Today is the final day of Banned Books Week for this year. Much has been said about it both on and off line, but I thought I’d take this opportunity to toss my thoughts into the mix. In most cases, when parents ask for books to be banned from their children’s schools or public libraries, it’s because they believe the material is inappropriate for the age group to which it is being made available.
One of the most banned books in the last few years is a picture book called And Tango Makes Three about two male penguins at the NY Zoo, who live as a couple, and then as a family, when they hatch an egg they are given. I assume parents who are upset about this book arent’t exactly concerned about penguins, but rather the idea that their young children might learn about homosexuality. Also frequently banned are Ellen Hopkins’ young adult books, which bravely address frightening issues in our society, such as teen prostitution, drug abuse, incest/sexual abuse, etc. in a very real and honest way. Some parents believe their preschoolers aren’t ready to know about families with homosexual parents. Some think their middle schoolers shouldn’t have books about Hopkins’ difficult topics available to them.
But here’s the thing: As much as we may want to, we cannot protect our children from the world. They might go over to a friend’s house and watch something on TV you’d rather they didn’t. They might have a classmate with two daddies and no mommies. Or the news might be on in a store where you’re shopping and they might see something you wish they hadn’t seen. We cannot stop our children from being exposed to the world. What we can do is talk with them about it, help them understand it, teach them how to avoid situations that are dangerous, and be there to listen when they are sad or stressed or confused.
When my kids were little, they were very sensitive. So I didn’t rent Bambi or The Wizard of Oz because I thought it would be too upsetting. I waited until they were older and might be better able to handle it. I made that choice for my children. But I didn’t try to have those films banned. And you know what – sometimes at school or at a friend’s house they were shown movies I wouldn’t have shown them. That turned out to be a wonderful opportunity for discussion about their reactions, about their fears and our values, and about how different we all are.
So, yes, talk to your kids about drugs and sex and dangers in the world. Talk with them about your feelings and theirs about hot topics. Let them explore books the same way they explore the world, with you as their safe base from which to explore. But when it comes to banning books – just say no.
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Comments
1 FredTownWard // Oct 4, 2009 at 7:05 am
Cheryl Renee Herbsman has just destroyed her own argument.
The fact that adult themes (or in too many of these cases adult themed ADVOCACY for a particular cause) are coming from everywhere these days is an argument FOR banning them from schools and libraries, not against it. After all there is now no danger of the books in question or the ideas discussed being denied access to the public mind.
All parents are asking is don’t do it over my objections with my tax dollars to my children who are required by law to be there.
Forcing children who WANT to be exposed to this to spend their own money down at the local big box bookstore where the most controversial books are prominently displayed isn’t much of a hardship,…
especially so long as most of those who “Just Say No to Banning Books” shut their mouths tight when the Bible and Christian-themed books get banned.
2 Linda Covella // Oct 7, 2009 at 12:01 pm
IMO, it’s simply a matter of censureship, which is against what we stand for in this country. Let the parents and children/teens decide what they should be reading; it’s not the government’s place to decide what is right or wrong for certain groups to read or not read.
Just say NO to censureship.
3 Thalia Chaltas // Oct 7, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Raising concern and having discussion is the mature way to deal with hard issues. Banning is imposing one person’s ideas upon another. Banning is not communication.
We need to give our children credit for their views and feelings and have those hard discussions. We need to respect the adults around us for their views and feelings and have those hard discussions.
It is important that we practice communication of all kinds for everyone.
4 Asher Zeiger // Oct 7, 2009 at 12:51 pm
TredTownWard – it seems to me that you have very faulty logic. Cheryl never said that these adult themes and their advocacy are “coming from everywhere these days” – but what she DID say, and absolutely correctly IMHO, is that they are a part of the real world.
Are you going to see gay couples everywhere you turn? Of course not. Are your children absolutely going to meet somebody, or share a class with the child of a same-sex marriage? Also – of course not. But these things can and do happen – as do so many other things that we would all prefer not to see or have our children see.
But they still may be confronted with the reality – whether it be what is really none of anybody’s business, like homosexuality, or if it will be something that (ideally) should concern all of us – rape, murder, exploitation, etc.
The real question is – if and when our children are confronted with these issues – do we want them to see and understand them with ignorance, or with understanding and perspective?
Banning books as a sweeping policy is giving a very clear message to our children (and our society) that I am very happy to have my tax dollars used to avoid.
5 Jessie Harrell // Oct 7, 2009 at 2:46 pm
FredTownWard – you said “don’t do it … to my children who are required by law to be there.” You seem to assume that if a book is in your child’s library that your child will (a) want to read it and (b) will read it even if you have asked him or her not to.
You’re the parent. If YOU think your child shouldn’t read something, it’s your responsibility to monitor your child and help them make good, informed decisions. It’s not the government’s job to deny access to books simply because a minority of the parents disapprove.
