Welcome To Banned Books Week 2010!
Welcome to Banned Books Week 2010 on Libdrone Book Reviews! Each year the American Library Association leads Banned Books Week in the last week of September to remind Americans of their Constitutionally protected right to Think for themselves and let others do the same. All Americans benefit when we allow the broadest range possible of expression and allow people we disagree with (even profoundly) to think for themselves, reach their own conclusions and to choose reading materials which reflect their ideas and point of view. What a boring place this world would be everyone agreed about everything and their was only one flavor or variety of anything.
I am very proud that this is my fourth year of observing Banned Books Week on my site. I have learned so much over these four years about the reasons that people seek to ban books. And while I believe as strongly as ever that no book should be banned and that the appropriate response to a book, article or speech that gets it wrong in some way is another book, article or speech that explains why. I have come to believe that there are no ideas so dangerous that they can not be discussed. I have also learned that I can do more to reduce censorship and book banning here in the United States by approaching those who call for banning a particular work not stridently (as a ‘defender of Free Speech protecting it from an opponent) but rather civilly in an honest attempt to hear and understand their concerns. This latter approach, I have learned, is far more effective.
As always during Banned Books Week I will be writing about a number of Banned Books chosen by my friends over on Blog Catalog. All of the books I will be discussing this year are ones that I have not previously covered in any of my earlier Banned Books Week posts. So I hope that you will visit again on Tuesday and Thursday when I will be presenting 10 Banned Books Chosen By The Readers Of Blog Catalog.
