Banned Book Week 2015: So Who Bans a Book Anyway?

I went to my local library today to drop out some books due. I'm on staycation, so I thought I'd check out their Banned Books Weeks display. It was a fairly decent little display, 6-sided, but nothing really eye-catching- except for a very information info sheet on the top of the display.

   I was very surprised to learn that of the challenges to books in the past year, only 18% of those who sought to ban a particular book were politicians, religious groups/ clergy, pressure groups, or other governing bodies. The majority of people who attempted to have a book banned were patrons/ customer and parents at 58%.

    To be fair, almost a quarter of legal challenges to banned books were kept confidential or of another criteria that didn't fit in any other category, so there could be some pressure groups or senators or priests lurking in that category unaccounted for. But still, it's a lot smaller percentage than I thought it would be.

  I think the reason behind this is that the news is more likely to cover a story about censorship if it involves a politician or religious group. Why is this? Mostly because sensationalism brings in viewers and readers. CNN doesn't want to devote time to a patron who bought a book and didn't like it and is trying to get it removed from stores. The media would rather cover a group of angry politicians and preachers seeking to have a book not just banned but burnt to a crisp than over a group of mothers irate that little Johnny saw Dr. Manhattan's dingle when he read Watchmen.

  Another issue that makes Banned Book week so important is that there were more challenges toward banning books last year than in any other year in the past decade. So what is the cause for this?

I think it can be broken down into 5 ways:

1. Public mores has changed. Alternative lifestyles are more accepted. Also, People are way more sensitive towards discrimination than ever before. and that leads into #2
2. We are a social media culture. It's a lot easier to get people to rally behind a cause like Black Lives Matter because you have the internet to spread your message more quickly. That leads to #3
3. Companies are afraid of losing money more than ever before. When a variant cover depicting the Joker holding Batgirl hostage, people went to their mobile devices and started a campaign demanding that DC Comics cancel the cover or face a financial boycott. The economy might be better than it was a decade ago, but one major slip in profits is enough for a media giant like DC to have nightmares.
4. Speaking of nightmares- parenting is another reason for why we see so many challenges in the legal system about banning books. Parents, these days are either A) not engaged enough or B) too engaged to the point that they put their child in a bubble. (I was more of a B-child, my sister 12-years younger than I, was more of an A-child.) Anyway, you get these hyperactive parents who see things in books like Harry Potter practicing witchcraft or an alien mom breastfeeding her child and parents go nuts. This leads to my final point...
5. There aren't enough people trying to educate readers on age appropriateness. 

    A favorite story I like to tell folks is how I found a copy of the ground-breaking miniseries Watchmen in the all-ages section of my local library. The book contains nudity, sex, and lots of swears. There's also some violence, but compared to other comics out in the 80s, it's mild. 

   See, I know from experience what's in this book! But the librarian who processed it did n;t. She thought because it was about superheroes, published by DC, and soon to become a movie, then it was okay for all readers. Interestingly enough, she thought I wanted the book banned. I just wanted it put in a more age appropriate place so that we could avoid this from being an issue when a child brought this home to a family who would petition for the book to be banned from the library. 

   So, I encourage you adults out there to please look at the books out there on the market and review them for age appropriateness. That's completely fine to say that my 6-year-old can read Batman Adventures but must be 14 before I'll let them read The Killing Joke. Just don't look at a book and say that because it doesn't fit you views that the book should be outlawed. 

   You may not agree with Mein Kampf or the Communist Manifesto, but this is a country where freedom of speech is protected. Plus, the countries where those works were published had a lengthy and bloody history on banning books and eventually began targeting those who thought differently to those viewpoints with imprisonment, torture, and death.

     Remember folks, when we fail to remember history, we are more than likely doomed to repeat it.
  
   Just a little food for thought on this Tuesday of Banned Books Week, 2015.

  Happy Reading!!!