Writerly Musings

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Banned Treasures?

I had intended on writing about something else today and will push that back until tomorrow as something I feel is more urgent has been brought to my attention. As a bit of a warning to you guys this is going to be a rant so if you're not in the mood for senseless musings about the ills of the world, we'll try to get back to the regularly scheduled programming tomorrow.

I was doing my usual bit of browsing this morning and came across something that I found particularly disturbing, you can read it here though I am quite sure I'll be mentioning some of the highlights in my post. The long and short of it is that this is banned book week. It's a week that is designed to remind Americans not to sacrifice the freedom we have to enjoy simple things such as reading a book. You may be wondering exactly what is so disturbing about this and rightfully so. The disturbing part is the very fact that books are challenged each and every year for things that certain readers find inappropriate to read. Among those often challenged books are not only classics that are important to our heritage as a nation but wonderful children's books that bring the gift and joy of reading to children who would otherwise pass on the subject all together in favor of television and the movies.

Even more disturbing is that well meaning citizens and advocate groups are the ones working to have these books banned from our library shelves. I'm always floored at the abilities of American's to legislate away their rights, but the right to read and enjoy a great book and form a conclusion based on the things you read within that book is like having the ability to open a new and unique gift each and every day. To sacrfice that freedom willingly is inviting other freedoms to follow closely behind.

Among the treasured books and classics on this list are some of the following masterpieces:
To Kill a Mockingbird
Of Mice and Men
Brave New World
Lord of the Flies
The Catcher in the Rye
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
A Wrinkle in Time
Harry Potter
Goosebumps
How to Eat Fried Worms
Carrie
The Dead Zone

and many others that are near and dear in addition to being great works of fiction and literature. I can understand that the language of the time the books were written (for some of these books) might be objectionable, however, if we forget about those dark moments in history aren't we doomed to repeat them? These books offer such insight and so many lessons and most importantly encourage children to think for themselves and draw their own conclusions. Why on earth could be so objectionable about that??

In addition I'm trying to figure out what on earth is wrong with Goosebumps, the entire Harry Potter series, and How to Eat Fried Worms (well maybe the worms are offended but you get the drift). At any rate, the very idea that we need to remind Americans how important it is not to sacrifice our rights to read is simply beyond me. Next we will be sacrificing our rights to enjoy some of the great music that we are able to enjoy today.

I will end my rant now and encourage everyone reading this to spread the word and explain in your own words why reading and free thought are so very important and how detrimental banning books can be to society as a whole.

Posted by Andrea :: 11:05 AM :: 2 Comments:

Post / Read Comments

-------------------------------------