The American Library Association tells me that there were 330 “challenges” in the three months between Sept. 1 and Dec. 1, 2021, with December still to be tallied. That compares with just 156 in all of 2020, and 377 in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. This means book bannings are happening at roughly quadruple the previous pace.
And that’s just the beginning of the thought-police problem. PEN America, a free-speech organization, reports that in the first three weeks of January 2022, 71 “gag-order” bills banning the teaching of certain concepts were introduced or pre-filed in state legislatures across the country. Since January of last year, 12 such bills have become law in 10 GOP-run states, and 88 bills are still working their way through the legislative process. Virtually all of them have been sponsored by Republicans.
Being a leftist, I'm ashamed to say the left has it's own way of banning books. It's less overt. It happens in the selection process, at every level of education. Applying King's advice is much more difficult in an environment where authors simply disappear. If you want Henry Miller instead of or in addition to, Alice Miller, you young-uns are going to have to DIG. Puritanical/ dogmatic feminism is rampant.
ReplyDeleteI'm of two minds on this. I don't believe children should be reading "Portney's Complaint." I just don't.
ReplyDeleteWe have long foolishly believed that if we remove SOME books, they all will go sooner or later. Well, we don't seem quite that dim, do we? Do we have no powers of discernment between what it gratuitous and what is artistic? Surely we can tell that the use of the n-word in "Huckleberry Finn" is not just from the times in which it was written, but is not done degradingly, in that Huck and the black man truly care for each other.
Some books can wait until greater maturity. Some are important to read now in order to ensure a broad education. Others can be obtained when a child comes of age.
Aaron - I'm confused - just where and when do you think an say, 8 year old, will be assigned to read Portney's Complaint? Do you think they might stumble across it in the adult section of the library and think it looks good, with its' plain text cover? Children will not be reading it and your argument is a false one. And no, apparently, most people do *not* have powers of discernment. As a librarian, I've had to deal with these ridiculous arguments for years. Unfortunately, I live in Indiana, yet another state debating such stupid issues. Don't even get me started on pulling teaching of critical race theory...
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