Your absolutely right. would banning it be the right decision then? This is a tough call.
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Your absolutely right. would banning it be the right decision then? This is a tough call.
Mein Kampf should not be banned for a single reason: People need to know. An age-old saying applies here: "Those that dont know history are damned to repeat it." If we "forget" about Hitler and push the Holocaust away, we are creating an opportunity to happen again. Sometime in the far future, if a dictator rises up and is in danger of causing another holocaust, only those that know about Hitler could stop it. For the sake of humanity, history, and society, Mein Kampf should not be banned.
My country also has black history, where some of historical events were twisted and people were told to believe the lies...But history (I sometimes called it HIS-STORY) sometimes served as justification and the tool of power, and it's one of the main causes of banned books/media.
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Originally Posted by Darlin
For certain people, this book is an inspirational source, don't you think so?!Quote:
For the sake of humanity, history, and society, Mein Kampf should not be banned.
Yes I do, however I don't think the banning of the book would deter anybody from joining the party and might even stimulate enlistment in the neo-nazi party.Quote:
For certain people, this book is an inspirational source, don't you think so?!
actually, sometimes it may not be "blatant lies" but rather a, uh, different points of view. i would make an example a part of history according to the united states during the world war ii. forgive me for not being meticulous with details and dates, but some time before the war ended, methinks, the united states soldiers went to the philippines and supposedly "rescued" the people from japan? thus, according to an average american today, the philippines owed us. in the meantime, the filipinos really regarded the us soldiers as nuisances and didn't like them much to the point of hate even. again, forgive me for my shabby history knowledge; i could get some things wrong.Quote:
Originally Posted by Darlin
There are other places where "banning" takes place besides libraries, etc. I took a book to work where the owners/management were all of a particular religion...I was asked to not bring it in and then when I refused and told them it was illegal for them to request such a thing, they asked that I cover it in brown paper...I did, but I wish I'd chosen to be braver.
It got much worse when I announced I was pregnant ( I was single).Oy va.
Indeed. People need to be aware that when they demand freedom, they need to accept all the consequences. After reading the book, there are people would condemn the acts, and there are also others who would be inspired by it.
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Originally Posted by Wendigo_49
This seems to happen a lot. There is a famous "mental health care facility" where I live, and I know they have a list of books that are banned for the patients, one of them being "Girl Interrupted". Their rationalisation is that the book could possibly give ideas to patients who are suicidal. So I can understand that and respect it.Quote:
Originally Posted by lhaeber
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Originally Posted by underground
True, true. Burma considered the English and American's as unwanted trespassers more or less during WWII even to the point of hate as well and I've never read that in a history book. The old history book my mother has from the 50's doesn't even mention the Holocaust and I was shocked at that.
Different points of views is what freedom of speech is all about I suppose but it can be harmful if not balanced with the facts. Unfortunately those who read books with a different pov might not realize that pov isn't the truth and then it could become a problem.
Freedom of speech means you can write anything about any subject whether harmful, disrespectful, immoral, cruel, or dishonest and not banning books means anyone can read these books. I think subterranean mentioned a few pages back that one has to realize the consequences of this freedom. Not banning books that may be detrimental as in the case of mental patients which Logos mentioned isn’t necessarily a good thing.
I totally agree with you.Quote:
Originally Posted by subterranean
I agree with the idea of free speech/though etc on general principal, but would definitely not want my future hypothetical children to read/see everything!
At the moment, Britain is considering strict anti terrorism laws guarding against, for example, muslim clerics telling people that Jihad is great and all brits are infidels anyway, so can be killed with impunity (in fact, with the reward of going to heaven). I am all in favour of people not being able to recommend blowing me up to fanatics, but find the idea of this censorship disturbing. Where would it stop? A drunken conversation in a pub could end up landing someone in prison.
Complete freedom of speech is probably an impossibility, and in this day and age we seem much more likely to lose it.
Perhaps instead of banning books, people could consider an age guide on them as we have on films? Of course, then they'd have to employ someone to read everything... :S
Well in Canada now we have a ghastly thing called the "hate literature bill" which dis-allows anyone from publishing in any way anything that may be seen as a hate message towards a certain goup or culure. I'm sorry, i forgot we can't talk politics. But I thought that people should know that in this case (especiallt considering what was said earlier about Nazi propaganda lit) books are being banned before their even givin to the world.
Well, yeah thats the problem. Theres not a responsible person in charge in order to make that decision, but I like the idea. Tony Blair said he wanted to deport religious extremists, and, I think, the US should do the same. I wish we could, however, but the religious extremists have their puppet in charge.... :(Quote:
Originally Posted by el01ks
Define a religious extremist... and the religious leaders only have their puppet in charge on a few matters in even less (western) nations.
I would agree with you, to an extent, only if you define a "religious extremist" as someone willing to use violence in the name of their religion. I can tolerate your freedom of speech, but when you hurt someone else while hiding behind your religion, that, I cannot tolerate.Quote:
Originally Posted by MiSaNtHrOpE
There are many Christian fundamentalists who scare me, but I do not suspect them of violence. I do worry that they help make America fertile ground for possible violence, however, that possibility would not be enough for me to support deporting or imprisoning them.
Sorry to talk politics, sometimes it is difficult to bite one's tongue.
To get back on topic, I recently finished a wonderful book that has been banned in a couple of school systems. I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower so that I could make an informed decision as a parent, and absolutely loved it. I liked this books so well I can scarcely call my opinion unbiased. I would recommend this book for anyone fourteen years of age and up.