Some More Thoughts on Banning Books

I don't mean to be controversial, but sometimes I just feel that itch to express myself on a certain subject. Here are some more thoughts on banning books.

To hear some people talk, we have an unlimited right to read whatever we want to read, without any kind of restrictions at all. Absolute positions permit simple slogans, but thinking people will agree that we need to make choices. What about child pornography? Should that be freely available to anyone? What about classified information? Perhaps not everything that is classified should be classified, but surely reasonable people can see the need to restrict some information that could be damaging to the safety and well being of the country. What about your personal health and financial information? Should everyone, including potential identity thieves, have free access to it?

It would go a long way in an intelligent discussion if all of us who love our First Amendment rights would make explicit recognition that there needs to be limitations to what we should be permitted to read. Then we could get down to the serious business of determining where the line should be drawn.

Reading a well crafted book can be a life changing experience. Those of us who love books experience vicariously what is written. A well written book is so much more than dry facts and information. Such books have power because they touch our feelings, and because we live for a while a life different from our own. We experience joy and sorrow, enlightenment and confusion as we participate with the author in the experience.

That is the wonderful blessing of a good book, but it is also the danger of the wrong kind of book. Not because of "harmful ideas" in the book, but because the method in which the ideas are presented works on our feelings, not on our intellect. One book that is often challenged as unsuitable for children contains a vivid rape scene. This book can have a powerful effect on an individual. By reading the book some may gain a greater appreciation for rape victims. They may have a good life-changing experience.

But for others of us, particularly the young and inexperienced, reading such a graphic description can actually be similar to being raped. I've known a few rape victims, and I've read about a lot more of them, and the experience has always been traumatic and damaging to the individual. Trust and peace have been shattered, and frequently normal male-female relations become difficult or impossible for the rest of their life. While it is conceivable that a rape victim might learn something good from the experience, I think all responsible adults would like to protect the women in our community from becoming a rape victim. Sometimes, too, such books make some men think that rape might be an acceptable activity.

It is up to parents, teachers, and the school board to spare our children from experiences which may be harmful to them. This isn’t always easy to determine. We recognize that many experiences may be good in a way, or that they may not be harmful to all of the children. Children differ in their susceptibilities. What may be laughed off by one, will cause nightmares and lifelong trauma in another. What might be wonderful and moving to an English teacher who has seen it all, might be a horrible experience to a youngster.

Some believe that the sensitive youngsters are adequately protected if the parents are permitted to work with the teacher in selecting a less objectionable book to study. In an ideal world, where every parent is closely involved with their children, where every parent is fully informed of the dangers of certain books, and where there is no peer pressure to read whatever everyone else is reading, this might work. We assume that no parent would allow his child to be raped in class. But I wonder how many parents would actually make a formal objection to the teacher or school board if real rape was a required school activity. It is not an experiment I want the school to conduct.

Each of us should show restraint in what we read. If we find that the material is unsuitable for us, we should put it away and not finish reading it. We should be our own censors of what we read, and we should vigilantly protect ourselves from harmful material. Children should be taught when they are young to distinguish between good and bad material, and how to exercise self-restraint. Unfortunately, in their youthfulness and inexperience children are not always wise, nor have they all been adequately instructed. How can we expect our children to be self-disciplined when they don't see such an example in the home, or in the schools? If all they are taught is that those who challenge books are the enemies of freedom to read, will they restrain themselves? If they believe that books are only restricted because someone doesn't want them exposed to the ideas in the book, as though a book were merely an intellectual source of data and information, how will they learn to make good choices in what they read?