Let's Talk Banned Books
What’s the big deal about banned books? Lately, we’ve been seeing a lot of discussion about the McMinn County Board of Education in Tennessee removing Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel Maus from their reading curriculum. Many people are up in arms about this because they believe it is a restriction of freedom of thought.
When doing a cursory bit of research about this as well as banned books in general, I came across a lot of editorialized articles throwing the blame at the feet of red states, an attempt to promote a a thoroughly erroneous, but pervasive campaign of disinformation that has been directed at the South since robber barons high tailed it here for the purpose of lining their pockets. Let’s set some records straight in regards to the red state/blue state argument.
In California, arguably one of the bluest states in the Union, the Burbank Unified School Board issued a list of banned books in 2020, among them To Kill A Mockingbird, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Roll of Thunder, Here My Cry. In Washington state, another prominent blue state, in the Seattle area, the Mukileteo School Board also banned To Kill A Mockingbird last week. In New York City, where I was born, raised, and went to school, I remember numerous, heated arguments at PTA meetings when my own parents advocated for the inclusion of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a MUST read because of how the seminal author Mark Twain utilized its well constructed narrative to fan the flames of abolition in America. However, no matter how much they pleaded the case for this worthy novel, their cries fell on deaf ears. I include this to clarify that those who wish to ban books are on both sides of the political aisle.
In Fahrenheit 451, books were banned by the government because it was believed that if people were not confronted with information that challenged them to think, then they would be happier. When I first read that book, I thought that was a silly presumption and a keen example of government overreach. However, the longer I live, the more I realize that most people do not like to have their thoughts and ideas challenged. Furthermore, they do not wish to be made uncomfortable.
All of these books mentioned above are still available in print as well as public libraries, book shops, and online distributers. They are not, however, being allowed within these specific school libraries or being used within their reading curriculums.
The McMinn County decision shocked me. From all the furious posting I was seeing on social media and the few articles that I read about it, I thought the reason it was being banned was because the school board was promoting the increasingly disturbing push for Holocaust denial. However, I always wish to understand the opposing view point, whether I agree with it or not. So I searched, for a while, actually, in order to find the exact statement made by the McMinn County Board of Education regarding their decision.
Here it is:
"One of the most important roles of an elected board of education is to reflect the values of the community it serves. The McMinn County Board of Education voted to remove the graphic novel Maus from McMinn County Schools because of its unnecessary use of profanity and nudity and its depiction of violence and suicide. Taken as a whole, the Board felt this work was simply too adult-oriented for use in our schools.
We do not diminish the value of Maus as an impactful and meaningful piece of literature, nor do we dispute the importance of teaching our children the historical and moral lessons and realities of the Holocaust. To the contrary, we have asked our administrators to find other works that accomplish the same educational goals in a more age-appropriate fashion. The atrocities of the Holocaust were shameful beyond description, and we all have an obligation to ensure that younger generations learn of its horrors to ensure that such an event is never repeated.
We simply do not believe that this work is an appropriate text for our students to study."
Honestly, I was surprised when I read this. It was so opposite of what I was led to believe from the numerous sources I had read. So, I sat with this and asked myself, does this objection to Maus have any ground?
My answer is yes. While I do not believe the book should be removed from school libraries, I do understand, why the Board of Education would wish to select another option from literature when using it as a teaching tool for 8th graders, particularly as the rise in self-harm and suicide amongst American teens has increased by 99% within the last two years.
In modern day China, if you are found to be in possession of a Bible- a banned book by the Communist Chinese Party- you are subject to imprisonment complete with torture. There are copious instances of this that has been witnessed and documented in recent years. The banning of Maus, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and the like are something different, and yet, of equal importance.
The purpose of education should be to provide students with the basic foundational skills such a the ability to read, form grammatically correct sentences, carry out mathematical functions necessary in ordinary life, and possess a general knowledge of history and science. In the course of these rudimentary studies, one would hope that each student would also be developing the critical skills necessary for analytical thought. If you remove opposing viewpoints in order to spare students from coming into contact with them, then you are teaching them what to think and not how to think.
I believe this occurs because too many people have placed too weighty of a burden on what educators and schools are supposed to do. If parents object to an idea introduced within the classroom, they should parent their children by engaging in conversations and discussing the reasons they object to certain ideas. This requires educators to be transparent with what they are teaching as well as parents to be engaged with what their children are learning.
However, I have also been privy to too many educators who have silenced whole lines of thought because their own personal beliefs do not align with them. That’s a problem too, and I believe where a lot of current backlash is coming from. Particularly as the NEA has been making so much noise about removing parental influence from schools altogether. How is that any different from banning a book? It’s the same principle. It’s the limiting of exposure to ideas. It’s the silencing of a people group based upon their beliefs.
