On Banning Books

I'm jumping on a bandwagon.  Some other blogs have published quotes about censorship and banning books.  Here are some of my favorites:

"Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but unlike charity, it should end there." 
 Clare Booth Luce

“God forbid that any book should be banned. The practice is as indefensible as infanticide.”
Dame Rebecca West

"I believe that censorship grows out of fear, and because fear is contagious, some parents are easily swayed. Book banning satisfies their need to feel in control of their children’s lives. This fear is often disguised as moral outrage. They want to believe that if their children don’t read about it, their children won’t know about it. And if they don’t know about it, it won’t happen."

Judy Blume

“Banning books is just another form of bullying. It's all about fear and an assumption of power. The key is to address the fear and deny the power.” 
James Howe

"Submitting to censorship is to enter the seductive world of 'The Giver': the world where there are no bad words and no bad deeds. But it is also the world where choice has been taken away and reality distorted. And that is the most dangerous world of all."
Lois Lowry

"If a public school were to remove every book because it contains one word deemed objectionable to some parent, then there would be no books at all in our public libraries."

Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition

Of course it’s a worry when anybody takes it upon themselves to dictate what people should or should not read. The power of organised religion is very strong in the US, and getting stronger because of the internet.

Philip Pullman