Expression > Suppression

I recently had a debate with a friend about types of suppression, so I thought censorship to be an appropriate topic for today's blog post. I'm sure at some point in our lives we've all encountered some kind of censorship. While it is easy to believe that we are more free nowadays than ever before, many aspects of our lives are still partially in the hands of others. Some censorship we take with a shrug of our shoulders and a blasé attitude, such as movies or songs that are edited in public forums then produced in their unrated format elsewhere. Then there are some that more people feel obligated to  resist; this is especially apparent in political and military spectrums.

But one particular form of censorship that worries me, one which I believe too many have begun to tolerate, is the banning of books. Books have been banned for countless reasons throughout history; this is nothing new. Yet, despite the many freedoms we fight for in our country, more and more people seem to think that they have the right to put their own boundaries on freedom when it involves literature. Schools do it to students, parents do it to children, the government does it to people...where does this end?

Now, let me make a distinction. I can already see some of you jumping our of your chairs in outrage because I mentioned parents censoring books their children read. They have every right to censorship, right? I mean, children don't know their own minds until the exact second they become an adult at eighteen. I hope you all can read the sarcasm. I agree that some texts are more age-appropriate than others and that parents should use discretion for when their children are exposed to them. But their children should still be exposed. Deciding whether a book is suitable at a certain age and bowdlerizing a child's literary experience are two very different things.

I remember wanting to read Dave Pelzer's A Child Called "It" when I was eight years old. It was all over the news at the time and I, being an avid reader, felt I should see what all the hype was about. When I asked for the book for Christmas, my parents did not get it for me. Instead, my father gave me To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a book that remains my favorite novel to this day. The book came with an inscription inside of the cover that read, "To my dear daughter: I realize this is not the book you asked for this Christmas, but I felt you should read about the good in people before you have to deal with the bad. I love you very much. Merry Christmas." While I did not get the book I wanted (and didn't wind up reading it until I was in 9th grade), I appreciated my father for being honest. Now that I am older, I can certainly understand why my parents thought an eight-year-old was not ready to read a book that involved severe child abuse in a very real and non-fictional form. I did not understand this at the time, but I accepted it. Why? Because my parents did not try to hide it from me, or censor it. They confronted it and, while still making the decision for me, did it in a way that respected my right as a reader.

Many parents and schools do not take the route my parents did. They ban books for any reason under the sun. If their authority on the matter is opposed, guess who most often wins the battle? It is a sad truth, one which not only infringes on rights but dilutes the knowledge which we are trying to instill in our youth. What does it say when we encourage them to seek knowledge, but then limit the resources from which they can learn? That is essentially what is being done. I couldn't possibly begin to delve into all of the ludicrous reasons that have been produced for officially banning a book; there are too many to discuss. However, I can guarantee that you would be shocked by some of the books that have been banned: books with strong literary merit, books you read when you were younger, even the dictionary itself. Although we can argue that some hearts are in the right place when they are doing this, it's still wrong. Not only that, but by banning a book, many are petitioning to have it removed from a curriculum, local library, or bookstore. It is no longer a personal choice - doing this can lead to the book's removal from all places in as large an area as an entire district. By forcing its removal, people are encouraging local stores and libraries not to buy it, which in turn can lead to it no longer being published at all. The chain of events moves from personal censorship to public suppression.

Since 1982, one week each year (beginning the last week of September) has been dubbed "Banned Books Week" during which people try to raise awareness of book censorship. Libraries around the country promote "challenged" books of the past and encourage people to read a banned book. Also included is a list posted by the American Library Association (ALA) of the top banned books of that year. For last year's Banned Book Week, the ALA posted the following:

"There were 348 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2010, and many more go unreported. The 10 most challenged titles of 2010 were:

And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: offensive language, racism, religious viewpoint, sex education, sexually explicit, violence, unsuited to age group

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit

Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
Reasons: drugs, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit

The Hunger Games (series), by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: sexually explicit, violence, unsuited to age group

Lush, by Natasha Friend
Reasons: drugs, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group

What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
Reasons: sexism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich
Reasons: drugs, inaccurate, offensive language, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint

Revolutionary Voices edited by Amy Sonnie
Reasons: homosexuality, sexually explicit

Twilight (series), by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence, unsuited to age group"

While I'm sure I am not alone in finding some of the reasons legitimate in the context of society - I do not support racism, drug abuse, etc. - I do not consider them reasonable excuses to ban books. I don't believe there exists a reason to ban books. We are far from being able to extinguish book banning entirely. But by making people more aware of it and the effects it can have on our society, I think we are taking a big step towards a future of literary freedom.

Ray Bradbury famously said, "You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them." His words are full of truth and the application is simple: do not let others determine what you read or don't read. Make that decision of your own account and it will be one of the best choices you ever made. I urge you to look up a list of banned books on your own and choose a book from it you would like to read. Read that book. Protect that book. And protect our right to read those books before our next generation of youth finds themselves in a society akin to Oceania (George Orwell's 1984).

What book were you surprised to find on a banned book list?