Censoring Children’s Books

http://www.philnel.com/2010/09/19/censoring-ideology/

This post on censoring children’s books is just plain interesting.  I grew up never knowing about the prejudices and racial ideology of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Dr. Doolittle.  I’m not sure where I stand, though perhaps this issue is too complex to be divided into two distinct sides.  I don’t think that I’m any worse off thinking that Oompa-Loompas were from Loompaland.  I don’t think I would promote either of those books in their original form to children.  But I would hate to lose the works’ original forms.

Book banning! Not just for print anymore!

http://gizmodo.com/5562802/the-latest-examples-of-apples-stupid-editorial-censorship

Gizmodo shows the Apple’s draconian controls getting way out of hand.  Apple censored two graphic novels in their app store because of the nature of their content.  They just recently reversed themselves but only after the media got a hold of the story.  Read the link for the full story.

Have we not learned the problems that arise with this kind of completely unnecessary censorship?  It’s nice that Apple reversed their decision, but controls are in place such that censorship is the default for items such as this.  This is unacceptable.  This is not obscene content.  This should definitely give schools and libraries pause when considering whether or not to invest in iPads.  Are the iBooks censored too?

The hope for the iPad among old fuddy-duddy types was that it was the future of publishing.  This is not a signal of a bright future.  Stay away from eBooks and iBooks for the foreseeable future!  One bad Apple could spoil the whole bunch.

[Gizmodo]