Banned Books: The Painful Hypocrisy
This past week has been Banned Books Week, something that resonates with a lot of readers and writers alike. I know I’m a little behind on this, but there’s been a lot going on related to Banned Books Week, and I really wanted to think carefully about my thoughts. I’m pretty sure most of you are aware of several stories related to banned books. For the sake of time, I won’t go over every single story. But, I will only say book-banning efforts are skyrocketing and that the movement to ban books is growing at an alarming rate that impacts everyone all-the-way-around.
Yet, one story that really resonates with me is the most recent article I’ve seen about author, George M. Johnson, who wrote a memoir, “All Boys Aren’t Blue”, based on his experiences as a homosexual of color. According to ABC News, it became the second-most banned book in schools in the United States due to “sexually explicit content” through the depictions of homosexual intercourse and sexual trauma. You can read the rest of the article, here.
To further support George M. Johnson, you can buy his novel, here.
The audiobook cover for “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson
This isn’t one of the only stories related to Banned Books Week, and overall banned books in general, and it unfortunately won’t be the last. Unless, if we take action.
I’ve heard a lot of writers joke that they want to get their book banned. This is because there’s this myth that their novel becomes immensely popular after it joins the ranks of other banned books like “To Kill a Mocking Bird” by Harper Lee and “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger. And yes, your novel will gain popularity after becoming a banned book, just out of negativity.
Honestly, I’m not sure if this is something you should joke about. Maybe it’s me being a little sensitive on such a topic and the growing movement of banning books, but your goal as a writer who wants to share a story, is to bring people together through your work, not to divide them. And of course, get them to understand something that you know well, such as being a biracial woman like me, or shifting from living in the country to living in the city. And I get that you can’t control how people react to your book, but you can control how you represent yourself in the public eye as a writer. Thus, to joke about wishing your book would end up being a “banned novel” when more and more novels ar being banned is not the smartest thing to do. God forbid, if one of my novels ends up being banned, the one thing I would hope for is at least one person or a handful of others loved my work enough to defend it. And I hope that that my work at least helped someone through a difficult time or inspired them in some positive way.
One of my favorite all-time literature professors, is passionate about this issue. And I don’t blame her, or anyone else who is passionate about this. Obviously, I am one of those people, as a writer and a reader. Hence, why I’m writing this blog regardless of whatever criticism that will perhaps come my way for expressing my opinion.
From what I’ve seen in my lifetme, most people who are vocal for banning books are those who have never even read the novels in the first place. And to be honest, it’s very disheartening the people who start this are adults acting childishly because they want control over not only what their children can read, but what other children can read as well. I find it confusing and embarassing you have some people offended by novels they haven’t even read. They only get offended because they heard about things that are portrayed in a novel via a friend. For example, Christians say “Harry Potter” promotes witch craft because either the preacher at their church or their friend said so, but they’ve actually never read the book to find out for themselves. If I ever end up lucky enough, and I end up near my fifties, pissed off about novels I’ve never read that my Karen-esque friend ranted to me about, please put me on the do-not-resuscitate list because that’s really not much of a life. If you’re going to put so much time and effort in getting a novel banned that you never even read, you really don’t have much going for you in life.
A fellow friend of mine, Tank, spoke about when his daughter wanted to read “Twilight”, another banned book. He said it best: “I’d rather let my child read it and ask me questions about it whie I’m here rather than her finding out through her friends.”
And I whole-heartedly agree, especially as someone who asked a lot of questions about books to my mother, who I’ve been very close to. When I was younger, I asked her one day why people get mad about books and try to keep others from banning them, she said, “It’s all about control. And sometimes, people just want something to get mad about because they’ve got nothing better to do.”
Now, this is my take. I’m half-American, half-Filipino. My dad is an American from Virginia who came from a very religious but well-intentioned household led namely by my grandmother. My mom is from Manila, the Philippines. She grew up in a religious and somewhat controlling family too, but didn’t let it define her. My mom would let me read whatever I wanted. I even read novels like “Plainsong” by Kent Harruf, “Cold Mountain” by Charles Frazier and several other books that were perhaps not appropriate for young adults looking back, now. However, it did prepare me for the world, especially now, as a senior in college, talking to others about these novels and the impact and legacy they have left behind.
