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Debate Score:46
Arguments:19
Total Votes:89
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 banned books (19)

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banned books

If you could only save one book, which would it be and why?

Is knowledge power? why or why not?

Are ideas dangerous? why or why not?

Is there an idea you would be willing to die for? What is it?

Should people read "old" books? Why or why not?

 

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4 points

Is knowledge power? why or why not?

Knowledge is not power alone—if you know how to do something but not understand the purpose of it, what is the point of knowing?

Are ideas dangerous? why or why not?

Ideas can be dangerous if they are in the wrong hands—the hands of someone who does not know the line between right and wrong, perhaps—and very beneficial in the right hands.

Should people read "old" books? Why or why not?

Yes, reading "old" books allows people to see the perspective of people in the past. Though it may not be the main purpose of reading an "old" book (maybe for pure entertainment), it also allows people to understand their views and view how they lived.

andreas mann(2) Disputed
2 points

vanessa, i agree w/ u at first about knowledge being power, but ideas can be dangerous even without being in the wrong hands. if someone has an idea it might threaten society or a specific branch of power so then the ideas are still considered dangerous. also, reading old books allows us to see the perspective of the past, but we are not in the past so the past perspectives do not, in most cases, count in the modern world.

3 points

If i could save a book it would be the adventures of Huck Finn because i enjoyed the book an think it's an epic novel. Knowledge is power because the more you know the more about people the more you can black mail or hold against other people. There isn't an idea i would die for because i would never go that far on just an idea. Yes like Huck finn other old books can give you knowledge and power

3 points

If i could save one book in the entire world it would have to be the transall saga by by Gary Paulsen, not only does this book show what would civilization turn to if the world was destroyed by its own people, but it shows human compassion for one another. And yes, knowledge is power there is a movie called the book of Eli, long story short, its about the power of knowledge, through the power of the bible. As long as there is power hungry people they will use books or ideas to mentally and physically overpower the minds and bodies of the people they are trying to control. If i died for an idea it would have to be the "good" side of emotions that all humans are born with, that no matter what people go through they will always have love for others, and the ability to forgive. FOR SURE people should read old books, they tell people what not to do and and why not to do it, not only does it show which mistakes have already been made, but they show how to change the future by looking back into the past.

2 points

If I could only save one book, it would be Click Here by Denise Vega. I have had that book since i was in 5th grade and i liked it so much that I read it 4 times!

Yes, knowledge is power because the world revolves around knowledge(i.e. war, school,society.) people who are less knowledgeable don't understand how things/the world work.

I think ideas can be both dangerous, but also safe. Ideas are dangerous because people like terrorists and things like that have harmful ideas about how to "dismember" our world. Ideas can be a safe/good thing too though because people can come up with GOOD ideas to prevent the bad ideas form being a reality:)

Yes, there is an idea I would die for and that idea is to be saved by God.(and go to Heaven where I would never be harmed:)

I dont think people should read old books because the World was way different back in the day... People operated differently, and certain things were okay in the old days that aren't so okay now.

2 points

If I had to save one book I would save to kill a mockingbird because trust me, it will change your life.

2 points

I would defiantly save THE BIBLE because it contains information that could be useful and relates to all generations.

Knowledge is power because without knowledge you'd be nothing. In order to make decisions about your life you need to know facts and truth. We benefit from ideas and different points of view because we can learn from them and also have some respect for what they're all about.

Ideas can be dangerous but are not always. If you have a dangerous idea but don't act upon it...it is not dangerous. If you have a dangerous idea but act upon it, it can be dangerous.

2 points

I believe "the God Delusion" will become the most significant book of our time.

2 points

If you could only save one book, which would it be and why?

If I could save any book, I would save Wanted by Sara Shepard. It is an entirguing book full of mystery and suspense.

Is knowledge power? why or why not?

Knowledge can be power in certain cases, but if don’t know the point of your knowledge cannot be used as power.

Are ideas dangerous? why or why not?

I think that ideas are dangerous because, even if they are in the right hands, ideas can become unsafe.

Is there an idea you would be willing to die for? What is it?

I would die for the idea of stopping animal testing.

Should people read "old" books? Why or why not?

I think people should read old books because they can expand your perspectives on many different subjects.

1 point

If you could only save one book, which would it be and why?

If I could save one book it would be my picture book. It has every picture my parents and I have ever taken and it's very special.

Is knowledge power? why or why not?

Knowledge is power because you have to be smart to get far in life. You probably wont get very far if you don't even know 2+2.

Are ideas dangerous? why or why not?

Ideas can be dangerous at times. For example, an idea to destroy the world is very bad and dangerous, but is it going to happen, probably not.

Is there an idea you would be willing to die for? What is it?

If god came down and said, " I will bring you to heaven right now if you convert 10 people to Christianity," then yes, I would die for that.

Should people read "old" books? Why or why not?

People should read old books. Two examples of old books people read every day is the bible and to kill a mockingbird. I think old books strengthen peoples understanding of our history and are way of life.

