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It is very easy when going down that path to "just add that too. That isn't good for them either." and suddenly you've got thousands of banned books.

We'd say there's a small number of books that would've been beneficial to have a complete ban on... and they're all central to various religions...

Let's not ban any books.

much simpler that... its not as if banning books will prevent anyone from reading them...

Zeratul wrote:It is very easy when going down that path to "just add that too. That isn't good for them either." and suddenly you've got thousands of banned books.

We'd say there's a small number of books that would've been beneficial to have a complete ban on... and they're all central to various religions...

People see enough stuff that's not good for them in TV. So I don't think there's a need to start banning books based on that. I was thinking more along the lines "this book gives instructions for harming others lets ban it".

so in other words, any book containing descriptions of how to do violence against others? that should only be a few thousand... cant be much more than 50,000 different books...

Did I say that? No I didn't. You know exactly the type of book I'm talking about.

its an interesting discussion...

Do you refer to books that, as part of their text, instructs people to do harm to others?

Books that have been written pretty much for that purpose only.
I could explain this a lot better in my native language

Baron Samedi wrote: I was thinking more along the lines "this book gives instructions for harming others lets ban it".

Let's ban every book there is on medicine. Almost every one of those can be used as an instruction to harm people


Banning books is a sign of arrogance and contradicts every ideal an open, literate society is supposed to have. Why in seven hells should someone presume, that they have the ability and the judgement to decide what I should not read!?

Well, the bible does on several occasions instruct people to do violence to others if certain conditions are present, generally violated moral laws from about 1.5+ millennia ago.

Also. any book for instruction in violence can easily include a small part that is not such instruction, and it would bypass such ban.
Where one person views certain books as morally wrong to have available, another will not have the same list. The problems do not come from the books, but from the readers. Generally very often from readers that do not read all that many books, if they even read more than one.


The only way to have a functional book ban system is to get an omnipresent world dictator.

So you'd allow all sick stuff that the sick human race comes up with to be published?
And as I have said multiple times I'm talking books that have the single purpose of harming human beings so I don't see why you would prattle about medicine books.

Baron Samedi wrote:So you'd allow all sick stuff that the sick human race comes up with to be published?
And as I have said multiple times I'm talking books that have the single purpose of harming human beings so I don't see why you would prattle about medicine books.

Because most medicine have as much detriment as they do positive effect?

Zera makes a good point with the bible, which teaches some things you describe...

Ideally no book should be banned, if you don't like what you're reading, don't read it. There's no reason I shouldn't be able to read it if I choose to do so though. Whatever it may contain. Even books with the intent of teaching you how to harm others or any other morally unacceptable ideals, if I were to want to read it for say.. research purposes or just out of curiousity.. I should like to be able to do that.

I'm really curious about Mein Kampf, for example. Which is generally regarded as hate materials, however I would love to gain some insight into the mind of a genocidal maniac. It doesn't mean that when I finish reading I'm going to decide I want to kill some jews. I think the establishment should give human beings a little credit.

What is right and good in one part of the world is not right and good in all other parts of the world.

A good example of such differences is the classic gesture of "thumbs up" we wont bother to explain what it is in western world, but in Iran it is traditionally an obscene gesture, equivalent to the use of the middle finger in the Western world.
Considering the simplicity of such gesture yet its wildly differing meanings, it is easy to see how different things have different meanings around the world.

Essentially, if one were to ban any books, who should decide which ones?

No book should be banned.

Subject: Banned Books Week

[BoT] Jack wrote:No book should be banned.

y'know... its more or less everyone saying that in some form, aside from a single person saying otherwise...