On the flipside, my dad and my grandma never really saw eye-to-eye with my mom, especially when it came to reading and writing. They thought I should’ve only read bibical stories to maintain a squeaky-clean, Christian girl image, even though it was very unrealistic to be quite frank. No reading books with cursing, violence, and of course, sexually explicit material. But, it was ok to watch WWE religiously, go to church Sundays and Wednesdays and cuss and make sexual inuendos the rest of the week. But God forbid if I read something with such crass nature.
I read a few religious stories in my homeschool-curriculum even though they were very bland if I were to be honest. However, when I started writing, my mom got me into reading, and I tried reading whatever I could get my hands on. And, she led me to read “Twilight”. My grandmother was livid when she caught me reading that book. My mom and her had a long talk after that. I can’t remember all that was said, I just recall it being a tense day and my mom ultimately won.
“I’m not going to keep Elizabeth from learning.” She said. “I grew up reading cereal boxes and read the entire dictionary. If she wants to know what’s in it, let her find out so at least she’ll know.”
And that was the last book by Stephanie Meyer I ever read because it wasn’t my cup of tea. However, I will always give her major credit for taking such a risk as a writer.
That being said, I agree with one point my professor made that really resonated with me. She said that if these books - which highlight characters with different ethnicities, gender orientations and etc. - were to be banned, it would really hurt the younger generation. There would be a lack of representation for different individuals, and they wouldn’t be well-informed about the struggles different individuals face. Examples? People from the LGBTQ+ facing discrimination. People from different ethnic communities facing microaggressions and discrimination. People with disabilities facing hardships and discriminations as well.
I don’t have children, and to be honest, I’m not planning on it anytime soon. However, it devestates and irritates me seeing adults try to strip away something that children and teenagers can identify with. And this debate all boils down not only to adults trying to have too much control over their children’s lives and the lives of children from other parents, but also just lack of basic common sense in my opinion. If you’re going to want something banned like a book, at least know what’s in it and read it for yourself before you attempt to ban it. Sure, you can say, “oh, they’re just characters” or “oh, they’re just stories”. But you have to realize how powerful stories are. You get inspiration from stories. They make you feel ways you can’t describe, and you live to tell it to your friends, family and maybe even children and grandchildren hoping they’ll take something out of it to share with others. You even build friendships through stories. You remember stories your friends tell you and you share it with others, maybe for a laugh or to cheer someone up. Or, you have a classmate who likes the same books you’ve read, now you’re friends. And, if you’re like one of my other friends, you end up dating, then get married and have a child together. You also identify seeing characters in a novel, facing real human issues such as self-esteem problems, trying to better themselves, or dealing with loss.
We also have to realize that not everyone is a straight, white man or woman in perfect health. There are other people with different sexual orientations, ethnicities, and overal identities that need representation and who want to see people like them in literature. Also, for a country to promote the idea of education yet ban books - one of the primary sources of education - is a painful hypocrisy. How else can you learn? You can’t say through word of mouth because you will never know what’s true and what isn’t true.
Sure, as a parent, you have rights to tell your child what to read and what not to read. Just be aware that your kid will more than likely find a way to get their hands on that book you told them not to read. I know, because I ended up reading “Twilight” and “Harry Potter” even though my grandma and my dad were strongly against it. But, you can’t patrol other adults how to raise their children, as if they already don’t know how to raise their own child, let alone make one. That’s pretty insulting to the parent, and also insulting on you since you’re making yourself look inexsucably arrogant and idiotic.
As a reader, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve identified with works when presenting such issues. And I should also mention, that as a writer and as someone who is biracial, I would like to see more represenation of people like me. But, that cannot happen if such books are banned and if we allow such censorship to continue to thrive in a world where we should all be able to share our stories and not be silenced for just being who we are.
To end this blog, here are a quotes related to banned books from one of my favorite authors.