1 point

It is not for one man to say what another man can or cannot know. Knowledge is power, the individual should choose how to use it.

Side: Never ban information
0 points

1. I cannot think of one off the top of my head, but if I had to choose a book it would have to have some sort of utilitarian value and some sort of helpful skill set.

2. Yes, knowledge is power. Knowledge can destroy relationships; help you gain the upper hand in a war, etc… However, I don’t believe it is an “independent” power because knowledge still needs to be followed by action to take any effect.

3. Yes and No, if a potentially dangerous idea is formulated in some guys basement and no action is taken, it is not dangerous. As a matter of fact, no ideas are dangerous, it is the action that follows that is dangerous.

4. I don’t know, ideas aren’t really worth losing your life for. If you should love an idea so much that you would go to such extremes that someone decided they need to kill you, there is a BIG problem.

5. Yes! It is important to preserve history.

Side: Never ban information
0 points

I will have to answer in a couple again...

1) THE BIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT HAS EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW INSIDE THE TWO COVERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2) I believe that knowledge IS extreme power because you can always back information up with your knowledge. If you don't have any facts/knowledge, then you become a babbling giraffe and nobody will listen to you!!!!!!

Side: Never ban information
0 points

The bible is the most popular book in the world, and has thousands of years of history. It is the easiest way to get closer to God and have an intimate relationship with Him.

Ideas can be dangerous because of how we use them. Hitler had the idea of taking over the world and look how that turned out.

I have no idea why a society would want to get rid of books. What would be the point?

Books show the history of mankind and show their capability to be literate.

Side: Never ban information
TheHallow1(78) Disputed
0 points

"The bible is the most popular book in the world, and has thousands of years of history."

Although it may be the most popular book in the world, (although, I'm sure it was surpassed by the Harry Potter series quite a while ago) it contains no real history. Alot of mythology, yes. But recorded history? No.

"It is the easiest way to get closer to God and have an intimate relationship with Him."

Thou Shalt Keep Thy Religion to Thyself.

Side: Never ban information
0 points

There is no book I can think of right now that I would care about saving. All the banned books I have read i haven't really liked a lot. Knowledge is power but I would never risk my life to save a book. I would risk my life for an idea especially if it was close to me. If that idea was in a book I would learn the book and spread it orally.

Side: Never ban information
0 points

Seeing the topic only on the front page I come to the idea it is about whether the ban on any material should be reversed and prevented and the answer is absolutely yes.

Departing from obvious points on freedom of ___, neutrality, more importantly information leads to accelerated evolution. The idea that there is damaging information is bunk, because it is only the person who is damaging no matter what they know. Each piece of work, no matter how damaging, blasphemous, or what have you, serves to inform the mind of the possibility of such happening and surrounding idea/emotion, allowing a more complete, objective conclusion to be reached on all past, present and future issues presented to it. The mind is a relative comparator and the biggest repository of comparisons it can make to what it is sensing is what is in the memory. With a broader range of intensity of memories it will both immediately react less intensely to an anomaly given to it as well as know how to better rationally deal with the anomaly having had more experience.

The major issue is the way the information is perceived. Content was historically banned because of belief that it would coerce individuals to act as described or coerce them to choose to coerce others to do such. In this day it is recognized how shielding one from the extremes of possibility lends itself to confusion and misdirection when such possibilities arise. History must be remembered to not be repeated and an imagined story is just as real as something that has happened.

This is all true of course considering there are not actually ideas constructed so perfectly and totally that when perceived from a variety of viewpoints, they can "infect" at least some individuals. By infect I don't mean to be a catchy tune or a good/bad idea to be passed on, I mean real genuine mind control. In the most serious sense it is absolutely feasible and is used daily in marketing for example, but it would work on fewer and fewer people the more influential to their future action it becomes, and would need to be tailed to each specific person based on their past experiences and mindset during such experiences given that a memory can be functionally encoded differently depending again on how the person perceived the situation in the first place. However, given the broad presence of the internet, there is such a large amount of varied content that it is more and more difficult to create unique mental viruses that wouldn't be disturbed by the presence of some conflicting detail or memory from 4chan, raised before the expected one (some heavy influential older memory) necessary to bring the correct details to attention to effectively implement this new thought, association (virus).

Even so, it gives that less educated, conscious, aware and event-filled-memory-possessing individuals would be more susceptible to them; this is simply Darwinism and they will quicker evolve to where they're meant to go whether this idea leads them to do something good, get better at themselves, or serve others.

Side: Never ban information
-1 points

If you could only save one book, which would it be and why?

I would also save To Kill a Mockingbird because it is filled with intriguing information.

Are ideas dangerous? why or why not?

Ideas can definitely be dangerous and can't be depending on what it is.

Is there an idea you would be willing to die for? What is it?

No because no idea is so important at the moment that is worth dyeing for

Should people read "old" books? Why or why not?

Yes people should read old books because it is good to see how they wrote and compare it to how we do.

Side: Never ban information
-2 points