On Censorship

"Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too." 

-Voltaire

In class Wednesday, after stuffing our faces with copious amounts of chocolate (prof, you're killin' my diet), we watched the 1986 film The Name of the Rose. One of the major themes in this film is the idea that knowledge is dangerous, heretical, and must be prohibited. Eventually we learn that a group of librarians managing the scriptorium are keeping a vast amount of valuable and rare books hidden away under lock and key. They believe that the knowledge contained in those books would lead the world into blasphemy.

The idea of banning books isn't new to us. We know about the restriction of free thought during the Crusades, the times of Puritan New England, and even during the American Civil Rights Movement. We were all taught about the book-burnings committed by the Nazis, McCarthy, and Stalin.

 Book Burning Memorial on Bebelplatz in Berlin, commemorating the infamous book burning that took place on May 10th, 1933 in which the Nazis burnt 20,000 books.

But it made me wonder - how prevalent is book-banning today?

All it takes is a quick glance at the American Library Association's website to see that book-banning is still an issue and continues to occur even now, during a time we largely consider to be of free-thought.

Some of the most banned books within the last several years include The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Of Mice and Men, Harry Potter, To Kill a Mockingbird, and even a children's book called And Tango Makes Three, which is about a same-sex couple raising a baby.

Why are we still doing this?

At quick glance, most of the entities banning these books seem to be school districts and individual schools. Many of the banned books are young adult novels encompassing coming-of-age themes like sexuality, drugs, and depression. Some other books, like Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, find themselves banned by school libraries for having "characters who show contempt for religion, marriage, and the family."

Churches are also guilty of these new-age book-bannings (big surprise, there). The past 15 years have seen quite a few religious organizations banning the Harry Potter series on grounds that it promotes witchcraft and dark magic. Whether by schools or by churches, it's the age-old cry, "Save the children!" Save them from what?

Eliminating the censorship of books has been a struggle for thousands of years and continues to be. The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom presses on in the fight for literary freedom each year by promoting Banned Books Week. This year, Banned Books Week will be held September 27 through October 3 and "highlights the value of free and open access to information." Libraries all across the country celebrate the week as a time to educate readers (especially young readers) on the danger of censorship.

A simple way to get involved during Banned Books Week is to read a banned or challenged book to a child, or visit and donate to a library during their event. It's easy for us to take books and the ability to read what we want for granted. The next time a professor assigns to us one of these great works, let's remember how fortunate we are.

"Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors." 

-John F. Kennedy