This blog asks-'Should books have a suitability warning?'.D.V.Ds and computer games have an age restriction rating on them,even some cds have parental guidance stickers on them,should this be applied to books or at most have a contents warning on them?We know certain types of music have been blamed for sparking massacres in U.S high schools and that films such as 'Clockwork Orange' were banned for many years because it was thought it may cause copycat scenarios but what about influential books?
'The Catcher in the Rye' by J.D Salinger has been cited as an influence on both Mark Chapman-who shot and killed John Lennon and John Hinkley who tried to assasinate president Ronald Regan.The 'hero' of the book is a disillusioned young man,fed up with the fakers around him,he seems to be at the point of boiling over into some incredible rage.
The people who took this book to heart and committed those two crimes obviously had some mental problems but can a book push someone over the edge?I've just read the book 'The Dice Man' by Luke Rhinehart.It is a fictional tale of a psychiatrist who decides to live his life by the throw of a dice.He lists random options and lets the dice choose.Most of the lists are pretty innocuous but as time goes on,the lists become more incredible-such as whether to murder his son and how he should kill someone.Is it just a matter of time before someone unbalanced decides to live out his life in this manner?and should books of this ilk carry a warning?
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