Banned Books Week

As of last Sunday it's Banned Books Week here in the United States. This is where some libraries and book stores around the country take the opportunity to celebrate books that people have objections to by putting them out front for all to see on special displays. It's sort of a giant middle finger to people who are pushing an agenda of censorship. Personally, I love this idea and I can't believe this is the first time I'm hearing about this week. I have a large and serious problem with people who think they have the right to tell other people what is ok to read and what could be too risky for them or their children. Honestly, who the hell do these people think they are? Last time I checked this was a country where people were allowed to make their own damn decisions and just because your brain is too under-developed to know the difference between fiction and non-fiction that is not the rest of society's problem.

The people who want to ban certain books are the same lazy parents who would rather get TV shows or movies taken out of because God forbid they have to have a real conversation about a serious topic with their kids. They just want to be able to stay as their kid's 'friend' rather than their parent and, apparently, friends can't tell other friends 'no'. Sure, now other parents may have to have a tough conversation about why their kids can't find a Harry Potter book at the library, but better those guys have to do it. Also, the hypocrisy that is going on here drives me up a wall, because often times these are the same people who have a big problem with schools having books available that may not be in line with their values, but no problem whatsoever with pushing to have those books removed. I guess it's ok to only have access to one side of an issue as long as it's their side. I would actually be on board with them if they simply requested both sides be represented, but that's rarely how these fights go.

Thankfully, most of these crusades don't work. I'm very grateful to live in New England, which only had a few challenges (none in Vermont or New Hampshire) and in a couple cases people responded to books being removed by donating extra copies as a replacement. Basically it proves that all these people are doing is steeling the other side against them. So, not only are they annoying, but they're bad at strategy. Still, my biggest problem with these people is that most of them don't even read the books they want banned. Ask them to point out a section they find offensive and half of them don't know where to look. They were just told that a book is bad and believed it without reading the book for themselves. That makes them stupid and easily manipulated, which are two very scary things when combined. However, I guess this stuff doesn't remain much of a problem as long as the whack jobs don't get any real power... shit.