What the Hell America? Study Shows More Americans than Ever Support Banning Books
Posted by Zenphamy 8 years, 8 months ago to Philosophy
From the Article: "According to a recently released Harris Poll survey, the number of Americans who would support the banning of books has doubled between the years of 2011 and 2015.
28% of the 2,244 U.S. adults surveyed answered yes to the question “Do you think that there are any books which should be banned completely?” This same question was answered yes just 18% of the time back in 2011 when the survey was taken last.
“While it’s still a minority perception … I felt that from 18 to 28 percent in just four years was a rather surprising growth,” Harris Poll Research Manager Larry Shannon-Missal told Library Journal.
Some of the questions were relating to what children should be able to read in school, while others asked which books should be taken off the marketplace entirely.
What was also interesting about the study was the fact that 71% of those surveyed, even those who did not support the banning of books, were open to books being rated in a way similar to movies. Also, it seemed that many people wanted to ban books that were controversial and opposed their religious beliefs. Some of those surveyed wanted to ban the Bible, while others wanted the Koran banned, others wanted any books banned that supported the ideas of creationism, and still others wanted to ban atheist texts."
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What the Hell is Right. Satan's Crispy Balls
Religious belief systems keep screwing with freedom and liberty.
28% of the 2,244 U.S. adults surveyed answered yes to the question “Do you think that there are any books which should be banned completely?” This same question was answered yes just 18% of the time back in 2011 when the survey was taken last.
“While it’s still a minority perception … I felt that from 18 to 28 percent in just four years was a rather surprising growth,” Harris Poll Research Manager Larry Shannon-Missal told Library Journal.
Some of the questions were relating to what children should be able to read in school, while others asked which books should be taken off the marketplace entirely.
What was also interesting about the study was the fact that 71% of those surveyed, even those who did not support the banning of books, were open to books being rated in a way similar to movies. Also, it seemed that many people wanted to ban books that were controversial and opposed their religious beliefs. Some of those surveyed wanted to ban the Bible, while others wanted the Koran banned, others wanted any books banned that supported the ideas of creationism, and still others wanted to ban atheist texts."
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What the Hell is Right. Satan's Crispy Balls
Religious belief systems keep screwing with freedom and liberty.
Previous comments...
"Politically speaking, Republicans are nearly twice as likely as Democrats or Independents to believe there are any books that should be banned completely (42% vs. 23% & 22%, respectively).
In addition, adults who have completed high school or less are more likely than those with higher levels of education to believe there are any books that should be banned (33%, vs. 25% some college, 24% college grad, 23% post grad)."
Apart from the methodolgy, I'm truly surprised people favor censorship in any form more today than in the recent past. .
Outright banning of just about any literature is in my opinion anathema to free thought.
(However, to clarify, I'm not ready to populate a children's library with Playboy magazine, nor do I have much issue with banning certain forms of exploitation publications. However, most would probably refrain from classifying these as "literature".)