Our Hot Take On American Schools Banning A Popular Sci-Fi Manga

From chocolates to selected caviar, America is known for banning all sorts of crazy, stupid things that aren’t guns, and with 50 states, their bans are as obscure as they are far-reaching. And, just recently, the hammer struck again as schools in Wisconsin and Florida banned the beloved manga “Assassination Classroom,” stating it promotes violence against teachers.

For context, Assassination Classroom is a sci-fi story about a monstrous, octopus-looking humanoid who destroyed a massive chunk of the moon and threatens to do the same to Earth. The monster becomes a homeroom teacher and then gives the students an opportunity to kill it before it destroys the planet.

The removal of the book was pushed after a conservative group known as Moms for Liberty deemed the book to be inappropriate to be placed in a classroom setting. The removal of the book was swiftly followed by a ban in at least one middle school and is facing potential bans from other schools as well. The first official ban originated at Gifford Middle School in Gifford, Florida.

In light of the recent wave of school shootings in the US, Moms for Liberty’s Indian River County chapter chair, Jennifer Pippin, stated that the organisation thought the book was inappropriate because it depicts children with guns in a classroom.

Source: Indian River News. Left to right: Ashley Hall, Jennifer Pippin told USA Today that, “We don’t want students to think it’s OK to kill their teachers.”

Because of this, other states, such as Virginia and North Carolina, are looking into banning manga.

The Hot Takes

As sad as it is to say, school shootings are very common in America; there have been almost 150 shootings in the first three months of this year alone, and they think banning a book will make the problem magically disappear? If the manga was as concerning as it seems or actually motivated students to kill their teachers, it would have been banned for a long time and with justifiable reason. However, the manga was released in 2012, and an anime adaptation followed in 2013.

Though the premise may be grim, the story of Assassination Classroom is much more wholesome than it appears. It turns out the monstrous entity is an amazing teacher who is loved by the students. Unfortunately, like most fears, people are quick to judge, and perhaps the members of the conservative group who pushed for the ban never made it past the first ten pages before deciding to ban the book or read it at all.

If you recall or are familiar with it, people have a certain attitude towards the new or unfamiliar, just as people, namely Americans, once tried to ban rock ‘n’ roll and video games when they were first introduced. It’s just sad to see that for some reason, they have resorted to banning books, which aim to tell a story, rather than a gun, a tool that is designed only for killing.

With time, however, new sensibilities would arise, making people realise the issues and faults of today and hopefully fixing them for the next generation to enjoy.

Source: IMDb, Wikimedia Commons [1], [2], Indian River News, Religion Dispatches