The Books That Should Be Banned (And Why)

My sister and I just finished talking about books. Yep. Books. That’s all we talked about. For 2 1/2 hours. I love my sister so much. Seriously, guys. You don’t even know. I love having such an amazing friend who will hear me comment about a piece of literature and completely understands what I’m talking about! There’s something so… freeing about having someone who gets what you’re saying. It’s particularly rare when that thing you’re discussing is literature. In fact, the more I read, the more I realize exactly HOW hard it is to find someone who knows what I’m trying to say when I talk about a book. Pretty much any book. And that makes me sad.

One of the novels we talked about the most was Fahrenheit 451. And it finally clicked WHY we both read so much. Probably because of that book. (Just kidding. It’s because our parents always read. All of the time. The desire for an education and self-improvement is a learned trait, just in case you didn’t know. Thanks Mom and Dad!) I stand by the fact that Fahrenheit 451 was definitely one that influenced us both heavily in our youth.

Here’s the thing, though: In a society where everyone seems 100% against book banning (because how dare anyone take away our freedom?) Jazz and I always come back to the same question: Really, people? Would it even matter?

So many people view Fahrenheit 451 as a book about the evils of government-enforced censorship. But that’s such a small part of it. It’s WHY the books in the novel are declared “evil.” It’s not the government that did it. It was us. In a world that demanded equality and political correctness, anything that made people feel bad about themselves (you know, like intellectual people that made those that didn’t like to read feel inadequate) had to be removed. When only the minority of people read, the majority were able to claim that the books were offensive. Hurtful. Useless. And thus, they became “evil.”

Seems impossible right? A culture where only the minority choose to read? A society that demands censorship for everyone because of the offense of the few? That would never happen.

I mean…We don’t say those things in our world. Do we? No, of course not. Everyone knows that books are important. Everyone knows that they shouldn’t be banned. They shouldn’t be burnt. They’re so necessary! They’re so essential! Indispensable! Crucial! Fundamental! Vital! Look at all the synonyms I know (because of books)! See? I’m intellectual! This lack of reading thing totally doesn’t apply to me!

I mean, we all read constantly, right? Yeah. Judging by what people say is important, we must. In a society that’s constantly talking about the importance of education and literature– in a society that demands we go to college and that students finish high school–we’re all completely demonstrating the importance of that desire for education by living what we preach, right? Every one of us. Book sales totally dominate video game sales every year. They have to. Because anyone would tell you that books are more important than video games. And movies? Pish. Every person I’ve ever met has said at least once “the book was better.” So they must all be reading pretty often, right? They wouldn’t just say that because intellectually they know that it’s the “right” thing to say. We don’t live in a society that would fake intellectual superiority and scream about the importance of mind-inspiring pursuits in a hypocritical manner. Right?

And yet, I wonder. If books actually were banned across the country. If libraries became illegal. How many of us would it even affect?

Which is why I think that the government should do it. Seriously. The title to this post is The Books That Should Be Bannned. So you were probably expecting a list. Here you go:

1. All of them

Seriously. BAN ALL THE GODDAMN BOOKS. In a country that will fight tooth and nail to keep their freedoms, the best thing you can do to boost interest is to try to take it away. Go for it, Government.

Give us a reason to want to read again.