Banning Books A Severe Prescription Mix Up - 1208 Words

Chris Wong Ms. Sommer Advanced English 9 08 September 2014 Banning Books: A Severe Prescription Mix-Up A thought that could make many Americans sick is the thought of losing the basic human rights outlined in the Bill of Rights. Others, however claim to feel queasy with the thought of Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and its contents. One parent, Jennifer Andersen, who objects to the book says, â€Å"I began reading, and I started to cross out sections that I didn’t want him to read.† Her self-diagnosis is fueled by sheer ignorance of the right to freedom of expression. The censorship she imposes on her son is a poisonous prescription that ignores democracy. The belief that banning the book The Absolutely True†¦show more content†¦Also, banning the book will just draw more attention to it, demonstrated by the Streisand Effect. This effect was coined when Barbara Streisand attempted to remove pictures taken of her house from an online collection of pictures of the Malibu coastline. But when news of her attempting to censor the picture leaked to the press, the total number of downloads for the picture jumped from six (of which two were her lawyer’s) to 420,000. The same could be applied to The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, in which banning the book gains it more publicity. In fact, the effects of the bans can be felt right at Kennedy through this assignment. Schools are reading the book and having students debate the issue on if it should be banned or not. Now the book serves two functions in education, with one about a story of the hardships of poverty; societal norms; and racism, and defending a point with evidence. Thus, through the ignorant parents’ actions in some school districts, the book has become more widespread and more students are reading the book they desired others not to read. This desire is driven by the parents’ overprotectiveness and cluelessness of the knowledge of sensitive topics possessed by today†™s children. It is impossible to hide youth from the topics discussed in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Objectionable content includes vulgar language, racism, and masturbation. I can speak