Banning books is absolutely nonsense. The written word has been around for thousands of years and have recorded our history, kept us entertained, and are used to teach students in schools. These ideas made up by some of the most intelligent writers are now being deprived from readers all over the United States. A free society made up of numerous cultures and ideas is being sheltered from each other due to the offensiveness towards certain individuals. Entertainment in books is also hidden from citizens because a minority is either the main character or the writer, and generally hated because they are different, thus keeping their work masked and undiscovered. Banning books also keep people unaware of some important information, and reserve their precious history.
One of the major problems with today’s nation is people get too offended by material expressed in books. There are textbooks such as “Earth Science” by Edward J. Tarbuck that are banned because of the teaching of the theory of evolution. Christians believed that the book contradicted their religion and basically said that god did not create life. Yet, the book does not say anywhere that god does not exist nor does it say that evolution is fact but a theory, with some evidence to support it. Other religions do exist and some people just don’t believe in god so why shouldn’t they be able to learn science as a theory? "Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it." - Mark Twain, that is exactly what these people are doing, letting the baby keep the man from eating his steak; or in other words keeping people from reading what they want.
Another issue regarding the banning of books is the voice of the minority. It seems as though the below the surface reason for getting rid of an authors art is simply because it has another side that people wont accept. A gay character such as Stephan Jones in the story “The drowning of Stephan Jones” by Bette Greene, consists of a gay couple Stephan Jones and Frank Montgomery. The hatred that a group of kids have towards them directly results in Stephan’s death, and an excuse for the banning of the book. Other books such as “I know why the caged bird sings” by Maya Angelou, are also restricted because this author is a black woman and is gaining a significant role in the African-American, woman community, something the “Man” wants to keep in the dark.
Who ever knew of Andersonville? You know that concentration camp in Richmond, Virginia, that was much like the ones in Germany? Well, in the civil war, the confederate alliance established this camp that was originally Fort Sumter where thousands of Union soldiers died from horrible conditions, diseases, and the obvious lack of food and supplies. This book is probably not mentioned very much in history class rooms for the clear reason that America wants to push that into a small closet and just shush about the whole event that took place on its precious soil.
America has a fallacy that is yet to be destroyed and that is that “All men are created equal”. Novels written to educate the students, are taken away because one group who does not represent the “We” clan don’t like the way it has evolution in it and some sense dismiss the intelligent design theory, that not everyone believes in anyway. The different, or less popular subjects are also the cause of banning books whether segregation is over and blacks are still knocked down, or homosexuals trying to gain rights, and still face hatred. Hidden aspects of the United States history, is hushed to preserve the image of such a great nation. When is equality going to actually be reached? And not just in books, but for everywhere?
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