No, I didn't make this one up. Every year the last week of September is dubbed Banned Books Week by the ALA and various other organizations, and effort is made by librarians, teachers, and book-lovers the world round to bring attention to stories that have been suppressed.
Here's a Guardian article describing the top ten banned books for 2010. Among them are classics (Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird) new books (Twilight, ttfn) and one of my favourites, the children's picture book And Tango Makes Three, about a penguin family in Central Park Zoo.
There's good reason this event takes place at the end of September. When kids go back to school parents take an interest in what they're studying. And a lot of these books are chosen either as part of the syllabus or to be included in the school library, because they contain events and issues of interest to the kids, and of interest to the people who are trying to teach those kids. Looking at that Guardian article, the main reasons these books are banned boil down to racism, homosexuality, drugs, offensive language, sex, religion, and violence.
I have a lot of respect for people who take an active interest in what their children are studying. I think it would be pretty rotten if you knew something was going on that you felt was wrong, especially with regards to your children, and you sat around and did nothing about it. But I am also about as far into the freedom of information camp as you can get, so this censorship thing makes me tired and sad every year. Not just during Banned Books Week, but all year. Because it is a sad and tiring thing.
Jason Black has written an excellent post about hating the repression of information rather than the book banners themselves, and I think he makes a lot of good points. This is all part of progress. These are the growing pains of the human race.
I embrace the struggle. I do not have a sword or a gun on a battlefield to show my determination, but I will continue to be a voice against censorship, and feel relief as new generations grow up allowed to know the world they inherit, and allowed to feel their own pain honestly. Because that's what most of these repressed ideas are about: things that we wish our children did not have to face. But they do, and they will, eventually. And hopefully they will never feel alone in their quest to understand themselves and each other and the hardness and beauty in this world.
Since I'm waxing poetic, here is one of my favourite quotes about this struggle. It's from Babylon 5 of all places.
"The war we fight is not against powers and principalities, it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender. The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain."
Photos: Against Banned Books by florian.b, Banned Books Display by Muskingum University Library, and I will read... by david silver on flickr
I understand that there are books that parents might find questionable, and it's in their right to stop their own children from being in possession of that particular book. What I am thoroughly tired of are people that feel they have to change the *world* instead of themselves. They think not of everyone else around them but of their own selfish pursuits. It's this small-minded sort of thinking that holds us all back. As a parent I urge other parents to take initiative and BUY their children books. Even banned ones. Ones that nobody else can take away.
ReplyDeleteLong live the freedom to CHOOSE.
I agree Carrie, and I wish it was within everyone's power to buy every book they thought their child would need or want. Unfortunately many people can't afford that and public or school libraries are their only access. For another parent to try to remove that access is not only selfish, it's dangerous.
ReplyDeleteYes! Long live the freedom to choose!
Wonderful post, Jen. I'm with you. Freedom of expression, freedom of thought - these mean everything to me.
ReplyDeleteOh!!!! Where does the angry mob form? I want in! :D
ReplyDeleteGet em Carrie! :)
See? I'm a Mom and yes, I monitor what crap goes in my kids' heads--be it via tv or books or whatever. BUT I fully support freedom of speech and expression. I detest censorship. I've seen it in art, music, literature...it sickens. In my mind humans need to be able to express their ideas and parents need to be responsible for filtering what influences their kids are exposed to.
It isn't up to society to provide the filter.
That's why I did Smutfest 2010. I was sick of contest restrictions. I wanted to give writers a platform to write whatever they wanted--free of censorship. And even with a stupid little Blogger contest someone's panties got in a wad and bullied a friend into disassociating themselves from the contest. It sickened me.
I clearly stated that it didn't have to be about smut, just honest. But folks get an idea in their heads and that's it. No amount of reasoning or discussion can change it.
Some days it truly frustrates me to think that this is the world I brought my boys into...a world where word are viewed as toxic. Words are just words. They only contain the power we ascribe them.
Excellent post! Sorry about my rant. Lmao! :)
Very good to hear, Laura!
ReplyDeleteKat, I haven't heard of Smutfest 2010 but I am instantly disappointed I wasn't a part of it! And so exasperated to know that even that got turned around.
ReplyDelete"Words are just words. They only contain the power we ascribe them."
Hear, hear! And here's to people who help teach children the skills to recognize good ideas and bad ideas and everything in between, rather than hiding them from everything out of fear.
Well, Cathy, Alan, and I blogged, Tweeted, and I Facebooked it...I probably shoulda told all of the folks I follow and who follow me...
ReplyDeleteNext time I will, lol.
It was fun, very few entries, but Mark won it. His story was really great. You can check it out if you have time. :)
I put the top three entrants up as written by "anonymous" and put it to a vote. I figured that was a cool twist--a way to see what others think of your work--as opposed to voting for friends...
http://katdelrio.blogspot.com/2010/08/winners-music-and-quiet-meditation.html
The actual stories: http://katdelrio.blogspot.com/2010/08/come-one-come-all-and-cast-your-vote.html
Again. Genius post, Chica. :)
An excellent post for Banned Book Month (and its issues that I wish people would care about all year). As you said:
ReplyDelete>>>But I am also about as far into the freedom of information camp as you can get, so this censorship thing makes me tired and sad every year. Not just during Banned Books Week, but all year. Because it is a sad and tiring thing.<<<
I haven't read Jason Black's post yet (but I will), but I totally agree with his "hating the repression of information rather than the book banners themselves"--though I confess I sometimes struggle with actual banners' personalities too. :( I'm often not the person I would like to be.
I was particularly struck by how you articulated the following point: "that's what most of these repressed ideas are about: things that we wish our children did not have to face. But they do, and they will, eventually. And hopefully they will never feel alone in their quest to understand themselves and each other and the hardness and beauty in this world."
It's a very kind and generous view to hold re: book banners, that they're scared and sad, not necessarily tyrants. Of course, books, as you so eloquently point out, only _help_ us live better in our world. I've long felt sad for people who don't understand that.
Anyway, lots of thoughts . . . thanks.
p.s. The great Babylon 5 quote begins with a reversal of (intentionally, I'm sure) of Ephesians 6:12, quite a famous Bible passage. Interesting--though I don't think Paul and the Babylon 5 writers actually were saying diametrically opposed things.
Ev, thanks for the identification! See, one of the things I loved best about B5 was its fabulous quotes. And one of the things I loved least was its inability to ever attribute those quotes.
ReplyDelete