c/censored-culture-chat

2

the_elizabeth•16h ago

Hot take: 'To Kill a Mockingbird' vs. 'Huckleberry Finn' which ban was more wrong?

I was talking to my book club in Portland last week, and we got into it over these two novels. Both got banned from some school libraries in the 80s, one for racial language and one for 'promoting racism' - but I think 'Mockingbird' handled its themes way better with Atticus as a clear moral center. 'Huck Finn' left more room for misinterpretation, like when they canceled it in a Texas district back in 1988. Do you think one of these bans felt more justified than the other, or are they both overblown?

23

kai_bennett•1d ago

That time my high school in Austin banned 'The Bluest Eye' without telling anyone

I went to check out Toni Morrison's novel for a book report junior year and the librarian said it was 'unavailable'. Found out later a parent complained and the principal pulled it from shelves in 2019 without any vote or notice. Does removing a book quietly count as censorship or just a bad call?

19

dakota_singh39•1d ago

My high school library in Austin quietly removed "The Bluest Eye" from shelves in 2019 and I only found out when I tried to check it out for a report

I walked in during 4th period, gave the librarian the call number, and she just said "we don't carry that title" with a weird look, so I spent the next 2 weeks digging through old district records until I found the cancellation order with no public notice attached, has anyone else stumbled onto a silent removal like that?

20

richardknight•1d ago

The "Ulysses" ban debate blew up in my local library board meeting 3 years ago

Some parents think Joyce's book is obscene and should stay off shelves, but others say banning it erases literary history. Which side makes more sense when kids can already find way worse stuff on their phones?

13

thompson.robin•2d ago

Debate: Should schools still teach Huckleberry Finn or are we past that?

I overheard two teachers at a coffee shop in Austin arguing about whether the N-word in Huckleberry Finn makes it too harmful for classrooms now. One said we lose the whole point about racism by cutting it, and the other said kids just can't handle that context today. Where do you land on banning a classic to protect students now?

27

the_jenny•3d ago

I finally looked up why my favorite kids book got banned in Texas

I was chatting with a librarian at my local spot in Austin last weekend and she mentioned this old book I loved as a kid, "The Giver," was on a banned list in a school district down near Houston. I always knew it had some dark themes but I never really thought about it being censored. So I went home and dug out my worn copy from the basement and reread the whole thing in one afternoon. What hit me was how the book is really about controlling information and memories, which is exactly what banning it does in real life. It made me wonder if the people who ban these books even read them all the way through. Has anyone else gone back to a banned book from childhood and seen it totally different as an adult?

8

valsullivan•7d ago

Friend told me to check out a 'banned book list' for fun and it got weird fast

My buddy Mark said I should look up books that got banned in schools in the US. He was like 'it's just silly stuff, you'll laugh.' So I found a list from 2023 and half the books were ones I read in high school like 'The Bluest Eye' and 'Slaughterhouse-Five.' Then I noticed my own county had pulled like 22 titles from the library last year. I asked him about it and he goes 'oh yeah I forgot your area was crazy about that stuff.' Has anyone else had a friend downplay how bad censorship is near them?

4

hannaho52•7d ago

Realized my local library hides certain books in a back room

I went to my small town library in rural Indiana last month looking for a specific graphic novel about the Japanese American internment camps, and the librarian told me it was 'in storage' and I'd need to ask for it specifically. Turns out they keep about 30 books that some parents complained about in a locked closet, including several that are taught in AP history classes. Has anyone else run into this kind of quiet censorship at their local library?

15

emeryfox•10d ago

Met a retired teacher in a used bookstore in Chicago who handed me a banned copy of 'The Bluest Eye'

She said her school district pulled it from the library in 1998 and she kept her personal copy hidden for years. Has anyone else gotten a book passed to them like it was a secret?

10

brookerobinson•10d ago

Heard a librarian in Chicago explain why she removed 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and it actually made sense

I used to be super against any kind of book banning, like full stop. But last month I caught this talk from a librarian at the Chicago Public Library who said she pulled Mockingbird from the kids section because it uses the n-word over 50 times and she kept having to explain to 8 year olds why their classmates were crying. She said she moved it to the teen section with a note about context instead of just yanking it completely. That specific approach got me thinking maybe there's a middle ground between banning and ignoring what kids actually go through. Has anyone else seen schools do this kind of move rather than a full ban?

32

nina_clark•12d ago

Banned books section at my local library was literally just one sad shelf, took me 45 minutes to find anything good

I figured it would be a whole display but it was tucked behind the reference desk, and half the 'banned' books were just Twilight because some parent complained in 2008. Has anyone else found their library's censorship section is way smaller than you'd expect?

6

brooke71•14d ago

My buddy talked me out of defending that 'Satanic Verses' book ban

I used to think banning 'The Satanic Verses' in India made sense because it was causing riots and hurting people's feelings. My friend Priya from Mumbai sat me down last summer and walked me through how the ban actually gave extremists more power by validating their threats. She pointed out that the book had been legally published in India for months before the protests, so it was the reaction that caused the harm, not the book itself. Then she showed me interviews with Indian writers who said the ban made them scared to write anything critical of religion. I ended up reading the book myself and honestly it's mostly boring literary fiction, not the insult I expected. Now I figure if a book can be discussed openly without the government stepping in, it robs the loudest voices of their platform. Has anyone else changed their mind about a ban after talking to someone from the country involved?

