(December 11, 2020 at 1:55 pm)Spongebob Wrote: I wanted to open a thread about book banning in the US. This came to my attention because the California education system decided to pull several classics from their curriculum of required reading. They assert this is not a ban but rather a pause on these books as they investigate complaints they've received from families who's children attend public schools. But this isn't remotely the first time this sort of thing has come up. Among these books is To Kill a Mockingbird. This is one of my all time favorite books and movies as well. I've defended it in arguments as a true classic and work of art, but after reading a few articles about the book from the perspective of being black in America and educating students about racism, I now understand why there's good reason to pull this book and replace it with more appropriate books. Understand, I never, ever advocate banning any work of art, but I do see why there are just better books out there if your purpose is to confront the issue of racism in America. Although I'll never stop loving this book, I now agree that it's time to defer to something better for this purpose. If the point is just to introduce students to fine, classic literature, then it still should be considered quite valid.
This present thing in California isn't something to get worked up about. It's not really a ban -- all the books can be checked out by kids from their school libraries. They just can't be assigned as required reading.
https://ncac.org/news/california-book-challenge-2020
And I suspect that any whisper of a ban will encourage the smart kids to want to read those books more. Whereas the dumb kids wouldn't have gotten much from them anyway.
More worrisome is the fact that the newest book on the list is over 40 years old. These are the same old titles that people have been griping about for decades. What new books are being published that challenge any part of the status quo? What living writers are putting out exciting novels that we look forward to?
Active censorship carried out through bans is far less effective than having corporations decide what to publish.
In the 50s and 60s the CIA supported the Iowa Writer's Workshop and several high quality literary magazines, and exhibitions of modernist art, as a counter to the idea that only Europe had culture. A lot of what they supported was actually good. But they don't do this any more. And recently Disney has announced 10 new Marvel movies or TV shows, which are all made with the input and active support of the US Department of Defense. This is direct propaganda which attracts kids, and sucks the creative oxygen out of the culture.
Also we're getting 10 new Star Wars movies/TV shows, which are equally propagandistic. They trick Americans into identifying with the attractive rebels, when in fact our tax dollars pay for the Empire which eliminates all rebellion.
