The importance of Banned Books Week
I’m a little late covering Banned Books Week, but I figure better late than never. This is actually a very important event because it gives attention to the freedom to read what one chooses and not giving into demands by groups or individuals to restrict access to a books based on what they find as offensive content.
I’ve always been an advocate for freedom of speech, freedom of ideas, intellectual freedom and being able to have equal access to all books, despite their unpopular views or objectionable content. The American Library Association agrees:
Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.
I’ll be honest, there are books out there I don’t like and totally disagree with. But I’d never think of trying to get those books banned in anyway, shape, or form. The foundation for my beliefs is that if I want a book banned because of my beliefs, then there is always someone who would want to ban books I do agree with. I don’t want to be a hypocrite.
The reality is that despite a lot of progress made with intellectual freedom, there are still people who would like to see books banned:
The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted bannings. Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections. Imagine how many more books might be challenged—and possibly banned or restricted—if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society.
I’d urge everyone out there to be an advocate for the freedom to read whatever we want, even if the material is objectionable. Surprisingly, a lot of books that top the regularly banned books list are what we’d now consider classics. And there are still many countries in the world that censor literature based on politics and/or religion. We all must work hard to stop this practice in those countries. We must also work in the U.S. to keep our freedom alive and well.
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