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I am normally with the cynics but I have trouble believing that none of the commenters are unaware that some books are banned in schools, prisons and military bases, in America. This is not just a problem limited to foreign theocracies.
For those of you pretending to have trouble understanding 'banned' in this context, it means essentially the same thing as when someone gets 'canceled'. People who are canceled are not literally thrown in prison and executed.
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"libraries and educators to forgo specific books" is neither "banning" nor "censoring" In the name of literacy, we need to use words properly.
What would happen if a child brought those not-banned or not-censored books to a library/school where they have "forgo those specific books"? What would the reaction be? I feel like if they'd still let the person read the book by themselves, and freely share it with others, then indeed it's merely a curation choice. But, if I'd expect, they try to prevent this person from reading their own brought book or sharing it…
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It is censorship if those books are not included for a specific reason. “We aren’t including this book in the library because we don’t have space for every book.” “We aren’t including this book because we don’t think it’s appropriate for kids to learn about trans people.” <—- censorship
Since there are no libraries with space for every book (ever), then there is no censorship?
When people ban books because they don't want others to learn about trans people, they're usually pretty vocal about their motivations.
Lists of banned books are often quite disappointing, and I think they fall into a few categories: - Books that are simply bad books and in addition to being bad take an aggressive, political bent. (eg: the handmaid's tale) - Books that seem relatively anodyne, and it's not clear why they were banned. (eg: the perks of being a wallflower) - Books that governments might have feared in the old days, but are now much les…
“The Handmaid’s Tale is a bad book” is a wild take to start with. “I still think, even in these crazy, censorious times, that people who love banned books list are (intentionally or not) hearkening back to an older time when a centralized body could actually prevent access to information.” You don’t think a school library can prevent access to information? Poor people exist.
I just don't think you can prevent access to information the same way, though. There will be at least one smart phone in the house. There will be friends and relatives with smartphones, with computers, etc.
A poor person who lacks the resources to query on youtube for videos or wikipedia for research will also not be able to sit through a full-length novel.
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In the 1960s it may yet have been true (despite radio and shortwave) that if your local libraries and shops did not contain a book -- if your friends had never heard of its ideas -- that you would truly remain ignorant of some of the subversive ideas out there. Things just do not work that way these days. Ideas spread faster and farther than ever. You really cannot prevent the spread of information the same way.
At best, you can create a culture of censorship around certain information, which is what I believe modern book-banning does. My quibble here is that people seem to treat book-banning as if it's 1890, and the ideas are being killed due to lack of spread. In the modern world, book banning is symbolic and helps to identify ideas as subversive and unwanted -- but they are NOT out of reach.
Again, I do not support book banning whatsoever.
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> A quick check here in the States showed all of them available on Amazon for under $25 each. The term “banned books” has become a pop culture meme. In this context it doesn’t literally mean banned, it means the book wasn’t allowed somewhere. In extreme cases a government in a controlling country may have forbidden the book. However in a lot of cases the “banned books” were just not allowed in some school’s library f…
> In this context it doesn’t literally mean banned, it means the book wasn’t allowed somewhere. and what is a good word to use when something isn't allowed somewhere? perhaps... "banned"? i dont understand why people think something needs be unavailable globally to be considered "banned". there's a million examples of the word "banned" being used when X isn't allowed in Y context . people only get touchy about it whe…
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They are banned somewhere and the library is open in Portugal. If they were banned in Portugal it would run afoul of the legal system, and probably be closed down, obviously. But if the criteria of being in the library - that the book be banned somewhere in the world; that's a reason to visit the library in of itself. Though I think there's going to be a lot of garbage, one need only remember that Life of Brian (the…
Life of Brian is banned from public screening in parts of Germany on Good Friday. https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-23227452
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"libraries and educators to forgo specific books" is neither "banning" nor "censoring" In the name of literacy, we need to use words properly.
No, you need to understand that your specific narrow definition has not handed down by God, and is not more valid than others. US book banning has been a subject for so long now that you are tilling at windmills if you think you can deside what 10000s of people mean when they say banned. Is a specific institution or library are banned by their decision makers to have a book - that book is banned in that context. If y…
By that reasoning, all PG-13 and R rated movies are "banned" just because your elementary school library doesn't carry them. Absurd, huh?
"10000s of people" can create new definitions of words as they choose, just don't be surprised when educated people think they're fools.
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Actually the article title is shit clickbait because it IMPLIES those books are banned in Portugal. The museum is in Portugal. It is not specified where those books are banned.
> article title is shit clickbait because it IMPLIES those books are banned in Portugal People on this site have some really bizarre ideas about what constitutes "clickbait".