Attempts to Ban Books Are Accelerating and Becoming More Divisive
Are books evil for promoting readers to think and question their lives, beliefs, or circumstances.?
?Are we moving towards Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 world, where even possessing, reading, and distributing books becomes illegal?
Attempts to ban books are accelerating across the country at a rate never seen since tracking began more than 20 years ago, according to a new report from the American Library Association.
The American Library Association recently released a report on the rise in censorship efforts: In 2022, there were attempts to restrict access to 1,651 titles.
The prevalent use of lists of books compiled by organized censorship groups contributed significantly to the skyrocketing number of challenges and the frequency with which each title was challenged. Of the overall number of books challenged, 90% were part of attempts to censor multiple titles. Of the books challenged, 40% were in cases involving one hundred or more books?
ALA has released new data documenting that in 2022, there were attempts to ban or restrict access to 1,651 different titles. The group found that challenges were up from the 1,597 books in 2021. 2022 being the year with the highest number of complaints since the group began documenting book challenges and began compiling data about censorship in libraries over two decades ago.
Each attempt to ban a book by one of these groups represents a direct attack on every person’s constitutionally protected personal right to freely choose what books to read and what ideas to explore. The choice of what to read must be left to the reader or, in the case of children, to parents. That choice should not belong to self-appointed book police. Polling conducted by bipartisan research firms in 2022 showed that voters across the political spectrum oppose efforts to remove books from libraries and have confidence in libraries to make good decisions about their collections.
Book banning efforts are growing rapidly
Book banning efforts have grown rapidly in number and become much more organized, divisive, and vitriolic over the past two years, splitting communities, causing bitter rifts on school and library boards, and spreading across the country through social media and political campaigns.
Public libraries have been threatened by politicians and community members with a loss of funding for their refusal to remove books. Members of the Proud Boys, an extremist right-wing group, showed up at a school board meeting in Illinois, where book access was on the agenda, and at a drag queen story hour in California.?Librarians?have been accused of promoting pedophilia. In its recent analysis, the library association cited 27 instances of police reports being filed against library staff over the content of their shelves.
“It represents an escalation, and we’re truly fearful that at some point we will see a librarian arrested for providing constitutionally protected books on disfavored topics,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone,?the director of the office of intellectual freedom at the library association. “They’re being threatened with prosecution, attacked on social media, harassed for simply doing their jobs by trying to meet the information needs of their communities.”
Book challenges are defined in the report as “willful attempts to remove or restrict access to library resources or programming,” can be a written objection, a complaint form submitted to a library, or a demand for removal issued on social media, the organization said. While in the past, complaints tended to focus on a single book, the majority of book challenges in 2021 targeted multiple titles, the library organization said.
The efforts have long come from both sides of the political spectrum. The report highlights challenges to “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” written by Sherman Alexie, including one made in a left-leaning New York City suburb over concerns about offensive racial language.?
Conservative politics and politicians have played a large role in the escalation of the issue of banning books. Several conservative individuals or groups also seek to ban books that they find objectionable based on moral, religious, or political grounds. Their concerns may stem from a desire to protect specific values or beliefs, particularly in relation to issues such as sexuality, religion, or social issues. Conservative groups like Moms for Liberty, which is leading efforts to have books that they view as inappropriate removed from school libraries, describe book challenges as a matter of parental choice.
Pushing to remove these books from libraries, are trampling on the rights of others who want the books to be available. The removals can be especially detrimental for young people who see themselves reflected in the books.?
Parents' should be entitled to make choices concerning their child's reading and should not have those choices dictated by others. Young people need to have access to a variety of books from which they can learn about different perspectives. Parents should be able to choose and select the books their children are exposed to and evaluate whether something runs contrary to their values.
Young people that are going through these experiences are hungry for information. To remove those books denies that opportunity for education, and is also an act of erasure, a very stark message that you don’t belong here, your stories don’t belong here.
Books that focus on L.G.B.T.Q. or Black characters are targeted most often, with Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer” the most frequently challenged book in the country. A debut graphic novel, the book is about coming out as nonbinary. It includes depictions of sexual experiences, masturbation, and menstrual blood.
There have been charged and extreme recent efforts to remove books recently.
