I personally find this despicable. Banning and burning books is completely ineffective. Banning books only serves to drive up sales of the book in question. Burning books requires that the burners get the books from somewhere, so money is still made off the sale of the book. Most banners can't seem to handle the idea that not everyone shares their views, or that Freedom of Speach and Religion ensures that their views cannot be forced on others. They are also sabotaging their own children, as they are trying to ban books they disagree with, and therefore are preventing their children from being exposed to a wide range of views, and an understanding that the world does not bow to theri views.

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Unfortunately, many people don't use commonsense in writing, publishing or reading books. People will irresponsibly write about anything and then it's out there in the public domain for anyone to read. Books that tell you how to commit suicide, how to build bombs, how to infiltrate computer systems, how to have sex in 5,000 ways, how to torture someone, how to stalk someone, etc. Fiction and nonfiction alike can teach us things that we don't need to know. We aren't talking about novels that have a few blasphemies, a couple of dirty words or a lingering kiss. I don't have any interest in banning books that are marginally bad taste or have strange ideas. But there are many books out there that have no business being in print. It is irresponsible to put some things into print for the public domain. The same for TV programs and movies. Our society has declined due to irresponsible media. It doesn't take a "religious fanatic" to know that murder, torture, stalking, terrorism, pornography, etc. is wrong and detrimental to our society. But our national conscience is being seared by all the muck that we subject ourselves to. It would be helpful to have a rating system on all books like movies and TV programs. It should be rated and why it's rated such as Extreme Violence, Adult Language, Explicit Sex, etc. Otherwise I'm not sure how to stop the problem. I don't want new ideas and exchange of information stopped like in "Fahrenheit 451" but there is a line that, when crossed, causes much more harm than good.

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