Book Censorship Exists on Both Sides
As a writer, I’m 100% censorship - in general, anyway. I mean, there are things that are completely inappropriate for print, but these days, I’m noticing that book banning, is everywhere, regardless of whether one is from the left or right side of the political spectrum. On one side, you have people wanting to ban things as innocent as authors who are not of European heritage (or rather, Anglo-Protestant heritage) and/or books by LGBTQ+ authors (and books featuring such characters). On the other side, you have people who don’t want their children READ books by, say, Dr. Seuss or Roald Dahl because of their political beliefs. Seriously, people, what SHOULD the kids read? They can’t read the Bible, no sir/ma’am! It’s RELIGION. Or, it’s JUST TOO VIOLENT (Plagues? Killing of the First Born? Child abandonment? Locusts? And that’s just EXODUS!)! No Shakespeare, nothing by EUROPEAN authors! Heck, we can’t even read To Kill a Mockingbird, which, by the way, DEFINITELY teaches a lesson on racism. Do you know how I learned about segregation and what it might have been like to be Black in the south during Jim Crow? To Kill a Mockingbird, that’s where. I was a child of Hong Kong immigrants in Grade 8 at the Bishop Strachan School. What was I supposed to know? That same year, I also learned about what it was like to be Chinese living in Canada during the Great Depression. What was I reading for school? W. O. Mitchell’s Who Has Seen the Wind. Today, both books would be banned at some schools because of how non-white characters were portrayed. Looking back, and knowing what I know about Canada’s immigration system and treatment of Asians at the time, I thought it was brilliantly described - especially for a book published in 1947.
I’m writing this post because as at an author, I follow a lot of book-related Instagram accounts. One account shared a “read this instead of that,” which suggests titles to replace Dr. Seuss books with. I had just finished reading Fox in Socks with my son. Geez, it was quite a workout for me, as an adult (my five year old did an amazing job himself! We alternate pages. It took us two days because it was such a tongue twister to go through)!! Yes, the word “dumb” is in it, and I explained to him that it was a mean word to call someone, and that he should never use it. It seemed to understand. Five year olds are brighter than some adults tend to think! And yes, Dr. Seuss didn’t always portray Asians in the most positive light (but wasn’t he working for a magazine or newspaper during WWII), but his children’s books, or at least newer editions of the book, do not show this. So no, I will not be replacing my books. And I do not advocate promoting that you do. Same for Roald Dahl. So he was anti-semetic. Forcing the book be banned (even if they’ve been edited, which I’m not sure what or how to think) would be like asking for all Volkswagen dealerships to close because of VW’s association with Hitler, wouldn’t it? If you don’t want to read Dahl, you just don’t read his works. Just like you won’t, say, buy Chanel (because she worked for the Nazis) anything or VW.
Yes, literature needs more diversity, and we need to hear more voices. This is the reason WHY I write children’s books. I’m 100% in on that. I look at books by Asian writers, whether it be for children, teens or adults, and I don’t feel that I see my or my son’s voice/experience. So many felt extremely cultural/old world to me. Or the protagonist is portrayed as a victim of something or another. I have seen a very small handful of books featuring, well, normal people, living everyday lives and having fun. But then if they are, Geez Louise!!! They’re WHITEWASHED (I haven’t been called that just yet, but honestly, I’m not holding my breath)!!! And likely, that’ll get censored too! Do we HAVE to be victims and seen as marginalized? Sounds pretty psychologically damaging, if you ask me. I’m stressed just thinking about it. And please don’t tell me to meditate. I already do.
But back to the whole censorship thing. Sometimes, we don’t want people to read books that are too gory. And guess what? We manage. In high school, one of the required books was The Wars by Timothy Findley. The book is basically the Canadian version of All Quiet on the Western Front. More or less. So yeah, it’s pretty violent. Especially towards the end. And we read the book as teenage girls, not much younger than the protagonist. Probably no more than a couple of years. The protagonist could have been our boyfriend (I guess they said “beau” back in those days). Today, parents would likely want to protect their “innocent dears” from a book like that. What’s WRONG WITH PEOPLE?
Kids need to have a well-rounded education. And in order to have one, they need to get their hands on EVERYTHING and be exposed to such, age appropriate, of course. They need to know that historically, some people were NOT seen as equals (heck, I come from a background where the man responsible for almost every aspect of the culture wrote that women are “trouble.” Yes, Confucius DID say that. Some interpret it as only certain women, but even if it’s just CERTAIN women, it’s still WOMEN. Sure, we can get all PMS-y, if that’s what he meant, but dude, when your wife is going through that time of the month, maybe you should have helped her a bit? No wonder Confucian countries have one of the lowest birthrates in the world!). You don’t ban books. Doing this will get an eye roll from me.
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