map is the Uncensored Library map, it’s a big library you walk around in. There are books (Minecraft has notes you can read, these notes just contain entire forbidden books). So you have to either download the map and start a game on it, or join a server that’s hosting the map (in which case you’re still downloading the map file). ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/36 "2024-08-26T23:04:28Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > There are some interesting replies in this thread. I’m looking forward to @HeyHomie’s take. Well, the response has been largely what I expected – which is that we (viz, society) should trust the people who are trained, academically and professionally, in putting out books for public consumption. And the responses here have reinforced what I already believed - that it’s up to the parents to police what _their_ children read (not what other peoples’ children read). Or did you mean something else? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2024, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/37 "2024-08-27T00:58:06Z")
No, I just learned a lot from this thread, including some ideas about what the opposite would be and I was wondering what you thought. Seems like we’re on the same page. ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2024, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/38 "2024-08-27T01:10:46Z")
Neighbor’s son is a high school senior who has basically ignored me til now - he just approached me [semi-retired carpenter] for advice/assistance building some Little Free Libraries. Since I was allowed & encouraged to read anything I could get my hands on pretty much from when I started walking, and have a few hundred boxes of books in storage, I think we have some fun adventures ahead. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2024, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/39 "2024-08-27T01:52:05Z")
That’s pretty funny, if I say so myself. Probably not the only time someone’s done that. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2024, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160/40 "2024-08-27T01:59:55Z")
In the early '10s, when I started my book resale business, I found a copy of “The Turner Diaries” at a thrift store in a nearby small town. Because that store supported (and still does) a nondenominational Christian school, most likely whoever put that book out on the shelf had no idea what it was. I decided to try reading it, and completely lost interest a few pages in. I sold it for $7, shipping included, not long afterwards. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-opposite-of-book-banning/1006160.md?page=3)