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Today, freedom of expression is guarded pretty fiercely. Yet over the years, books have been challenged or banned for their content. In fact, up till last year the Guardian UK newspaper stated that book banning is on the rise.

 

One may think that this means we are really fooling ourselves by thinking we have the freedom to express ourselves. It can even mean that in today’s modern society, although we have evolved in many ways, we are still very conservative and not yet ready mentally to have our beliefs and norms challenged. In a society where topics such as homosexual rights can no longer be swept under the carpet and the youth are very sexually aware, books addressing issues such as LGBT and race are still being forced into censorship. Some books are even being forced off the shelves for being ‘anti-Christian’.

 

 

I have a confession to make. I'm a GIANT book addict. I binge read all kinds of books so much it should be a crime. I don't discriminate or censor. I'm also a fan of reading banned books; reason being I want to know why they were thrown into the banned category and also because I'm a badass *puts on shades*.  That's why I decided to collaborate with Christine Dalkan, a fellow blogger, at Lil Bookish to do a guest post on banned books and why they're banned. Below is her guest post:

What is very clear is that we are still very comfortable in our traditions that we have adopted from our parents, community, religion and race. Society may seem quite evolved from yester-year and maybe it is in some ways, but there are some things that people seem to guard more fiercely than freedom of expression. And that is – whatever you have believed to be true all your life. 

 

Although the Agenda-setting theory states that the media does not tell us what to think but it certainly tells us what to think about, society seems to have decided authors are not going to force them to even consider certain ideas.

 

People who lobby for books to be banned claim that such books contain inappropriate sexual content or offensive language.  However, as a person who loves to read, I’ve always wondered if these lobbyists simply do not want to face reality – since books are a reflection of our society. This fight to censor books (which seems quite out of place in the 21st century) is very similar to censorship in the 1950s. The only difference back then was the thing being censored was music. The argument back then was the sexuality of the lyrics. However, when you research further, you realise it was the height of the Civil Rights Movement and the young white Americans united with the African Americans in their fight against segregation by embracing rhythm and blues (R&B). Sounds familiar? 

 

 

 

Image courtesy www.girlslife.com

By exposing ourselves to books with content that goes against our norms, we are forced to think…and maybe someone is afraid that we will change our minds and go against what we have always believed to be true. Perhaps just like older white Americans who censored R&B because they wanted their children to embrace the norm of segregating the black man and NOT accepting him…..DECADES LATER, there are those who want us to stay segregated from certain ideals, certain groups, certain philosophies.

 

So are we really free to express ourselves? In fact, are we free to think and choose for ourselves? If we are free, why then are a specific bunch of people deciding for us what we should and should not read?

 

Food for thought…

Image courtesy www.whytoread.com

Image courtesy www.imwithgeek.com

Guard Your Norms or Your Freedom?

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