Censoring Books

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Quora Question:  ​Why should books not be censored?

There are a number of problems with the idea that books should be censored. Here are just a few.

1. Who will do the censoring? Is there any entity or person who could be given this power that would not abuse it in some way? Is there any entity that could be given this power that would be guaranteed to ban only those books that “should” be banned and no others? It would seem that no individual or entity could have any legitimate claim to this power.
2. What books should be banned? What would be the criteria for deterring whether a book be banned? Any criteria you come up with would include some subjective element that would be biased towards the person or entity advocating the banning and biased against others.
3. What would those criteria be? Should a book be banned because it contains violence? Because it offends someone? Because it advocates something violent or subversive? And, how could any of these terms be defined in objective terms?

Perhaps the better question to ask would be: For those who advocate banning certain books, what are your arguments for doing this? I can’t imagine any argument that would outweigh other more important considerations; chief among them the importance of the free exchange of ideas.

Ideas are inherently dangerous and subversive. They usually advocate some sort of change or reform. Those changes or reforms are threatening to those in power whoever they may be. As such, if you make an argument for banning books, there are very few books that would truly be “safe” from this practice. Those that would be safe would be so banal and uninteresting as to be not worth reading, to begin with.

Any idea worth writing about is an idea that will offend someone or disturb someone’s thinking, challenge their beliefs, or threaten the status quo in some way. But, that’s precisely why we need those ideas.
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Freedom of expression is too important a value and necessary to a flourishing society to risk the chilling effect of banning books.