Censorship, book bans, and rewrites: why you should care

I will upset some people with this article, but I will try to be plain. Some states have been banning books from schools. One book mentioned in the ban, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” by Judy Blume, has recently been made into a motion picture. I read Judy Blume’s books when I was in school. Some people made fun of me for reading “girls’ books,” but I enjoyed her writing, and it gave me an insight into the lives of my female teenage classmates. Ms. Blume’s stories and topics have been the subject of “far Right” outrage since the late 70s. She was popular because she wrote for young people in a way that children could relate to. I am not against keeping pornography from children, but let’s be realistic. Judy Blume’s books aren’t pornographic. They are honest. Teens and pre-teens will be curious about the changes of puberty, relationships, and sex without these books. Judy Blume’s books inform, comfort, and let children know they are not alone in their feelings. Parents could use these books to help their children feel comfortable talking to them about these topics. Instead, some parents would stick their heads in the sand and ban anything that might answer their children’s questions. Just like our government, these parents believe it is best to keep people uninformed and ignorant.

The “far Left” is rewriting books to be more sensitive and politically correct. This rewriting is just as ridiculous and outrageous as banning authors like Judy Blume and Nora Roberts from middle and high school libraries. Roald Dahl doesn’t need a rewrite from the hands of some socially conscious snowflakes triggered by describing someone as fat or bald. If these geniuses believe they can write better than Dahl, they should write their own books. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is an American classic by Mark Twain. I know it uses the “n-word” over 200 times, while portraying slavery and the “antebellum South,” but it also gives readers insight into the world of 19th-century America. We can read vile words and descriptions of evils without being corrupted. These snowflakes ban Twain, while accusing the right of trying to ignore slavery and racism. We should never filter history or literature to fit modern temperaments.

In 1984, George Orwell described a society where thought and speech are molded, shaped, and censored. Anyone who reads the book should recognize how the “far Left” and “far Right” are both pushing us toward Orwell’s 1984. Both sides want to control what you see, hear, say, and think. In America, we don’t have state-sponsored media (well, maybe PBS & NPR). That doesn’t mean we don’t have biased media. We have the “mainstream media” that leans left. Fox News and a few other outlets lean right. It has gotten so bad that even the Weather Channel has developed a political slant. “Big Tech” is censoring and shaping our online experiences. They call it “social media,” but it is actually social engineering on a massive scale. I watched Congressional Committee Hearings live on CSPAN. Then I watched how CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and other news outlets covered those hearings. Most of the time, there is so much spin, I can barely recognize that they are reporting on the same hearing I watched. As the show X-Files used to say, “The truth is out there.” You must work hard to find it.

I hear complaints that we are too divided to get anything done. Extremists from all sides are so afraid that Americans might start thinking for themselves that they spend all their time and energy trying to silence any voices but their own. We have had multiple presidential administrations that believed they could dictate reality to the American people. They can’t. If you want to reduce divisiveness, you have two choices. You can surrender to the censorship or reject the narrative and think for yourself.