Censorship is quite possibly the most jeopardizing threat to democracy in the modern world. While “Sophie’s Choice” and “The Catcher in the Rye” have been pulled out of public libraries for generations, the battle to ban an ever-increasing array of literature has become a widespread phenomenon throughout America.
Justifying arguments employed in contemporary pleas to ban books, however, are much different than they were a mere decade ago. Discussions about universally grotesque themes led to various bans such as “The Canterbury Tales” and “1984,” which were ultimately deemed unsuitable for young minds. Language. Explicit imagery. Culturally offensive connotations. These were primary considerations in banning books as early as the 1980’s, but are now far from the minds of current government leaders and parents in the process of literary censorship. Rather, bi-partisan ideas and political opinion have consumed arguments over the suitability of various books for children. Book bans are no longer about universally accepted norms for young kids. The future of education in America now rests in fierce, opinionated debates and fear.
Florida has become a hotspot for such debate, where governor Ron DeSantis has pushed a Parental Rights in Education Law. The legislation gives parents the right to object educational material offered to their children at school, no matter the rationale. Most popular in Florida are protests over LGBTQ+ literature, racial or cultural themes, and authors who simply put forth views that differ from the norm. Personal political stances have superseded basic educational proponents and wreaked havoc on school systems as the list of acceptable lessons continues to dwindle.
Parents have joined forces across the state to prevent their children from exposure to a world outside of their own parochial opinion. Discussions about sexuality and race are now seen as threats to the basic safety and well-being of children. Offering literature that educates young minds on the impact of cultural discrimination and minorities has become simply unacceptable. Offering views that do not adhere to the basic beliefs and principles of a child’s parents is a hazard to the future of students. Therefore, books such as “The Hate U Give,” “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter,” and “Love, Simon” have been confiscated and scorned for their inappropriate themes.
School educators and librarians are forced into corners by threats to their basic livelihoods and personal security. Before a book even can be legally banned, potential retribution for offering controversial topics to students has become a censor in and of itself. It takes only one parental complaint, not matter how personal or political, to cause an uproar in school systems and put into effect immediate confiscation of educational resources. Educators live in fear that their classroom will be the next battlefield in this ongoing political war.
The effects of such polarizing bans are far-reaching and extremely dangerous. Nationwide, authors have expressed their fear for the future of American society as book bans surge. The hyper-sensitivity to basic facets of life in America creates a dynamic in which young children are ignorant to any reality that they have not already experienced. Children will grow up without empathy or understanding for others and an inability to recognize views outside their own. This may be the goal for many parents pushing censorship, but it most often does not work the way they believe it will.
The reality is that the world is an ugly, violent, and sometimes profane place. No amount of sheltering can change that basic fact. Sheltering does, however, reduce the ability to manage such a reality when it inevitably makes its way into a student’s life. Through books, students are better able to process the world and the innate struggle of humankind. Reading about different realities provides a basis from which young children can manage hardship as it comes, as they have already experienced it through the written word and therefore have been given tools to navigate it. Real life does not cease to exist when we stop learning about it. It simply becomes a greater challenge to overcome.
The ban of subject matters including race, religion, culture and sexuality, further deepens American divides and creates foundations of prejudicial behavior from a very young age. Censoring such subjects is in effect shaming entire realities. Histories. People. Lives. The universally innate right to life is stigmatized and threatened, fostering shame and oppression on both the swing-set and the slides. The school playground becomes a microcosm of a racially and politically divided society. A racially and politically divided society of second-graders.
In its core, book banning is a disservice to youth everywhere. Children, as parents refuse to admit, want to experience worlds outside of their own. They want to be apart of a life beyond their front yards. Books allow these new experiences into the lives of young students and foster an invaluable understanding of both the student and the world in which they live. The real world cannot be censored. The only protection we have in the real world, however, is being stripped away.
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