Topic: Banned Books 2005 - Interordi Forums

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Yeah, so I have here in front of me a list of the "most controversial books of the 21st century"... the books that have had the most letters and such asking to get rid of them in the libraries (2000 - 2005).

Quote:
1. Harry Potter series

2. The Chocolate War (Robert Cormier)

3. Alice series (Phyllis Reynold Naylor)

4. Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck)

5. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou)

6. Fallen Angels (Walter Dean Myers)

7. It's Perfectly Normal (Robbie Harris)

8. Scarey Stories by Alvin Schwartz (More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, etc.)

9. Captain Underpants

10. Forever by Judy Blume

Now why is Harry Potter at the top of the list....? And Captain Underpants... I would possibly expect that... but only from people in Alabama (it's a national thing).

And the scary stories book is just ridiculous - If you've ever read that book, you'll know that the stories are ridiculous and make no sense, and even the ones that do make SLIGHT sense cannot scare anyone (even a young child) because thy have no detail.

RisingDragon
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That's... lame.

Harry Potter is at the top of the list for many reasons. People say that it contains Satanism (Fallen's brother has spouted that to me) and the word "Witchcraft" raises all sorts of hell with certain religions, such as with the Wiccans.

And, well... Captain Underpants... is just completely stupid.

But what's with the other books?

"Why do you care that I care that you care enough to care that I care for caring?" "Conversation isn't your strong point, is it?"
"I worship the supreme comrade Cossack!"
"OugharagarraaahhHHH: When 'Ow' just won't cut it."

CAPCOM: We put the "No" in Innovation.

SPT Layzner
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It's sad that in this day and age, people still get anal about books and stuff like that.

Doctacosa
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What? No Da Vinci Code?

The admin formerly known as Dr. Cossack.

Looking for me elsewhere? Maybe look at my Fediverse account for some more-or-less random postings! If you're a gamer, check out my Osmium profile. I'm building that tool!

RisingDragon
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The book "The Da Vinci Code" wasn't all that controversial. I never even heard about it until I read "Angels and Demons," the prequel.

It was only when they decided to make it into a movie that all hell broke loose.

Edited by RisingDragon on November 7, 2006 at 21:28:15.

"Why do you care that I care that you care enough to care that I care for caring?" "Conversation isn't your strong point, is it?"
"I worship the supreme comrade Cossack!"
"OugharagarraaahhHHH: When 'Ow' just won't cut it."

CAPCOM: We put the "No" in Innovation.

The Helldragon
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God forbid we can't write about religion without pissing people off.

I will be glad to push the envelope in my own creative stylings.

SPT Layzner
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Quote:
Originally posted by RisingDragon
The book "The Da Vinci Code" wasn't all that controversial. I never even heard about it until I read "Angels and Demons," the prequel.

It was only when they decided to make it into a movie that all hell broke loose.

Edited by RisingDragon on November 7, 2006 at 21:28:15.

There was some when the book first got released. I remember the Vatican getting pretty pissed about it.

mr.match
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Quote:
Originally posted by Dr. Cossack
What? No Da Vinci Code?

I'm more worryed that a children's comic book made the list. There is nothing that should worry people about the "Captain Underpants" series. The books were written to get kids to laugh.

And is Captain Underpants any worse than the Doug Funnie's alter-ego Quailman? Or what about Superman? Underpants are nothing to ban a book over!

I'm older school than you are.

The Helldragon
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The underwear is possibly homosexual.

Hell, I don't KNOW.

RisingDragon
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Quote:
Originally posted by SPT Layzner

Quote:
Originally posted by RisingDragon
The book "The Da Vinci Code" wasn't all that controversial. I never even heard about it until I read "Angels and Demons," the prequel.

It was only when they decided to make it into a movie that all hell broke loose.

Edited by RisingDragon on November 7, 2006 at 21:28:15.

There was some when the book first got released. I remember the Vatican getting pretty pissed about it.

The Vatican gets pretty pissed about anything. I tend to write it off when I hear about them.

"Why do you care that I care that you care enough to care that I care for caring?" "Conversation isn't your strong point, is it?"
"I worship the supreme comrade Cossack!"
"OugharagarraaahhHHH: When 'Ow' just won't cut it."

CAPCOM: We put the "No" in Innovation.

God
Chris Ray Gun is still cool

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Captian Underpants can be as stupid as you think it is, but that IS the entire point of the series.

A book being stupid isn't any reason for it to get banned... these people probably never LOKOED at the books, they just assumed it included nudity or some such.

HollowTorment
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Scary Stories obviously is attacked because of the beautiful art. The stories are "offensive" to perhaps the very young and soccermoms, but otherwise...

Scary Stories was the book most complained about in the 1990s. Bah, if it had been banned from the library I never would have known of it..

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You're right, I forgot about that... that artwork is rather horrific, and I remember making a note of it when this guy Tony "forced" me to read the books recently.

The stories in the first book don't even make any sense, it's like, "There was this man who lived alone, and then his friend came over, and then his dog ate his foot, and then he dies 6 years later." wtf??

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RisingDragon
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However, when Holy Blood Holy Grail was published, there was one factor missing that IS here today:

Rabid media.

