I just got back from attending the ACLU banned book reading and honestly, I feel inspired. The event honored Judith F. Krug, who is responsible for my quote on this blog post title and also the founder of Banned Books Week. As a book nerd, I always had a huge appreciation for librarians and tonight only reinforced that. Sometimes I think the world takes librarians for granted, it’s kind of amazing how neutral they have to be when selecting what books to keep in a library. This might be a weird contrast, but hear me out. I see a library and church as the complete opposite. In church there is the priest trying to shove these morals and his opinion down your throat. In a library though, it’s like a haven where the librarian is opposite of the priest (in most cases anyway) and they want you to form your own opinions and beliefs about books and the world; they want you to grow. I guess it’s kind ironic though, how both of them end up being in such heated debates about what is right and wrong.
There were breaks in between the readings that played banned songs and encouraged the audience to sing along (ask Erica to perform some, she’s just dying to). Aside from Erica's lovely singing, the banned songs really struck a cord with me. I can't believe that songs could be banned for insane reasons. For example, "Lola" by The Kinks was about a transvestite, yet what offended the BBC was that the song was product "advertising" through music by mentioning Coca-Cola. Then Cyndi Lauper's song "She Bop" which was on a list known as the "Filthy Fifteen" because the song was about masturbation. One that made me laugh was The Beach Boys "Wouldn't It Be Nice", whose line, "we can say goodnight and stay together" was apparently condoning premarital sex.
Among the performances and readings tonight, there was a reading from Fences by August Wilson, which was banned rather recently in the 1990’s for be “demeaning to women” and the fact that it “might require an all black cast”. The language is distinct and the characters have ethnicity, race is definitely the underlying issue here. There was also a reading from Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein, which was banned because it “teaches children to manipulate their parents” and “suggest drug use and violence”. Also, there is the infamous line “Someone ate the baby”, which a school district pulled the book because this line could encourage cannibalism. In 1931 Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There was banned in China because “animals should not use human language” and “it is disastrous to put animals and humans on the same level”. While reading this piece, Joe Wos mentioned that “the most dangerous type of literature is nonsense”. People can easily attack nonsense, they can claim that it has hidden drug meanings, sexual connotations, or the promotion of suicide. Nonsense is full of the abstract and unknown, if it’s not concrete then some people think it just HAS to have a hidden meaning or implication.
The performance that struck me the most was the Highway Puppet Theater that performed from the children’s book And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson. And Tango Makes Three was the most banned book of 2009. So what was the evil plot of the writers to corrupt the minds of children? “We wrote the book to help teach a child about same sex families...”, yeah sounds really evil to me. And it’s obviously sending the wrong message by using two male penguins who love each other and just want to start a family; love and affection are obviously two messages we don’t want to give our children! While watching the puppet show and listening to the words/meaning of the book, I thought it was adorable. There were even a ton of audience members constantly saying “awww” throughout the performance. It angered me and even made me sad to think that this was the most banned book of 2009. It made me wonder why people are so close-minded and what are they so afraid of? If I was a parent I would totally buy this book for my child, not only was it adorable but the overall effect of the book was positive and enlightening.
Throughout the reading I just couldn’t help but constantly wonder why people feel the need to censor things. It’s like the people who censor want this picture perfect world, but what is perfect and by whose rules/standards do we apply this to? Maybe some people think that sheltering children is sending them the right message, but they are only setting their children up for some fairy tale world that doesn’t exist. What about promoting creativity? I guess there will never be a real answer for all these questions I have, and although this frustrates me, I’m going to keep believing, promoting, and writing “nonsense”. And I just dare someone to try and censor me.
Also, enjoy some censored music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_VbImuG71M
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