In a Washington school district, a parent filed police reports against the school officials, accusing them of distributing “graphic pornography” because “Gender Queer” was available in the library.
At a public library in Gillette, Wyo., community members who wanted books about L.G.B.T.Q. themes and characters removed filed a criminal report with the sheriff’s office, accusing library staff of providing obscene material.
In Tyler, Texas, Jonathan Evison’s novel “Lawn Boy” was banned after parents complained about graphic descriptions of sex in the book and included it on a list of 120 “questionable books.”
Conservative politicians running for office and elected officials have seized on the topic. In Virginia and Texas, candidates have campaigned on the idea that parents should have more say over the books their children can access.
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In a significant escalation, a Republican delegate in Virginia sued Barnes & Noble in an effort to stop it from selling two books to minors, “A Court of Mist and Fury,” by Sarah J. Maas, and “Gender Queer.” A circuit court judge dismissed that attempt.?
With the approach of elections, challenges to books and the conflicts that surround them are only likely to escalate.
The concept of self-appointed book police is contrary to the principles of intellectual freedom and freedom of expression. Individuals or groups who take it upon themselves to determine what others should or should not read should not be tolerated. It implies a situation where individuals or organizations assume the authority to censor or restrict access to certain books based on their own personal beliefs, biases, or ideologies.
Conclusion
A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group.?A banning is the removal of those materials.?Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others.?
Freedom of expression and access to information are fundamental principles in the United States. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the right to freedom of speech and the press, which encompasses the freedom to read and access a wide range of materials.
The Supreme Court has consistently recognized that the freedom of speech and the press includes the right to receive and gather information, which naturally extends to the freedom to read and access diverse sources of information. This protection is crucial for the functioning of a democratic society,
The rise of the internet and digital media has made books and other written materials more accessible than ever before. E-books, online libraries, and platforms for sharing information have expanded the reach of written works. However, societal and technological changes can occur, and it's important to remain vigilant in protecting freedom of expression and access to information. It is essential for individuals and communities to actively uphold the values of intellectual freedom and literacy to prevent any potential regression in the availability and distribution of books.
Having the ability to make personal choices about what to read allows individuals to explore different perspectives, expand their knowledge, and engage with a variety of ideas and information. It promotes intellectual freedom, critical thinking, and the development of well-informed opinions.
The freedom to choose what you read is and should be a personal choice and an integral part of individual autonomy. In democratic societies that value freedom of expression, individuals have the right to decide what books, articles, or other written materials they wish to read without undue interference or censorship.
Just a few of the more than 100 most banned books.
·???????Forever
A novel about first relationships, first love, and... the first time. Katherine and Michael are in love, and Katherine knows it’s forever, especially after she loses her virginity to him. But when they’re separated for the summer, she begins to have feelings for another boy. What does this say about her love for Michael? And what does “forever” mean, anyway? Is this the love of a lifetime, or the very beginning of a lifetime of love?
·???????Blubber
After a girl named Linda gives an oral report to her fifth-grade class on the Eskimos' use of whale blubber, the other students begin teasing Linda by calling her "Blubber." Jill, the narrator of the novel, goes right along with the bullies but later realizes that the mean kids are not necessarily her true friends.
·???????Deenie
A thirteen-year-old girl seemingly destined for a modeling career finds she has a deformation of the spine called scoliosis. Deenie’s mother wants her to be a model, with her face on magazine covers—maybe even in the movies—but Deenie wants to spend Saturdays with her friends Janet and Midge, tracking Harvey Grabowsky, the captain of the football team, around Woolworth’s. She wants to be a cheerleader, too, and go to the seventh-grade mixer to hear Buddy Brader play his drums.
Instead, Deenie is diagnosed with scoliosis. And that means body stockings to squeeze into, a roomful of strangers to face, and a terrifying brace that she’ll need to wear for years that goes from her neck to her hips. Suddenly Deenie has to cope with a kind of specialness that’s frightening, and might be hers forever.
·???????Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Faced with the difficulties of growing up and choosing a religion, a twelve-year-old girl talks over her problems with her own private God. A sixth-grade girl growing up and wondering about God and puberty and boys. It was challenged a lot after the 1980s because of its frank discussion of topics like religion and sex.