Banning Books
There have been numerous debates by scholars, government representatives, religious leaders and human rights groups as to whether the policy of banning and censoring of books should be enforced.
Whereas in some cases there has been unanimous agreement that some books should be censored from the public, there have also been situations where sharp differences have emerged among these groups. To understand this further it is important to classify the books in different categories and argue out as to whether it is just to ban / censor some books.Critique of Government Books: There are those publication houses and authors that release books and other printed materials that are always against the performance of the government of the day. In most cases these books offer negative criticism to the government despite the fact that the same government has contributed positively to the welfare of the nation and its citizen. For such situation, then the government has the right to ban such publications since in most cases they portray the name of the nation negatively among the international community and this might be bad for the economic growth and development of the nation. It has been observed that most of the architectures behind these books have hidden political agenda and therefore by criticizing the government negatively then they stand a greater chance of gaining political mileage.
Religious Censorship: Most nations around the world are made of people persons from different religious back grounds and under the constitutions of these nations they have the right to worship. It is however common to witness cases whereby members from one religious group has mounted an attack on another religious group; for instance earlier this year there was religious war between the Muslims and the Christians in Nigeria. The failure by the government to censor some of the religious books that were spreading propaganda was blamed as the cause of the war. Therefore it is upon the government to thoroughly analyze the content being printed by religious cases and ban those books that preach inter religious hatred since the end result of this is more harm than good.Sex Related Books: Books that talk about sexuality should be banned from being accessed by any underage person.
This is because when underage kids access books that talk about sex and sexuality, they tend to become experimental and the end results are unwanted pregnancy, contracting of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and in some cases HIV/AIDS. The rapid growth and development of information and communication technology sector has revolutionized the way companies publish books, this is through the internet. Apart from censoring hard copy books, the government should filter and block those websites that provide e-books that talk about sex and sexuality to the underage kids.Political Censorship: It has been observed that the political stability of a nation determines the economic status of the nation. For those nation that have strong political bases and democratic spaces then they are bound to prosper as compared to those that are politically unstable, it is therefore unacceptable for any organization to print books and go against the political atmosphere of the nation.
The reason is that by destabilizing the political atmosphere then the nation risks experiencing political instability and an economic crisis. Therefore such books should be banned from being printed and distributed at all costs. Lastly racial related books: Race just like religion can be said to be the “heart” of many nations and any slight disrespect shown towards another race can easily lead to bloodshed and division among the populations. Therefore books that try to divide the nation against racial lines based on the social, economic or political status should be banned. For those books that teach positive racial values, they should be retained.
