Kurt Vonnegut Censorship

Transparency: The Most Controversial Books in America | Raise the Barn

Below is a graphic on the 10 books most commonly asked to be banned from libraries in 2009, which leads me to ask, “Where did personal responsibility go?”

I’m always amazed at the desire to ban books.  In today’s age, with so many avenues for receiving information, some people still think the answer is to wall themselves off through censorship and try to close off every possible way they could potentially maybe some day see something that might somehow creep into their view that presents an opinion that somehow could differ from their own.

Here’s the thing.  I agree that some of these books are age-specific, so not everyone should be reading them.  But I also think my child shouldn’t be reading/watching anything that I’m not also reading with them or have read/seen already.  I need to know what they’re taking in and be able to discuss it with them and point out the important aspects, both good and bad, and discuss what’s appropriate.  Any story has both good and bad characters and themes that might not be appropriate for their age and social development.  But I don’t want someone else deciding that for me.

I’m perfectly capable of deciding what my children are ready for, at age 2 or 12.  So I am fine taking on the responsibility of telling/guiding them away from things they’re not going to understand and steering them towards things they are…as well as walking them through material I wish they’d not been exposed to yet.

And what to do if they come across the material before I can intervene…oh dear…oh my…what to do…do I go ban books so that can’t happen again or do I have an honest and open discussion with them as to why it’s not something I want them reading.  That whole respect thing, might not always work but I feel it has to be a core principle in how I treat and talk to my children.  Frodo is told to avoid the magic of the ring, Harry Potter uses magic.  I think I can have a discussion with my child on the subject.  Just as I’d be able to explain that the monsters on Sesame Street are puppets while shielding my young child from some very graphic and brutal sections of the Bible.  I believe we do so much more damage banning books than simply dealing with them in the open and how various ages need to be introduced to them.

I am surprised that “Huckleberry Finn” was not in the top ten list. I remember when I was just starting high school the book “Peyton Place” was the book all the parents freaking out over i.e. premarital sex was the running theme. One of our friends had a copy, with all the good parts underlined. It is pretty tame when compared to today’s soap operas, and some of the shows on cable and satellite TV.

Opposing censorship in the public schools, religion, morality, and literature

ISSUE: PATRIOTISM THE CENSORS' CLAIM: The book is an indictment of war, ... Controversial Segments Kurt Vonnegut explained in the first chapter why he came ...

Intellectual freedom and censorship, an annotated bibliography

"AAParagraphs: Censorship Loses A Round," Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom. 25 :2 (March 1976) 32, 53-54. ... Slaughterhouse-Five , by Kurt Vonnegut 679. ...

Critical companion to Kurt Vonnegut, a literary reference to his life and work

Because he values reading so highly, Vonnegut speaks out against censorship in this volume. The first chapter in the collection is titled “The First ...

Living in America, A Popular Culture Read

I A Final Word on Censorship from KurtVonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Xurt Vonnegut (born in Indianapolis in 1 922, the son and the grandson of Indiana architects) ...

The encyclopedia of censorship

Despite this, Blyton has long been a target of censorship, notably in British ... Kurt Vonnegut), which were anti-Christian; and A Hero Ain't Nothing But a ...