Banned Books and the Power of Ideas

1
Banned Books and the Power of Ideas

• Tim Hynes
• Mass Communication

2
Thanks

• To the Library and its program
• ALA and Banned Books week

3
Outline of discussion

• Why be interested in banning books (besides be in
  the Library during ALA Banned Books Week?)
• What are some Hard Questions about banning books?
• Why do people wish to ban books?
• Are there every reasons why we should approve the
  banning of booksare there some ideas too
  dangerous to be exposed?
• What are some of the hard tasks facing those of
  us in the academy who wish to resist the banning
  of books?

4
Why Am I interested?

• Professionprofessor of communication studies,
  and student of first amendment protections of
  speech and press
• Early EducationAmerican History Education framed
  in the context of constitutional
  historyunderstand the basic document.
• Habits and upbringingbooks provide foundation
  for learning and understanding, and access to the
  American Dream (see 60 minutes interview,
  Clarence Thomas or Uris Trinity for characters
  using reading as key to intellectual liberation)

5
Visions of Book Burning
6
Visions of Book Burning
7
Hard Questions

• Why do people wish to ban books?
• Rowling talks about the hidden Ministry of Magic
  in British Government to free remainder of Muggle
  Government from the fears created by witches and
  wizzardsthus book banning comes from a fear of
  certain ideas

8
Hard Questions, Continued

• Lombardi, books challenged or banned on
  political, sexual, or social grounds
• http//books.google.com/googlebooks/banned/
• Re Harry Potter censors Christianity simply
  doesn't fit, and Mr. Norfolk of the Pagan
  Federation thinks he knows why. The Christian
  Church has failed to provide the right degree of
  spirituality for young people, he explains. In
  contrast, paganism involves direct communication
  with the divine.

9
Hard Questions, Continued

• http//www.ncac.org/literature/20060421GAHarry_P
  otter.cfm
• Fear of ideaspolitical, social, cultural grounds
• Fear of loss of control for the ideas of others
• Failure to trust in the ability of education to
  limit the harm to individuals and society from
  dangerous ideas

10
Hard Questions

• Bans may occur over disagreements over time place
  or manner restrictionspornography comes to mind
• Bans may be over disagreements about who has
  authority to control access to knowledge found in
  booksthere may be agreement about the
  inappropriateness of a text, but a disagreement
  about whether this could be left to parents or
  others

11
Second Hard Question

• Are there ever reasons why we should support
  denial of access to books?
• Are some ideas too dangerous to expose?
• Should government ever be giving the right to
  evaluate that danger?

12
Hard Job Ahead

• How can educators provide the counterpoint to
  ideas that are deemed to be too dangerous for
  consumption?
• Media Literacy efforts are a start
• Colleague reminded me a episode with Timothy McVey

13
Dangerous Material

• And one of McVeigh's favorite books The Turner
  Diaries written by former American Nazi Party
  honcho William L. Pierce, under the pen name
  Andrew Macdonald. Its hero - Earl Turner -
  responds to gun control by making a truck bomb
  and blowing up the Washington FBI Building.

14
Concluding thoughts

• Obviously we should be concerned about any
  government that would ban a book
• We must be forever eager to find ways to expand
  the ability of readers to interpret texts in ways
  that do not lead to fears caused by religious,
  social, or political causes

15
Banned books Websites

• http//www.banned-books.com/
• http//www.banned-books.com/bblistj-z.html
• http//www-personal.umd.umich.edu/jyanosko/forbid
  den/

16
Some web sites

• http//www.cs.cmu.edu/People/spok/most-banned.html
  
• http//classiclit.about.com/od/bannedliteratur1/a/
  aa_whatisban.htm