September 26-October 2, 2021 is Banned Books Week.
Books have been banned in the United States for years.
Books such as 1984 By George Orwell (one of my favorite books of all time),
The Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins,
Born a Crime By Trevor Noah,
The Giver By Lois Lowry make this list.
But, why are these titles banned?
(Well, they were banned for a variety of reasons).
These reasons include offensive language, violence, being sexually explicit, promoting LGBTQ+ perspectives and expressing alternate political, social, cultural, and economic perspectives.
Titles such as these can be banned from school curriculum and libraries.
But, this is a form of censorship. And, this form of censorship is something that should not be accepted.
Banning pieces of literature will just make individuals want to read them even more.
Individuals will basically just think to themselves, “oh, wow, it’s banned, I should read it”.
Books like 1984 and Animal Farm By George Orwell should absolutely have a spot on library shelves and school curriculum.
Animal Farm tells us (in a very detailed and somewhat disturbing manner about the Russian Revolution.
1984 was written about the expression of fear of what societies may look like after World War II.
We should teach books such as 1984 and Animal Farm to our children so that they can see up close and personal what would thoroughly happen to societies that accept and support (or even welcome) totalitarian or authoritarian principles.
Children will still read these books even if they are banned.
This is a form of censorship that should absolutely no longer take place, and by banning pieces of literature, this is a threat not just to freedom of speech, but to societies in general.
If we don’t learn from the past, how can we learn in the future?
If we don’t learn about certain topics, how are we supposed to protect future generations? That’s like teaching sex ed to kids and saying, “oh, just don’t have sexual intercourse”.
Banning something won’t change the fact that later on in the near future, people may still read these pieces of literature.
We must stand up against censorship, and we must stop trying to hide works of literature from American and global generations.
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