17

valsullivan•14d ago

Hot take: That 'blasphemous' painting ban in India I kept hearing about...

I finally looked up the details on the MF Husain case from 1996 and found out the nude goddess painting wasn't even the main reason it got banned. He actually got death threats over a different piece, a series of portraits of Hindu deities that he painted in a modern style. The whole thing blew up in Mumbai first before the courts even got involved. Did anyone else dig into the timeline and find that?

24

wren_carr•16d ago

My kid's school library pulled that graphic novel about Anne Frank, so I read it to her myself at bedtime

Turns out my 8 year old had more mature questions about history than the school board did, and we ended up spending 45 minutes talking about WWII after I finished reading. Has anyone else just gone around the bans with their own kids?

4

iris_rivera44•18d ago

PSA: I was skimming banned book lists wrong for years

I always thought the top 10 banned books lists were just about curse words or sex scenes. Then I looked up the actual ALA data from 2023 and saw 'Gender Queer' and 'The Bluest Eye' got challenged over 50 times each for LGBTQ themes and race stuff. That's when I realized I was missing the whole point about who is trying to silence what. Has anyone else been surprised by what actually gets banned in their state?

6

sam_wood60•20d ago

Spent $50 on a book that's banned in three countries and honestly it's pretty boring.

Picked up a copy of Lolita at a used shop for $50 after all the hype about it being banned in different places, but halfway through I'm just struggling to see what the big deal is - has anyone else read something that was censored somewhere and thought it was overhyped?

12

hugo236•23d ago

A local library banned a kids book I actually REALLY liked

I picked up "The Rabbits" by John Marsden from a library in Portland last year thinking it was just a weird picture book. Turns out it's about colonization through animal art, and they pulled it from the kids section after 3 complaints. I learned that even gentle-looking books can get pulled for being "too dark" or "political." Has anyone else found a banned book that surprised them with how tame or clever it actually was?

16

evan_stone•24d ago

Hot take: I used to think book bans were just pearl-clutching till I saw one play out at my local library

I always figured people were overreacting when they talked about banned books being a big deal. Like sure, a few dusty titles get pulled from some school in a small town, whatever. But last month my public library in Eugene put a book on the restricted shelf because a parent complained about a sex scene. It was a novel about a teenager's coming of age, nothing crazy. I went to check it out and the librarian told me I had to show ID and sign a form. That just felt weird and wrong. It wasn't a ban, but it was censorship with extra steps. I spent three afternoons attending the library board meetings to argue against it, and they eventually moved it back to general fiction. That whole week of debating with neighbors and reading policy docs changed my mind completely. Has anyone else had to deal with this kind of soft censorship at their local branch?

16

jesse_cooper•26d ago

Had to choose between showing a banned film at my library or not, here is what happened.

I work at a small library in Austin and last month I had to pick between hosting a screening of "The Battle of Algiers" or canceling it after a board member complained. The film is banned in several countries for how it shows guerrilla warfare and colonial violence. I went ahead with it and only 12 people showed up, but we had a really good talk about censorship afterward. Has anyone else run into pushback for showing something that was banned elsewhere?

32

the_ben•29d ago

Just realized a 1984 book club group got shut down in my town 3 years ago

My library had a tiny banned books discussion group that met in the back room. A parent complained about the sex scene in 1984 and the whole thing was canceled after 2 meetings. Has anyone else seen local reading groups get targeted like that?

1

shanel13•1mo ago

Overheard a librarian in Portland say they hide certain YA books behind the counter now

Was at the library downtown last week looking for a book my niece wanted and caught two librarians whispering about how they got told to pull some titles off the shelves. Not banned exactly but "relocated" so kids cant just grab them. Made me wonder how many other libraries are doing this quietly. Has anyone else seen this at their local branch?

16

stone.jesse•1mo ago

Bought a banned book off eBay for $80 and it was completely worthless

I paid $80 for a copy of 'The Rebel' by Camus that was supposedly banned in China. Turned out it was just a cheap photocopy with missing pages. The seller ghosted me after I complained and eBay wouldn't help because it was an international order. Has anyone else gotten ripped off trying to buy censored books from shady sellers?

10

eva_ward88•1mo ago

Walked into a library in Istanbul and found a whole section of empty shelves

I was in Istanbul last month visiting a friend and we stopped by this public library near Taksim Square. They had a whole floor dedicated to Turkish literature from the 20th century but at least half the shelves were completely empty. I asked the librarian and she just shrugged and said certain authors got 'removed' after the 2016 coup attempt. Has anyone else run into something like this where books just vanish from public spaces?

9

the_william•1mo ago

My kid's picture book got flagged for "political content" in Texas

I read my 5-year-old "The Day You Begin" by Jacqueline Woodson last month. It's about kids feeling different in a new school. Our local library put it in a restricted section last week because some parent complained about "divisive themes." The book literally has a page about a girl eating rice and beans for lunch. I had to fill out a form and wait 3 days just to check it out again. Has anyone else run into absurd bans like this on kids books?

19

martin.vera•1mo ago

Spent 4 months trying to track down a banned documentary about the French nuclear tests in Polynesia

I finally found a grainy copy on a private forum after my third email to a university archive in Tahiti got ignored. Has anyone else had to jump through hoops just to see something that was suppressed for political reasons?