A Troubling Non-Conversation

 Graphic from http://bannedbooksweek.org/

On Friday, a *new follower on Twitter wrote:
 *I have blacked out this person's user name because I don't have - and have no way to obtain - permission to quote him/her.

Mindful that September 30 is the first day of Banned Books Week, I saw this contact as an opportunity to seize a teachable moment. My responses were intended to be as tactful as possible:

The "conversation" did not go quite as I had hoped. The questioner had also contacted librarian Patrick Sweeney (I have no idea why we were chosen), who was happy to have me include some of his remarks:

*Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz

When Patrick mentioned that Huckleberry Finn and the Bible are more frequently challenged than Scary Stories, our questioner not only bailed from the discussion but blocked both of us from following his/her Tweets.

I'm sorry that this person took offense at our responses. Challenging a book that is being used in a classroom or library is serious business. By limiting access to literature and information sources, we are limiting personal rights. The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom provides a general overview of the issue. As I pointed out, individual school districts should have challenge policies in place and available to parents.

The fact that someone asked these questions is good. The problem lies in the refusal to engage in any type of meaningful dialog. You can't understand what you choose to condemn out of hand.


"Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people's idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage." -Winston Churchill

"Every burned book enlightens the world." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Loftiest of Cowardice

"Fear of corrupting the mind of the younger generation is the loftiest of cowardice." -Holbrook Jackson

A recurring motif in literature is the desire to gain forbidden knowledge, which always results in a punishment of some sort: acquisition of understanding intertwined with loss of innocence .

Re. Pandora:

"But the woman took off the great lid of the jar with her hands and scattered, all these and her thought caused sorrow and mischief to men. Only Hope remained there in an unbreakable home within under the rim of the great jar, and did not fly out at the door..." Hesiod, Works and Days

Re. Eve:

"... but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, 'Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it,lest ye die.' And the serpent said unto the woman, 'Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.' And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and ate, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he ate. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves things to gird about." Genesis 3:3-7, 21st Century King James Version

Banning & censoring books, filtering the Internet may appear to protect our children, but at what cost?


Filtering & censorship:
A Question of Censorship (October 3, 2007)
Only Those Places (January 18, 2008)
Unsuited to Age Group (February 17, 2008)

Al Upton & Jabiz Raisdana:
A Heavy Armor (March 14, 2008)
Listen (March 20, 2008)
A Confederacy of Dunces (March 27, 2008)
Spindles (April 5, 2008)


"You can cage the singer but not the song." -Harry Belafonte



"Pandora" by John William Waterhouse, Wikimedia Commons