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American support for banning books jumped by more than 50 percent between 2011 and 2015, according to a recently released Harris Poll survey. Conducted last March, some 28 percent 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?"
On the school-library front, a full 71 percent expect librarians to keep age-inappropriate books out of the hands of students. In addition, 60 percent think books containing explicit language should be kept from school bookshelves entirely, and 48 percent say the same about violent books. Those surveyed were also largely in favor of shielding students from books containing witchcraft or sorcery (44 percent), sexual activity (43 percent), drug or alcohol use (37 percent), and vampires (36 percent).
More unsettling, perhaps, is the fact that 33 percent of Americans don't think school libraries should stock a copy of the Koran, while 29 percent want to keep out the Torah or Talmud and 13 percent would ban the bible. About a quarter think students should be kept from any books that question the existence of a divine being, while about 20 percent want to keep out books discussing creationism.
In addition to the 28 percent who say, yes, books should sometimes be banned completely in America, another 24 percent said they were "unsure" about the answer to this question. And 71 percent support books being rated in the same vein as movies, with 35 percent "strongly" in favor of this plan. Interestingly, there was less support for banning movies (16 percent), TV shows (16 percent) or video games (24 percent) outright.
College graduates were somewhat less likely than those with a high-school education or less to support book bans (24 percent, versus 33 percent).
originally posted by: M5xaz
a reply to: FamCore
Why be shocked?
What possible other outcome could anyone expect from this surging "political correctness " movement, very prevalent on university campuses as well.
Republicans, meanwhile, were still almost twice as likely as others to believe some books should be banned completely, with 42 percent support, compared to 23 percent for Democrats and 22 percent for political independents. College graduates were somewhat less likely than those with a high-school education or less to support book bans (24 percent, versus 33 percent).
To be fair, the poll wording is somewhat confusing, jumping from talking about the content of school libraries to books more generally in a way that may have influenced some responses.
originally posted by: 0zzymand0s
I'll take their scary sex fears seriously when they refuse to stock books that depict warfare or violence, which is, undoubtedly -- the only real pornography.
originally posted by: pfishy
a reply to: FamCore
If your agreement with banning books is based on your fear of children discovering that sex exists, how about just a rating system instead of banning them?