Student Question

What is the difference between banned and censored books?

Quick answer:

The main difference between banned and censored books lies in the scope of restriction. Banning a book means completely prohibiting access to it, while censorship involves altering or omitting specific content without fully removing access. For instance, a book might be censored by redacting certain words or passages but not entirely banned. Thus, while all banned books are censored, not all censored books are completely banned.

Expert Answers

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An interesting question. In many cases, there is no difference at all. If you ban a book, you censor it. In fact, if you look at the website listed below, you'll see that the writers use the terms interchangeably.

Now, if you want to be picky, banning is an either/or decision: either something is banned or it is not. However, you can censor something without banning it. You can, as sometimes happens on television, "bleep" out the obscenities, for example, or cover up the offending portion of work of visual art.

Greg

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