"Why do you care that I care that you care enough to care that I care for caring?" "Conversation isn't your strong point, is it?"
"I worship the supreme comrade Cossack!"
"OugharagarraaahhHHH: When 'Ow' just won't cut it."

CAPCOM: We put the "No" in Innovation.

Mr.Mettaur
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Are you serious? The Chocolate War is harmless...why it would be banned anywhere is a mystery to me.

HollowTorment
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Obviously because us Americans cannot take the idea of chocolate being threatened.

Breakman
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I pay the "horrible" banned books list no heed. They say a book is banned, but most libraries and schools still have them. (But then again, I live in California...)

The question I ask, is pornography banned? In the USA, no. So, why would books about nearly or about the same concept be banned? Double standards, I say.

I also ask why some people want children to read from a list that contains sexually explicit books. Just because some books were written for children, doesn't mean it should be read. Believe it or not, some authors write books for shock value and "fame." What better way you be known in history by witting inappropriate books for children and get banned for it?

On other subjects, it's just a matter of not understanding there are many people in the world. Banning books about witchcraft, religious, and political subjects (such bannings are popular out of the USA, btw), is kinda useless. People still talk about them with or without the/a written form.

I think North America (okay, I'm not quite sure about Canada though) is pretty lenient on books (on books banned and how the bookstores/libraries respond to such bannings), but of course it depends on the region and/or state you live in.

I don't support or deny censorship. All I ask is writers should be responsible of what they write, parents should be responsible for what their children read, and teachers should not push political agendas in the classroom.

Eh... Most of the books on the list aren't worth reading anyways, except for the classics.

Quote:
Originally posted by Mr.Mettaur
Are you serious? The Chocolate War is harmless...why it would be banned anywhere is a mystery to me.

I remember it banned for being anti-Catholic. Wikipedia also says it was challenged for the main character's "sexual frustration."

Edited by Breakman on November 9, 2006 at 23:14:14.

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Quote:
Originally posted by Breakman
They say a book is banned, but most libraries and schools still have them.

This particular list is of the books that registered the most complainsts. Just because a book was complained about doesn't mean it was removed.

Many "banned books" are banned in "many schools nationwide," in which the ban applies to being able to use them as a teaching matter, or in one or more large and/or famous and/or historical libraries, are they are talking about a time several hudered years ago when it was banned from all public libraries or outlawed.

Quote:
Originally poseted by Breakman
think North America (okay, I'm not quite sure about Canada though) is pretty lenient on books (on books banned and how the bookstores/libraries respond to such bannings),/

Similat to something you said earlier, I think books are books and none will be banned or removed just absed on complaints in most places. I have never NOT found a particular book I was looking for somewhere... (actually, that's not true, but that probably has more to do with rarity then bann... edness).

Samsara
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How did I know that Harry Potter would make the list? It really is kind of pathetic when a work of fiction as innocent as Harry Potter gets banned because it doesn't agree with a certain religion (in this case Christianity), overlooking the fact that a) it isn't supposed to be taken as a religion or a guide, so it's capacity for evil is pretty much zero, banning it for everyone from a library because of a group of people's beliefs is just not right and c) when the super-human abilities mentioned in the book are often used for the greater good. In which case, should we then ban Star Wars? Should we ban Superman? How about Farily Odd Parents, for God's sake?

Now Captain Underpants did surprise me. If there is any one person who gets excited over a drawing of a young boy in underpants, I think that that one person should be removed, not the book, as I deem him/her to be the more dangerous here. In Captain Underpants, the garments that the hero appears to be wearing are not the focus, and if they are, as I said, the blame lies with the person reading it as they are not normal.

Smirnoff
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Quote:
Originally posted by Samsara
How did I know that Harry Potter would make the list?

It really is kind of pathetic when a work of fiction as innocent as Harry Potter gets banned because it doesn't agree with a certain religion (in this case Christianity), overlooking the fact that a) it isn't supposed to be taken as a religion or a guide, so it's capacity for evil is pretty much zero,

banning it for everyone from a library because of a group of people's beliefs is just not right and c) when the super-human abilities mentioned in the book are often used for the greater good. In which case, should we then ban Star Wars? Should we ban Superman? How about Farily Odd Parents, for God's sake?

Now Captain Underpants did surprise me. If there is any one person who gets excited over a drawing of a young boy in underpants, I think that that one person should be removed, not the book, as I deem him/her to be the more dangerous here. In Captain Underpants, the garments that the hero appears to be wearing are not the focus, and if they are, as I said, the blame lies with the person reading it as they are not normal.

Well, the protagonist in the pants series is a forty year old man, so I think it's more of an issue regarding confused sexualities and vague BDSM and pedophilic undertones.

I'm a pretty devout Catholic, but I find that the HP series is not a threat in the least. The subject matter is rather infantile when you take the time to realize the possible stories that the human mind can concoct. I'm fairly young, and I'm writing a novel-of-sorts that follows the trials of a private investigator that is inprisoned in a vast network of catacombs underneath an opera house and is subject to numerous gruesome tortures by the proprieter of said opera house. If a teenage mind can articulate such a disturbing work of fiction then believe you me, Rowling is more than capable of writing a more realistic portrayal of witchcraft. Liquified organs, anyone?

Sometimes I feel that the last true intellectuals remain on this message board.

Edited by Smirnoff on November 13, 2006 at 2:20:12.