Our right right to read

We all have the right to decide which books we read. The Constitution says “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” The first amendment gives us the right to publish and read books. Our founding fathers believed that the people needed a voice and they felt that that voice should never be silenced. Our freedom to choose what we read is an essential right engrained into our everyday lives.
Literature helps us fight against injustice. “Books and ideas are the most effective weapons against intolerance and ignorance.” Lyndon B Johnson. On May 10, 1933, the Nazi’s burned over 20,000 books in Dublin, in an attempt to cleanse non-German ideas. The banning of books is a banning of ideas, and sharing those thoughts and opinions with others. This is important because America is about freedom of ideas and the expression of those ideas. Free people learn from the past to create a better future. If all people are forced to read the same literature, only the books that are “approved”, we are conforming to the ideals of whoever approves these novels. Literature helps us explore the grey areas in life. Throughout history books have brought to light inequality, bias, wrong, discrimination, and
unfair situations.
People have different opinions on what they want to read, and what they don’t, but everyone should have the right to choose. “[O]ne man’s vulgarity is another’s lyric.” John Marshall Harlan. My mom and I have differences in the novels we read. I enjoy the classics, and she enjoys mysteries. Instead of banning novels, we should let people come to their own conclusions of books. What might be offensive to one person could be inspiring to another. People know what they want to read and what they don’t. A random person can’t say that I won’t like a certain book. Even though you might not like a book you have read doesn’t mean that someone else won’t and they should have the chance to see.
Books are composed of words, a heart and a mind, a voice on paper, and that voice should always be heard. “If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure that it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.” Benjamin Franklin. Office of Intellectual Freedom reports that 6346 books are banned each year. If the Author wants to share their soul with the world, if they have enough courage to bare their innermost selves to all the piercing eyes of humanity, what right does anybody have to ban that? To me it is the equivalent to removing away people’s voice boxes, silencing every good word that might have come out. What people need to do is ask themselves if Benjamin Franklin or John Hancock would be proud of their action. Maybe if people put things into perspective they will realize what they are doing. Books are more than just words on paper.
“A situation occurred in an elementary school in Hillsborough County, Florida. As Reported in the St. Petersburg Times the school refused to stock “Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling because of the “Witchcraft” themes. In Response to the article the principal explained that they knew that they would get complaints so they decided not to buy them.” Many people and organizations are outraged by this situation, including the American Library Association, and have spoken out against it. Banned Books Week runs every year from September 29 to October 1. This Week is dedicated to people’s right to read what they like. This event’s main supporter is the Library of Congress. This is not just happening in some little county in Florida. It is happening all over the country, In Minnesota, Michigan, New York, and South Carolina, parents who felt this series promote supernatural or magic interests called for its removal in classrooms and libraries. According to these adults the stories teach witchcraft, sorcery, and Satanism. Not to end their, A Wrinkle in Time has been targeted for promoting New Ageism –emphasizes spiritual consciousness, and often involves belief in reincarnation ad astrology and the practice of meditation, vegetarianism, and holistic medicine. When I first heard that it promoted New Ageism I didn’t know what that meant, so I looked it up. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with New Ageism. I think that it is just a word that most people don’t know and assume is bad. They are using trickery to get a, in my opinion, wonderful novel banned. Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, in the eyes of upset parents, promotes racism. It doesn’t promote racism it demotes it. In the novel it shows how crazy it is that people actually think that way. “If it is not one “ism” it is another. At the rate we’re going I can imagine next year’s headline: Goodnight Moon banned for encouraging children to communicate with furniture. And we all know where that can lead, don’t we?” Judy Blume.
It is our right to pick which books we see fit to read. That fact is firmly rooted in our county’s constitution. Literature illuminates wrong being done to fellow human beings. Every person is unique and should be able to put their own perspective into things. Words on paper have pieces of the author embedded in it. By challenging books people are not merely expressing their point of view, but oppressing another’s. Books should never be banned.