Why is Book Banning Anti-American? A Guest Post

We the people know that book banning isn’t just wrong – it is fundamentally anti-American. A vote for the MAGAs – including our muse, Linda Vermooten – is a vote to take away freedom and democracy. Of course, the people who will vote this way already know that and that is absolutely their intention. But I’m not talking to them.

1. Freedom

First and foremost, why should anyone else be allowed to tell us what to read or what to let our children read? If today, they’re banning books from school and public libraries, tomorrow are they banning them from being sold at all? Why? What are they so afraid of?

It’s like watching TV. If you don’t like what you’re seeing, change the channel. There’s something out there for everyone. But you don’t have a right to deny everyone else the material, stories, and literature available to them simply because you don’t like the way it makes you feel.

2. Education

As an adult, I also acknowledge that I don’t know everything. There is always more I can learn about the world and people around me. Reading is another doorway into the lives of people I don’t know, experiences I may never have for myself, and to better understand the why of it all.

Our kids learn from us, from school, and what we choose to let them watch, play and read. Some parents have a world view that doesn’t allow anyone but cis-gender white heterosexual people to have freedom and representation. I think they’re wrong, but I’m not rearing their children. They are.

Likewise, my world view is that all people deserve freedom and representation, but I acknowledge that many groups of people face bigotry and inequitable systems that are roadblocks to that.

What’s wrong with learning about the lives of these folks, so that you can empathize with and respect what they’ve gone through, and the challenges they still face?

3. The First Amendment

Many examples of totalitarian regimes exist throughout history and in the present day. The obvious correlation of book banners’ actions is to the Nazi party and Hitler, who banned books with ideologies opposed to Nazism, including books on racism and sexuality. (https://ed.stanford.edu/news/stanford-lecturer-explores-rise-book-bans-nazi-book-burnings-school-board-races)

If the fact that folks today are walking in the footsteps of the Nazis isn’t eye-opening, then look at China. Censorship there is at an all-time high, with books about politics and biographies of former leaders targeted for banning. The works are supposedly objectionable “according to social, political, religious, or moral standards; sexual content, potential to foment revolution, or the perceived ability to ‘bewitch readers’.” (https://asiasociety.org/new-york/very-brief-history-banned-books-china)

Book banners in the United States will tell you that having books removed from our libraries and schools isn’t actually banning, because those books are still for sale. At what point, however, does taking them out of the hands of our students and making them less accessible to the general public soon become the kind of totalitarian censorship we see in China?

The hypocrisy of these people is that they want this kind of thought control for everyone, but themselves. They want to be the exceptions to the rule, allowed to say whatever they want, no matter what, while simultaneously objecting to the right of an LGBTQIA person, a person of color, an immigrant, indigenous person, rape and/or abuse survivor, differently abled person, and many others who share their voices through literature.

It’s even more ironic when you consider that they are emulating the actions of a Marxist Socialist regime that has banned, not just works that criticize the Chinese government, but some editions of the Bible. Local book banners claim to be protecting our children from Marxist Socialist indoctrination… by doing what the Marxist Socialists do. (Note from Nico: Good job, book banners. You are the thing you claim you hate.)

The First Amendment doesn’t protect a select group of people who think their voice is more important than anyone else’s. It protects everyone’s speech.

4. Parental Rights

This has been quite the buzzword for Moms for Liberty and other authoritarian groups. The thing is, their parental rights should not infringe upon mine or anyone else’s. I have a child in elementary school. Why should you get to dictate what she has access to in school or at the library?

You may want to play Devil’s advocate and ask me that question: why should I get to dictate what your child has access to? I don’t and I shouldn’t. Only you should make that decision, and it is very easy to contact your child’s teacher or school librarian, and request that your child be opted out of accessing certain materials or activities.

It might surprise you to learn that I’ve done that. Yes! I’ve reached out to educators to ask that my children (one is now an adult) be opted out of certain classes or activities. I’ve even worked with a friend who was concerned about book content and the grade level to which it was available to ensure that this parent was able to discuss it rationally with the librarian. And guess what?

I’ve never had a problem. When we get together and discuss things logically, and work toward compromise instead of shoving our opinions and beliefs down someone else’s throat, we’re more likely to resolve our concerns.

Some people believe the existence of Gay Pride, for example, or books with LGBTQIA characters is doing just that – shoving a person’s existence down their throats. I could say the same of the Bible, of the churches that I have to drive by every day. I, too, could be annoyed that they exist when they don’t reflect my personal beliefs.

But there’s a difference between belief and knowledge. Regardless of what you believe, certain things are true. Beliefs influence your perception of knowledge, but do not alter the truths that form the foundation of that knowledge.

So here’s the unalterable truth: book banning, as well as removing certain things from school curricula, is a tool people use to control a political and social narrative. They use fear tactics, like calling these books “pornography” even when there isn’t sexual content, to pull you to their side.

That is why I started Tsunami of Pornography – to read and review these books, and fight back. You’re invited to do the same – to read and share your reviews.

Together, we can stand against those who want so desperately to eradicate our freedoms.