Quote:
Originally Posted by Hamlet53
Fortunately, as I stated in an earlier post here, it is very difficult to ban a book in the US in the meaning of preventing publication or distribution. Anything classified as pornography being the exception. However, in say a small rural community like the one I live in if some local activist group (a church group maybe) is successful in getting a book removed from school use and the public library it is effectively “banned” in that access to the book depends on even knowing that it exists and being able to obtain it.
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Well, two points here:
1) Pornography isn't an exception. It's legal to publish and distribute pornography (or Playboy and Hustler, et al, wouldn't be in business).
Obscenity is illegal. That would include (IIRC), things like child pornography, snuff (although the very existence of snuff films is an urban legend, as far as I can tell), people doing scatological things (urinating and defecating on each other, for example), etc. Visual or written depictions of sex are seldom declared obscene these days on their own (since, if I remember right, the 1960's).
2) Knowing that a book exists doesn't necessarily hinge upon it being available at a library, does it? There are plenty of places for people to be exposed to books, from the bestseller lists in papers like the NY Times, to online lists, and even (when she was on) Oprah. I would venture to guess, based on library attendance, that the library is the
least likely place for a person to get his/her book information in modern times.