Banning Books (6.0)

Imagine if there is no imagination, imagine free thought is illegal, imagine a world without books. There is a book by the name of Fahrenheit 451 which describes the aforementioned world. It told of a world of fire-proof homes and where firefighters didn't put out fires, but started them; where houses were not the reason to burn, the sole reason of firefighting was to burn books. But this is not the only "case" or case of book burnings, throughout history oppressive regimes and brainwashing cults have assaulted literature and books. What is the cause for this ban on books? Is it vain or is it righteous?


When- in Fahrenheit 451- the main character, Guy Montag, discovered the want to read books when leaving the fire station as a young girl stopped and asked him about them, he felt the urge, later on, to read them. But, then, as throughout the story, books were illegal. At one house he burned the women who owned it remained inside and died in the fire. Montag stole a book from the house and took it home. He read it, thinking no one would know, but his boss did. In a dream, Montag and his boss, Beatty, had an argument and fought the argument using quotations from books, Beatty being as much learned in books as Montag, and that surprised Montag, for Beatty was, and is, an avid supporter of book burnings. Eventually, Beatty decided it was time to bust Montag. Montag drove the fire truck by the directions of Beatty, and just around one street, came Montag's house. His house was burned and he fled from the authorities and a mechanical Hound, eventually he comes to an underground where he lives out his life under a still continuing ban on books.


Censorship tries to please everybody and attempts not to be offensive towards anybody. The trouble with that is, what is offensive in one culture, isn't offensive in another. Also, if author's rights were violated, that would be a violation of an American's rights. If books like Gone with the Wind or The Lord of the Rings were edited and censored in order to please the feeble outcry of every minority that complains about this little quote or this minute detail, books would have no amusement or entertainment it them. The reason books were banned in Fahrenheit 451 was because the government tried to censor books in order to please minorities and therefore decided just to ban them outright as to please all minorities and majorities. Censorship leads to the banning of books. Censorship is wrong, bans on books are wrong.


There is a temptation in our society that drives regimes of suppression and repression. That temptation is that in order to attain greatness and fame and wealth, one must oppress others with other ideals- especially conflicting ones. Hitler tried to prove that his Aryan race was superior to all others, and to erase any evidence to the contrary, he organized book burnings and banned many books. Communist Russia and China, Arab nations like Iran and the former Iraq, and North Korea have illegalized thousands of books including the Harry Potter series, Fahrenheit 451, 1984, and countless others. Throughout the centuries, some anti-Christian cultures have burned and banned the Bible. After King Henry VIII split from the Church to form the Church of England, he outlawed the Catholic Bible and instated a new one. Even today, many cultures and religions complain and whine about some little word or idea in some classic tale, and are driven to near insanity. If our society is to survive to explore outside this world, or to meet our distant relatives among the stars, we have to understand that you do not have the right to demand a change a story due to its content being offensive to you, and our governments mustn't come to the whim of every minority while ignoring the majorities. History has told us time and time again, that idea is futile.


In retrospect, a book, Fahrenheit 451, has told us that books should not be banned or illegalized in anyway, and that to censor literature in the hopes to please the minorities shall mark the end of free society. That day is a day I hope humans never witness, and I hope that all the people and cultures of this world, come together as one, and as a million. To be united with difference, to stand separated together, to shout and sing aloud- to all the others who want us to be one, or who want us to be wholly different- "We shall overcome!"