It is simply astounding to me that anyone--save perhaps the parent of a young child--should have the power to determine what is morally, politically, or otherwise objectionable for someone else to read. What arrogance that is! What effrontery! What shameless disregard for the human mind!
Not to mention, what folly! Do the self- or government-appointed censors really think they can smother a thought, an idea? Pshaw! How well did they succeed in banning the following books?
Think of the free publicity the authors got from the attendant controversies. Nothing made the 15-year-old me want to read The Catcher in the Rye more than knowledge that someone in "authority" said I shouldn't. (Maybe I should get my textbook banned someplace just to see how much my royalties would increase.)
For an eloquent apologia (formal defense or justification) from a librarian on why a certain book (and, by implication, any book) should not be banned from public libraries please see http://jaslarue.blogspot.com/2008/07/uncle-bobbys-wedding.html.
Finally, I am reminded of the words of James Madison, "Father of the Constitution" and principal author of the Bill of Rights, who wrote that the greatest danger to liberty lies "in the body of the people, operating by the majority against the minority."
The antidote to bad speech is good speech, not censorship.
Stuart
Amen amen.
ReplyDeleteI am currently more worried about this phenomenon being inverted in our society; radical right drum-beaters like Glen Beck feigning censorship by the socialist regime they have imagined they live under as a way of validating their entirely unfounded fear-mongering and gaining publicity. "Look, they are trying to silence me! I must have hit a nerve!" Meanwhile, he clogs the arteries of our public discourse with value-menu ideology.
The answer to this is, as you mentioned, good speech, but it would be nice to validate his claims of oppression for a while...
I agree with you. Never was I so disappointed in a book as when I read Salinger's tale for sophomore English. Other than the appearance of some curse words that kids my age already used with expertise, I didn't get the big deal. But I was so excited to be reading it, because I thought it must have some real good stuff in it since it was banned somewhere.
ReplyDeleteMy son is 8. I decide what he reads. But my job is to give him the tools so that in a few years, it won't matter what he reads, because he can think critically and keep the good stuff, throw away the crap, and not be influenced by something with no legs to stand on.