It’s banning.
In 2021, the Department of Education in Minnesota did its decade review of curriculum to see what new material to adopt. This is a customary practice. In the early draft of the new curriculum all mention of the Holocaust as well as other instances of mass, government sanctioned genocide was omitted. Omitted. That means that within the curriculum you would find no mention of the Holocaust, as if it did not exist. This curriculum was not thrown out outright. It was truly considered by the Minnesota Department of Education. Even more horrifying is the fact that it was not until several Jewish communities inundated the DOE with emails of protest that the draft was revised to include the Holocaust and other world genocides. Yet, the people who are up in arms about Maus were dead silent about this prime example of Holocaust denial. This is a far more pervasive attack than a single book being removed from a reading curriculum; it is the re-shaping of history without key historical events. Why was it omitted? Why were so many media outlets silent about it but not about Maus? Is it because one took place in Minnesota and the other in Tennessee? Is it because so many northern based media outlets bear prejudices in regards to the South and wish to only entertain stories that promote those prejudices? (Trust me, I’m from the North. I’ve heard all the superior minded Northern slander in regards to the South. I grew up hearing it, actually, and have been blessed to see how much of it is not true in real life. Particularly how open minded so many Southerners truly are in the live and let live sort of way.)
Which brings me to another form of banning we’re seeing more and more of in the current culture. While books still have a relevancy today- more than a relevancy if you ask me, but bear with me on this one- we have to face facts that the most influential sources that students (and adults) engage with today is via social media and the media. So, it stands to reason that those forms of communication should be bastions of free thought and speech. However, the last two years has proven this to be otherwise.
Big Tech, with governmental sanctioning, has been guilty of clumping people into groups, labeling them under defamatory titles, and then using that defamation to silence them by shadow banning their accounts or removing their accounts altogether. We’ve seen the increased use of terms like misinformation and disinformation and the cavalier manner in which terms like white supremacist, racist, bigot, and Nazi are thrown around. And yet, we are not being afforded the opportunity to truly listen to those people, to hear what they have to say to defend their thoughts and beliefs, because someone somewhere- whether it be a governmental official or a social media giant- has determined that their own personal thoughts are superior to those of others.
That’s banning.
Or what about the disturbing trend we’re seeing where publishing companies are denying the publications of books because they believe that the belief systems of the authors of those books are not worthy of being published and distributed. This occurrence is increasing, and it’s even more troubling. Publishers are determining what is even being allowed into the arena of thoughts and ideas because their own personal beliefs are purported to be superior to another’s. Case in point: Sean Feucht.
That’s banning.
Or what about when major online distributors started to pull different books from their websites because they were deemed inappropriate because of the ideas they promoted. Keep in mind, I’m not talking about Adolph Hiltler’s Mein Kampf, Joseph Stalin’s The Road to Power, or Charles Manson’s Manson in His Own Words. Rather, these are journals, books, or thesis written by doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals. Furthermore, many books political in nature, specifically conservative political beliefs, have been pulled, too.
That’s banning.
All of these things have been going on with greater frequency in the last two years. And sadly, I have seen people remain silent about it. Which is why the uproar surrounding Maus caught my attention.
It’s a form of banning, to be sure. It’s one we should talk about. But for people to bang the drum for free thought by highlighting Maus, but remain silent about all these other instances amounts to hypocrisy.
We either believe in free thought or we don’t. That means that thoughts we don’t agree with need to be out there. Not silenced. Not censored. Not banned. In any arena.
We’re seeing this play out right now on Spotify. Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and other flames from the revolutionary movements of the ‘60s and ‘70s are using their prominent voices to champion the silencing of someone they don’t agree with- Joe Rogan. I honestly don’t care what you thoughts are regarding Joe Rogan- I’ve never been one to listen to him myself- but I do believe that he should be allowed to have a voice. Yet, I am seeing people who supposedly hate fascism, champion Young and others like him for their stance. A stance which if adopted would prevent someone from speaking his mind and having a platform, which he deserves.
That’s banning. And it’s being applauded.
We all of us really need to take stock of these things and understand their import. I am not one to compare the horrors of the Holocaust to what’s happening today. However, I am a student of history, someone who does prize reading the primary documents of the time in order to fully understand history’s progression. It’s been something I’ve been doing more and more lately. The patterns the National Socialist Party of Germany used to fabricate distrust, fear, and anger toward the Jews and anyone else who spoke out with a different opinion than theirs are the same techniques we are seeing today. Techniques used by Stalin in the USSR and numerous other despots who have claimed power and imposed their will on the people by coercing them into silence.
So, if you’re upset about Maus, get upset about these other instances of banning and use your voice to protest them. It is truly when good men do nothing that evil triumphs.
