Where Are We With Books Today?

Censorship. What Is Happening? Careful, I reference nudity here.

Last week, I wrote about reading bedtime stories to my children, lasting encounters that prepared us for riches in books. Something smacked me. I remembered a piece I wrote some years ago about censorship and how the subject frustrated me; now even moreso.

When I was a kid, the Legion of Decency, an organization dedicated to identifying objectionable content in motion pictures for Catholic audiences, imposed (or so I thought) itself in my life. They listed movies that were prohibited because they considered them morally offensive. When we were warned that we might suffer the consequences, we raced to the theater.

“Stay away from the sin in those movies,” barked Sister, our catechism authority. ”There’s stuff in there that will send you to hell!”

On Saturday, we steamed to our neighborhood’s damnation, The Castle Theater, where I may have seen The Moon is Blue or Outlaw. Not sure. I survived, uncorrupted, or so I think.

The censorship game has reared its ugly head, again, in another way. Books. Here are some of the forbidden that I read in my youth: Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, and Grapes of Wrath . . . exceptional writing by outstanding authors. What if I were forbidden to read them? What if they were not in my library? I could not imagine.

Our teachers understood education, freedom, mind power, and the path to maturity. Books were the dawn. Our teachers understood the importance of freeing students to be curious and experience the world of writing. Books were the dawn.

What is happening?

Look. A Texas state lawmaker is targeting materials that "might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex." Suppressive censorship? He must be kidding! He made an aggressive attack on intellectual freedom.

And look again. In some states, the impact of book-banning laws are potentially devastating. They undermine curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking. Chilling. Why? Because it sets a dangerous precedent that book banning becomes the norm.

And look again. Some rural libraries, unable to afford legal defense against potential lawsuits, have been forced to ban minors from their premises. Incredible. Chilling.

Parents, with the help of professionals, should be the ones to advise their children about how books enhance their education and not . . . NOT . . . overreaching politicians on a witch hunt seeking political capital.

Why are books dealing with sexuality, racism, and U.S. history feared? I would ask those who promote censorship, “What do you fear? What are your issues?”

Recently, I learned of Bianca Censori’s nudity (Censor-i?) at the Grammy Awards ceremony. Bianca is, you know, married to Kanye West. I’m not sure what he does.

With the Good Nun spiritually alive over my right shoulder, I disobeyed, again, and off I delved (investigated would be a better term) into an online visit. Oh yes, I looked, and I was stunned. She was ‘out there.’ Yep. Public. Right there for all, children included, to see. Ya wanna see it? It’s easy.

If an old timer with limited internet exploring skills like mine could get this exposé so easily, how easy it must be for our youth. And you want to restrict their reading? Give . . . me . . . a . . . break!

So I ask myself, “Where are you, the book-banners? Do you mean full-faced nudity is OK?”

I’d better stop my mind from getting in the way, but here goes. If public nudity, sometimes considered a form of expression, has limits due to concerns about the impact on unwilling viewers (uh, like children), why are books under attack?

Oh, stop being so logical, mind. Git outta the way!

I understand the contrasting treatment of book banning and public nudity is complex. Societal values, legality and practicality are part of the equation. But why? Why are they viewed differently?

Doesn’t public nudity lead to stronger reactions and thus need more stringent regulation?

A primary concern driving book bans is the desire to protect children from sexually explicit, hmmm, or age-inappropriate content. Some believe that children need to be shielded from certain ideas and images in books until they are mature enough to process them. And nudity. How’s that?

In 1933, Helen Keller wrote, “You can burn my books, but the ideas in them have seeped through a million channels and will continue to quicken other minds.”

It is important to the future of our country that all American students have the opportunity to read literature and learn to think for themselves.

Take heed to those of you who try to delay the minds of the young. It may backfire.

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