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Should Books Have A Warning/Rating System?
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Arch
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Aug 02, 2022 02:32PM
Authors needs readers, readers don’t need authors.
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I don’t think books should have a rating system. Most people know what to expect based on the synopsis and the author’s background. Part of the joy and benefit of reading is synthesizing the information and developing a critical mind. Stars are fine, but G, PG, etc. are censorship tools that patronize and dumb down readers.
If a book is filled with foul language, immorality, etc., then put it down and go to the next. That’s just my humble opinion. To each his own.
MountCarmel wrote: "Part of the joy and benefit of reading is synthesizing the information and developing a critical mind. Stars are fine, but G, PG, etc. are censorship tools that patronize and dumb down readers.“Maybe a warning would patronize and dumb down you. Don’t try to speak for other people.
” If a book is filled with foul language, immorality, etc., then put it down and go to the next. That’s just my humble opinion. To each his own.”
Speak for your own money. Why should someone buy a book that probably would be offensive to them? That would be a waste of money and time. I know that I would want my money back. My money would always come before an author.
Arch wrote: "Authors needs readers, readers don’t need authors."If readers don't need authors, how will we find anything to read?
Yasmine wrote: "Arch wrote: "If readers don't need authors, how will we find anything to read?"Perhaps AI generated books will be the solution? ;)
An honest blurb and a marketing strategy with a narrower focus should go a long ways to solving this problem. It may be tempting to cast a wide net to attract as many readers as possible, but don't.I tend to ignore formal content warnings in the media I buy. They're blunt instruments at best.
What problem are we trying to avoid with this? Getting 80 pages into a book and learning that it's a poorly disguised sermon on the immorality of reading novels with sex in them? Yea, I could get into that kind of rating system, but I only ran into that once, so it seems like a lot of effort. I'm pretty sure that reviews serve the purpose.There's a scene in Fahrenheit 451 (the 1966 movie) where the main character horribly offends and upsets women by reading a passage of poetry. That scene always come to mind when I hear about people wanting to put warning labels on books.
Overall, I'd like a rating on books that identifies how full of interesting ideas they are. Usually this can be determined by looking at the book's genre, though, so a rating might be redundant.
Subject matter that some would judge to be extremely offensive and inapproprate may very well be judged to be quite acceptable and innoucous by others.Opinions pertaining to art, books, plays, movies and every other source of entetainment and/or information are personal, and therefore, purely subjective.
Warnings, restrictions, and censorship are 'slippery slopes' that, more often than not, end badly.
To me, a book warning/rating system is simply one brick on the road to intolerance and ignorance. The only valid reason for me to see a warning in a book would be to warn children about possible adult content. But then, what kind of parents would give an erotica novel to their children? Look at the absurd display of intolerance presently running through the USA, with books being banned from libraries and schools because of howling parents crying foul, or about those parents who deemed the statue of David by Michelangelo to be a pornographic piece? Let's stop cathering and bending to those ignoramus!
Everyone doesn’t see things the same. If you don’t want a warning on a book, then that’s you, but don’t think something is wrong if others do. No one can speak for me, but me. A lot of authors don’t read reviews and so many of them don’t like a 1 star rating and I’m good at giving 1 stars. My 1 star may or may not come with a review.
Do books need ratings? Isn't the way a book is shelved rating enough? We have children sections, young adult, and adult books. Aren't these ratings enough?Music carries parental advisory labels because of the fear from the growing fans of hard rock. The whole point of the PMRC hearings were to sue the most popular bands at the time hoping to run them down. The end results became the advisory labels- to me this is a symbol of silence.
I agree in the idea that books should feel "safe" for all readers, but honestly the idea of a rating system seems to be more catered to nonreaders who dig too much into their media, than an actual lover of books.