You ask to have your parenting style and opinions elevated above the decisions and opinions of all the other parents in school. That’s not Democratic… nor is it very Christian.
6 FredTownWard // Oct 7, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Linda Covella, Thalia Chaltos, do you just say no to the censorship that removes, restricts, or bans Bibles and Christian-themed materials from public schools and libraries? If you do, you’re sadly a rarity. One of the reasons I and so many other conservative Christian parents tend to turn a deaf ear to the anti-book banning crowd is because of their selective outrage. If you are OK with banning stuff you disagree with and only object when stuff you agree with is banned, as too many just say no-ers do, you forfeit all moral standing to lecture me on the subject.
Asher Zeiger, the issue is not exposing my children to the reality of homosexuality but rather what they are going to be indoctrinated into thinking about it. Surely you are not going to deny that the only message taught in the public schools today is pro-homosexual, not in the acceptable sense of “leave people alone” but rather in the objectionable sense of “you are not allowed to disapprove no matter what your silly Bible teaches”.
Jessie Harrell, you are ignoring the increasingly common case of children being REQUIRED to read pro-homosexual-agenda books, which is mostly what I was specifically referring to in that remark. Regarding the issue of such books merely being in library, there will always be disagreement about whether purchasing such books is a wise use of tax dollars, but I can assert without fear of contradiction that conservative Christian parents would be less likely to campaign to ban such books if anti-book-banners were not so conspicuously AWOL on the subject of banning books conservative Christian parents would like to see in the library.
The day that anti-book-banners make as big a stink about removing Christian books as they do about removing homosexual books, is the day that we will sit up and listen to them,…
but not until then.
7 Asher Zeiger // Oct 8, 2009 at 12:28 am
Fred – unless you can show some connection – ANY connection whatsoever – between books being available in school and public libraries and the indoctrination that you so fear, your arguments hold no water whatsoever and make no sense.
If these were books that children were being REQUIRED to read in class, and REQUIRED to know and discuss for their grades, perhaps I could find some merit in your arguments, but barring that, book banning is the first step (and a huge one, at that) towards totalitarianism.
If that’s what you want for your children, then there are several places in the world that would be happy to accomodate you. Thankfully, the US is not one of them.
8 FredTownWard // Oct 8, 2009 at 4:13 am
Asher Zeiger, we are talking past each other.
Trust me when I tell you that most conservative Christian parents have neither the time nor the inclination to comb through their local public or public school libraries looking for something to offend them. MOST of these banning attempt controversies begin with children being REQUIRED to read the books in question.
Now it sometimes happens that a book will be so controversial that it makes the news and thus inspires parents to take the trouble to check, which can lead to a banning attempt.
If at that time the oh-so-proud anti-book-banners could point to a time — just ONE time — when they had opposed the banning or removal of Bibles or other Christian books from public libraries and public school libraries, those worried parents might just be willing to listen, but not only are the anti-book-banners usually unable to do so, they almost never think to TRY. Instead they basically call us Nazis and wonder at our refusal to accept their wise counsel.
I agree with you that book banning can be a scary step on the road to totalitarianism.
Where were you when they were banning or removing the books we care about?
9 Asher Zeiger // Oct 8, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Where was I?
I have always been against banning books – no matter who they risk offending (and no matter whether their “offensiveness” is a reflection on the books or on the hyper-sensitivity of those who don’t want the books to be accessible).
What it really boils down to is the education and the values that parents succeed in giving their kids at home. And that is a responsibility that is completely on the parents – not on the schools, not on the authorities, and free of charge from your tax dollars.
10 FredTownWard // Oct 8, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Good for you, Asher Zeiger. Unfortunately as you presumably already know, your views are in the minority, both within the anti-book-banning community and without, which is a shame because Benjamin Franklin was probably right about this as well:
“We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
One of the reasons I make such a point of shoving an oar in whenever I hear an anti-book-banner risk arm injury praising himself or herself is precisely this point: unless and until they are willing to make common cause with the Christians who have seen their books banned without fanfare or outrage, they will NEVER make any headway in talking these same Christians out of doing unto others what has so often been done unto them because they will lack all moral standing to do so.
Personally I believe a big part of the solution is for government schools and government libraries to quit trying to be on the leading edge of whatever is new and trendy. IMHO public funds should not be casually spent according to the personal preferences of the government employees who happen to temporarily hold those positions.
This doesn’t mean never purchasing the controversial, but it does mean conducting your purchasing in a fair-minded enough way that if someone starts to complain, you can remind them of how you bought something THEY wanted, too.
Currently, most public school and public library administrators have been far too enthusiastic in the de-Christianization of their institutions to be able to make such arguments when Christian would-be book-banners show up, and simply comparing them unfavorably to Nazis is a poor substitute for the argument they have squandered by their biased actions.
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