Dystopian Era America: The War On Books
By Niamh Clarke, Opinions Editor
“Without libraries, what do we have? We have no past and no future.” – Ray Bradbury
If you are a teacher with a Master’s Degree in education, you’d ideally have the knowledge on how to help your students to be America’s next generation of intelligent, well rounded individuals. Yet when it comes to what books children are reading in schools, parents seem to think they know better than the professionals, even at the detriment of their childrens’ educational and social growth.
For years, Americans have expressed concerns that their children are going to be influenced by the themes of the literature they have access to. Yet what once stemmed from plausible concern has turned to blatant agenda-pushing on both sides of the political divide.
Poets, Essayists, Novelists America (PEN America) found that over 40% of banned and challenged books have LGBTQ themes and issues. With over 1,200 challenges towards these books to date, there is substantial evidence that parents want to heavily monitor what their kids learn. Politicians and parents have been cracking down, putting pressure on libraries and schools to remove certain books because it doesn’t fit their approval. In Florida, a state where this book banning is rampant, Governor Ron Desantis has been an advocate for this censorship. His argument states that he only supports inappropriate and pornographic materials being banned, yet the increase in ban has been starkly directed towards LGTBQ themes.
While the concerns against “inappropriate content” have their legitimacies, they applied their rhetoric to the book; “A Diary of a Young Girl”’ by Anne Frank, stating it spoke about “inappropriate themes”. The book is an account of a young Jewish girl’s experiences growing up during the time of the Holocaust. While the themes are dark, they are real, and hit close to home for many families throughout the world. Yet instead of letting American students understand the gravity and true nature of these people and events through Anne’s story, American politicians are petitioning to censor it.
“Roe V Wade: Abortion and a Woman’s Right to Privacy” and “Native Americans and The Question of Genocide” are two notable historic books banned in Texas and Florida. Similarly, “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas was banned due to the use of profanity, violence, and accusations of promoting an anti-police agenda, while the true meaning of Thomas’ book was to address Black stereotypes that seemingly justified racism against the Black community. Older more ‘classic’ books such as “Of Mice and Men” have also been challenged because of racist themes, rather than consideration to how these reflect our country’s past, and how we have changed since its publication.
Book banning is one of the biggest censorship methods in the United States today, resulting in enormous craters in the potential growth and educational pathways of future generations. This leaves many wondering what will come of future censorship attempts in America, and who or what will be silenced next?