And the Oscar goes to.....

Conservative organizations' performances on the dangers of library books

On Sunday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences aired its annual awards show, the Oscars. It’s an annual grand celebration of the world’s best filmmakers and the best theatrical performances.

But none of those silver screen performances deserved an Oscar more than the acting we’ve seen in Kansas, and across the country, from factions portraying theatrical interpretations of all things of which we should be deathly afraid.

And there are, according to these actors, so very many things to fear. Among the playbill of threats to society, however, few seem to have captured as much attention as the good old-fashioned paper library books and all the terrifying ideas contained within their covers.

America has long been afraid of books - dating back to our first recorded book ban in 1637 when Thomas Morton published his book New English Canaan. Apparently, it was a harsh critique of Puritan customs and power structures. The people in charge didn’t like the so-called heretical ideas in his book, so they banned it.

And we’ve been pretty much screaming about, setting fire to, and preaching about the dangers of books ever since. The list grows longer each year, as more books are published and as more people find more things objectionable.

In Kansas, we’ve had a number of somewhat aggressive efforts to ban books at local and school libraries. Most center on sexual content, nudity, or race, but nothing seems to draw literary ire today more than books that dare illustrate the humanity of the LGBTQ community.

The argument, often passionately portrayed in public meetings across the state, is that children are being exposed to something inappropriate that could potentially harm them. And a group of like-minded people have made it their mission to ensure that no child ever sees these books again.

Here’s a sampling of such activity in Kansas….

Leavenworth school board votes to revise policy to ban library books in elementary schools that include references to gender identity and sexual orientation.

In St. Marys, the public library had to get rid of about a dozen books with references to LGBTQ in order to keep its lease and remain in operation to serve other small communities in the area.

A Kansas Board of Education member read from the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, specifically quoting a reference to masturbation, as well as raising concerns about the “Marxist lesbian” in charge of the American Library Association.

In Sterling, the library director and her assistant said they were fired when they resisted attempts to censor which books were available in the library.

There are more, to be sure, but you get the picture. It’s happening a lot. Even here in Kansas.

Before I move on, I want to point you to a few good clips on the issue. They’re both well reported and worth the time.

Free to read…

Years ago, I was mesmerized by Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 - where in an effort to eliminate any complexity or confusion or uncertainty in the world, Firemen burned books that make people think or feel uncomfortable.

The book is full of great quotes, like this, about the value of ideas and books:

“We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?”

While I will argue that every parent has the right to decide what is appropriate for their child to read, they step very far out of line when they decide what is available for another child to read. One of the real concerns with censorship is that it’s a blade that cuts too ways. A victory today in getting what you want may very well lead to that same weapon of control being exercised on you someday. It’s amazing to me how often people in power never think of the possibility that some day they won’t be.

But let’s get to the real reason all this book banning and gnashing of teeth in public and school libraries is all performance and show.

THE INTERNET IS A THING

In a world in which the internet exists, library books that kids largely aren’t reading isn’t a threat at all. At all. The ideas expressed in a library book is seen by far fewer school age children than any of the TikTok videos that most parents are wholly unaware of.

The continued effort to ban books has almost nothing to do with protecting children and everything to do with antagonizing divisions and fear in our society. And it all leads to hurt in our communities, ineffectiveness in our government, and venom in our political rhetoric.

But make no mistake, these bans aren’t doing a thing to help children.

A poll by Common Sense Media determined that 73 percent of teens reported having watched online pornography between the age of 13-17. In fact, 15 percent of respondents said they had been exposed to porn before the age of 10 and the average age for a teenager to first view pornography was 12.

The National Institute for Health is researching the effects of adolescent exposure to pornography and sexual health. And a 2016 report from the American College of Pediatricians had this to say:

“Children suffer many negative effects due to modern society’s exposure to and acceptance of pornography.  These negative effects include mental disturbance and unrest for the young school age child, including acting out and violent behavior.  Because of its harmfulness to children, pornography must never be used as a tool to teach children human sexuality.  For older adolescents and young adults, pornography teaches a false narrative regarding human sexuality and how men and women form healthy sexual relationships.  This makes it more difficult for young men and women to form authentic, stable relationships.  For parents, pornography is divisive resulting in a decreased quality of marriage and increasing the likelihood of divorce and separation which has been well documented to be harmful to children.”

I’m no prude, and I’m not ever supportive of censorship. But I would argue that if what these so-called protectors of children do in view of TV cameras at packed community meetings is nothing more than bad theater. There is more concerning information on a sliver of the internet than there is in all the books that have ever been published.

There are real problems in this country - and real problems that affect children. Instead of spending time protesting the ideas in books, we could be talking about our societal comfort with porn and violence, and our reluctance to explore healthier, forms of relationships and connections.

We could be talking about effective ways to prevent youth access to pornography. We could be talking about the growing suicide rate among teenagers. We could be talking about the mental health crisis. We could be talking about the compromised health of so many people, and why so many people seem to be struggling so much in our society.

But they don’t give out awards for that, it seems. And you don’t win elections or mobilize a base of voters with that.

There seems to be in every generation a group that sets their sights on determining for the rest of us what is dangerous and harmful and too much for us to handle. All while ignoring the very real problems they created along the way.

Books aren’t the problem. They never have been.

And neither are the ideas in them.

“The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us.”
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451