Yep, that’s right, do-gooders are again pulling books from shelves and telling inquiring minds and the rest of us what is safe to read and what will harm us if we reject their advice and think inappropriate thoughts inflamed by verboten books. It happens every generation, priggish, well-meaning zealots dictating the standard of morality that we must ratify.
You may have read a few of the banned books commonly found on the decency assessors’ lists. Captain Underpants, the Bible, Two Boys Kissing, and, of course, The Catcher in the Rye, the usual suspects. These titles as well as hundreds more were found lacking and subsequently removed from bookshelves. The customary objections surfaced in several categories: offensive language, sexually explicit content, blasphemous subject matter, and graphic violence. Most of all, however, books were banned because people need to be protected from impure and unpleasant thinking. In the dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, books were banned to save people from thinking too much, which would certainly lead to conflict and degrade the general happiness of society. Don’t worry. Be happy.
For years, I taught English at a local college. Each year our librarians sponsored a banned book reading in conjunction with other libraries all over the country. A dozen students and a few faculty would take turns reading passages from books banned by one or another holier-than-thou school board or public functionary. Entities prohibiting certain books were either in the state of Washington or in adjacent states. Readers stood on a make-shift stage near the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Lake Waughop, each volunteer taking a turn at the microphone reading passages from banned books. Usually, a few dozen students on their way to class or heading for a study carrel would stop to listen as we read selections from Satanic Verses, Catch 22, American Psycho, In Cold Blood, The Adventures Huckleberry Finn, Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, among others. In this way, we thumbed our noses at the craps who engineered chastity belts for our brains. We read excerpts from poems and children’s books, and sacred texts—all on one list or another, material banned from schools or libraries. “Sorry, lads and lassies, you may not read forbidden literature. What were you thinking?”
Practically applied, of course, banned books are easily acquired, aren’t they? Sure, many school boards have policies that remove certain titles from the classroom and from reading rooms, but one can always go to a bookstore somewhere nearby, or online, and procure a vile book. Insist that Johnny not read the Harry Potter series probably works as an incentive for Johnny to read every disturbing word of all seven volumes. Seek and you shall find, eh. But still the attack on freedom of expression rankles. It should, anyway.
And before we conclude that these prohibitions are concocted only by right-wing politicians and family-values Republican absolutists, think again. We find those who want the rest of us to adhere to their wisdom on both sides of the political divide, the insufferable self-righteous right as well as the sanctimonious and censorious left.
The progressive left, as you may know, has a thing about groupthink, insisting that offensive statues, flags, and portraits be removed from public places. Too, they demand that all racial epithets in The Adventures Huckleberry Finn and every inferred belittlement of all minority groups be stricken from the record. Point taken, certainly, but the interdictions can, as the cliché accurately describes, “throw the baby out with the bathwater.” Of course, if one uses a word or two found on the politically incorrect list (ugly, blackballed, forefathers, Merry Christmas, actress, manhole, fat, skinny, Oriental, poor, and too many more dealing with race, gender, religion, appearance, and so on), then one will be immediately censored or at least corrected. To sharpen an already pointed injustice, the highfalutin left insists it is time to repair the errata of the past. Correct thinking only, please. As if that were possible. Many WOKE folks demand that certain voices from the right be banned from presenting lectures on campuses for fear of violence, not to mention the dread of radical right ideas being voiced in public. Let’s keep all awkwardness off campus, please. The proper way is my way or the highway.
Shut up! No, you shut up! Shut up! You shut up first!
Recently, many voices from populist rightwing groups have been gagged by left-leaning social media platforms on grounds that the righties disseminate dangerous and inaccurate information. No doubt they do. But to shut them up is another way of claiming that the dumb-sheep public can’t handle lies and outrageous theories. And because Twitter, Instagram, Facebook (Meta), and other platforms are owned privately, the defense of censoring the righties falls on tech companies that avow they can do whatever the heck they want to do. So there. Take it or leave it!
While there are legitimate reasons to suppress communication that is solely meant to harm or slander, in the main the greater damage, though, comes from herding the populace into submissive behavior, incapable of critical thinking or contrary views. Why do you suppose dictators make it a crime to criticize them?
Our country has suffered from a political schism for some time. Each side of the divide has taken measures to assure that those on the other side of the gap be censored. Republicans want to censor Democrats who want to talk about Critical Race Theory. Lefties want to stifle Righties who encourage citizens to protest government authority over vaccine and mask mandates. Righties want to harness a woman’s right to choose an abortion. Left-wingers want to curb right-wingers’ unrestrained populism. Republicans want to place constraints on who and where one may vote. Democrats want to legislate political correctness in everything from choosing the proper pronouns to defending human decency as they see it. Christian Nationalists want mainstream church and state integration, excluding non-Christian religions. Those in opposition to the Christian Nationalists want to keep all religion out of the public square.
You’re totally evil. No, you’re evil. Oh, yeah! Yeah!
Shut up! No, you shut up! Shut up! You shut up first!