Celebrate! Add a holiday to your year!
**Although this year's Banned Book Week is over, I offer here some ideas I have about free speech and the proper way to combat opinions you don't want spread through the media. The best defense is a strong offense--if you see something that offends you, don't destroy it. Instead, publish your point of view! This is the joy of free speech. Here is my original posting. Remember: llamas like books! --LL**
9.28.2004 // Celebrate Banned Book Week!
Posted at 10:02 PM
I want to take this opportunity to share with you, my readers, an event near and dear to my heart: Banned Book Week.
What's it all about? Over the years, many controversial books have been published. A variety of individuals and groups have challenged these books, whether by writing complaints, campaigning to remove the books from libraries and store shelves, or going so far as to collect up copies of the books and burn them.
For your reference, the first amendment:
CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION, OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF; OR ABRIDGING THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH, OR OF THE PRESS; OR THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE PEACEABLY TO ASSEMBLE, AND TO PETITION THE GOVERNMENT FOR A REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES.
Why is freedom of the press so vital? After all, it has been said that if you publish pornography, you censor the sacred (www.jollyroger.com ) Why should there be freedom of the press for hate publications or porn or just plain trash?
Back in the middle ages, in Europe, (and I speak of Europe because European history is what I'm most familiar with) the Church and royalty held all the power. One of the biggest things that allowed them to stay in power, and keep the peasantry as peasantry, is that they were educated. The peasants were not. They were literate, and they had access to the facts. Everyone else had access to their spin on the facts. Before the Bible was printed (and printed in common languages, rather than Latin), priests could tell their congregations that anything was part of the Bible, and no one in the congregation was in a position to disagree. For news, we had rumors, word-of-mouth, royal proclamations. Fast forward to the here and now. Replacing the King and Church, we've got TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, and books--and let's not forget the internet! Far more information is available to us than ever before, and it can often be a daunting task to sort through all of it. But I can guarentee it's better than the alternative. The alternative of only knowing what our government sees fit to tell us. The alternative of having to take someone else's opinion as gospel. The alternative of not being able to speak our minds. The alternative of having no means of political change. Our founding fathers saw that the free exchange of information and ideas was vital and precious to our form of democracy. That fact hasn't changed.
When you censor one type of book, you throw open the doors for everything to be censored. While it's true that you may not like some of what gets put out there, you have the option of not looking at it. You have the option of not buying it, not reading it or watching it, not showing it to your children. You also have the option of taking a look at it, and possibly changing your mind--or possibly cementing your objections to it. You have the option of showing it to your children and explaining why you object to it, or why you think its message is wrong. You are free to write something detailing your rebuttal of it, and have it published. This is wonderful! This is living in a free society.
So join with me in celebrating our right to read. Celebrate Banned Book Week with me!
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bannedbooksweek.htm
This is the link to the official site of the American Library Association, to get you started. And here are some of my suggestions for celebrating:
--Check out the top 100 banned books and make a point of reading one this week. All the better if you can check it out of your local library or buy it at the bookstore, and let them know why you're getting it. This way, they will hear that the public wants freedom to read, and hopefully stock more banned books.
--When you read a banned book, talk to someone else about it. Talk about the issues it brings up, whether or not you liked it, whatever. Maybe you'll spark some new thinking--or get them interested in reading it. And hey, that's what it's all about: new ideas!
--Try reading "Farenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury. It's one of my personal favorites, talking about a futuristic society where reading is illegal and firemen, instead of putting out fires, have the job of finding and destroying hidden caches of books. An incredible read and a classic in its own right, it too has occasionally been banned.
--Read a book you objected to? Try to think about what bothered you so much about it. Write down some of your thoughts, and share them with someone. Instead of banishing the ideas that make you uncomfortable, try to use them to bring problems to light and get some dialogue going on them. Maybe you can make a positive impact by putting forth another view. For example, when the KKK has hate rallies, peace groups will often hold a picnic in a different location on the same day. This way, they attract people to do something positive, rather than shouting at the KKK, which will only add to their negative energy.
That's all for now! Check out the ALA site for the top 100 banned books list, and
Happy Reading!
Maiken
[Note: Maiken was my name on my old EasyJournal, where this entry was originally posted. --LL]