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Would you boycott a book because it was controversial?

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kitty.lover

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I personally wouldn't boycott any books unless they were pornographic.

His Dark Materials was considered by my church friends to be controversial. I read it and loved it. I found it was very missunderstood and far from being anti - christian I found it inspiring.

When I challenged my friends I discovered that they hadn't even read it.

So I ask would you boycott a book because it may be controversial?
 

Isambard

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kitty.lover said:
When I challenged my friends I discovered that they hadn't even read it.
Click to expand...

I found the same thing among who claimed Salman Rushdie had intentionally mocked Islam with his "The Satanic Verses". Alot of the reviews just made ad-hominems, or cited passages that didn't exist.

To answer your qustion, I'd never have a book banned. if the book was pornographic, id just not make it available to children.
 
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keith99

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There are some I would avoid. The largest group are ones where I'd characerize my actions as I'm not wasting my time or money on that trash. Not exactly what I'd call a boycott. A large portion of even these I'd not have any problem with someone else reading it if they found it relaxing or otherwise enjoyable.

I do have issues with books sold as non-fiction that are wrong or fleat out evil. One I recall is 'Everything you Wanted to Know About Sex, but were Afraid to Ask'. That is worthy of boycott, not for the subject amtter, but for the misinformation. I was lucky my first contact with it was Playboy article pointing out the numerous and dangerous errors.

But fiction? Pretty much no.

On boycotts in general I've found they are often misguided and throw out the baby with the bathwater. I watched 'The Last temptation of Christ' when it came out. I found many parts offensive, even now when I am not a Christian. I found many of the critical reviewers missed the whole point. One could say they choked on gnats after swallowing camels. And while the offensive parts were offensive the central idea is worth discussion. Simply put The last temptation, and the one that almost worked was simply to lead a normal life. Sad actually, that idea is one Christians should consider, but the drek in the film obscures the point.

I am changing however. I am far less apt to buy or read somethign because of the controversy than I used to be. Far too often I've found there is little content aside from the controversey.
 
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kittysbecute

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If a book is controversial I don't go out of my way to boycott it and I don't go out of my way to do the opposite. A lot of books I've read and loved, were "controversial". Most of the time when I was reading them I had no idea they were controversial until I heard about it later.
Of course if I hear about a book and I don't care about the topic or whatever and don't want to read it, I won't read it unless it is assigned in one of my classes at school. I don't see the point on wasting my time reading something I don't want to, when there are a lot of other books that are interesting and I have a desire to read.
 
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Cabal

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Ditto.

I have a tendency to take advantage of the cheap dollar/sterling ratio when I travel to NYC to visit my girlfriend, and I tend to splurge in Barnes and Noble. I definitely got a few funny looks when I bought both Mein Kampf and The Satanic Verses at the same time (still haven't read either mind, dipped in and out of Mein Kampf...)
 
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PoetStorm

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Kharak said:
If you read it and don't like it, do remember they also double as toilet paper . . .

Take that DaVinci code.
Click to expand...

Ha! I love it! Nice one. The DaVnici code put me to sleep both in book form and movie form, and personally I don't believe half of it.

As for boycotting books, I am personally against it. I may decide I don't feel like reading a certain book but that's not the same thing. It's personal choice and is always open to change. I think information can never be harmful as long as you have a discerning mind to mull it over and decide what you agree with and what you do not. Anti-Christian or not, differing viewpoints can serve to strengthen your own thinking and can help make your own opinions stronger or give you insight into another way of thinking. I never shun information. I just sift through it and make up my own mind.
 
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Cabal

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Urgh, the frenzy that book got was ridiculous. I can't believe so many grown people fell for the old "THIS BOOK IS FACTUAL RLY" plot device at the start of the book. I may have fallen for stuff like that before, e.g in The Eagle Has Landed, when I was TWELVE.

Sorry, rant over. Just stuff like this where a significant number of people start taking something as ham-handed as the da Vinci code seriously just makes me embarrased to be in the same species as them and long for a new mass extinction event. *twitch*
 
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