This interview was fantastic. It explains so many of the issues that have developed in recent years in regard to children’s books. As a recently retired teacher I have a deep love for children’s literature. In the past 20 years the quality of books available to purchase has declined greatly. This is because focus on identity or “progressive” ideas trumps a good story every time. Children’s book publishers have focussed on marketing these types of books rather than books with well drawn characters, who have interesting experiences or face challenges. I stopped visiting bookstores in my area because it is too depressing to see what is on offer in the children’s book section. Even if schools are not “auditing “ their classroom or school libraries, these are the books that are now available to purchase. As books in schools are weeded out, because they are damaged, these are the books that will replace them unless somebody makes a conscious effort to purchase good quality children’s literature instead. Unfortunately, public libraries and families have the same pool of new books to draw upon. That is why I have been steadily purchasing books by authors I love and respect and classic children’s literature, from thrift stores. Now these books are available for my grandchildren to read. It is a small way to fight against censorship and illiberalism and to make sure that meaningful and well written stories are still available and treasured by my own family.
Book banning has been going on since the time of Socrates; it won't stop anytime soon. Just a point on books in our schools - if our schools prioritized the 3 R's rather than identity politics, we wouldn't be seeing such illiberal atrocities. It begins at the top, allowing this nonsense to fester, and when funding is involved to peddle the latest trend, you can be sure teacher unions and ed consultants fight to dictate to school principals and staff what our kids "need". Really though a lot of this starts in the home. If there's a few books of interest and kids see their parents reading them, they might be more open to reading too.
Censorship reduces ownership of one's morality. In teacher-speak, such ownership is based on the ability to compare and contrast. Reducing access to materials used to compare and contrast moral considerations turns individual morality into something borrowed and followed from others. Such morality cannot be responsibly owned. And that reduces individual autonomy. There are many pejorative terms to describe those who wish to reduce individual autonomy in the name of something else. And none of them are deemed 'liberal' but grades of illiberal authoritarianism.
"the important thing to remind ourselves is that it’s not only about giving others the right to say things that we disagree with it, it’s about giving ourselves the right to hear it. "
It is only by debate, and knowing the other that we can understand ourselves. By focusing on things such as race, gender we make the other a "lesser person". By focusing on their humanity, you make the other a person of value who has contributions worthy of respect, even if it not the same as our own. When I know someone as a person, know their hopes and dreams, I no longer see them as Hispanic, queer, Muslim, etc. but rather as another person worthy of respect.
There is no real right-vs-left book banning topic to discuss. It is all about critical social justice theory... an ideology that is a pseudo "woke" religion that evolved from a fake scholarship toxic mind virus pushed by the 3rd wave feminists and socialists malcontent radicals on campus. The left has been involved in child indoctrination of this crap having infiltrated western institutions. They have been leaking the propaganda into children literature for decades, but in the last decade they have gone all in attacking, mobbing, censoring, de-platforming and destroying anybody and any thing that opposes their woke ideology while they stuff more of their crap into schools and libraries. With little exception, the right is opposing it on pure principles of classic liberalism just as it would, for example, radical Islamists started doing the same.
Those that find moral equivalency in right-side children book banning and what the radical left is doing... well you are either complicity in the radical left movement, or you are a useful and foolish tool of theirs.
One more consideration. The acceleration of the woke crap isn't so much the radical left taking power... it is the managerial western elites, the establishment power, connected to the primarily US-funded global western military industrial complex that perpetuates the Global Order, that have employed social destabilization techniques to influence elections as their soft power hegemony and method for generating more war machine business... that have used the radicals as tools to cause social destabilization of their own western countries in order to influence elections and maintain the status quo that feeds the establishment well.
This all started after Brexit.
Fighting the radicals over their radical crap is just what the elite establishment power wants. Because meanwhile you will ignore all the government debt and growing taxation that is basically a money-laundering scheme for the elite establishment. They want to control the people just like the Matrix where you feed them until you cannot feed yourself. Indoctrinating our children is part of that plan.
By banning books our younger generation is deprived of the essential opportunities to formulate questions, enliven imagination, discussion and critical thinking. The intention behind this form of deprivation is a political manipulation that more often than not, leads the young to accept information (misinformation as well) as knowledge. . . much harm is done .
First off, to me, book banning is when a government confiscates all copies of a book and destroys them. That is not what is happening at all. Libraries make decisions what to stock, they have limited resources and space. Universities too. They should be making prudent decisions based on historical practices and community standards. They need to be, dare i say it, "conservative". They need to listen and reflect, not dictate. Not choosing a certIn book is not censorship. Culling a collection for "content" is. How is it that virtually every discipline now is acting like an ethical arbiter? It's wrong headed. The problem we have now is how to course correct. Massive penalties or re-education come to mind.
Great interview. I have a mixed perspective on this. I often want to read books that expand my horizons, but I'm an adult. I was very deliberate about what my children read when they were younger. As homeschoolers, they pretty much lived at the library. Fast forward to now, and my children do not let their own children go to the library. They buy books from used book stores instead. The attempted indoctrination is too heavy. Aside from books that they feel are completely not age appropriate, when they are seeking a biography, for example, the only ones available are of modern Left-leaning people. They have trouble finding older scientists or historical figures as well as conservative leaning modern people. A friend was looking for books on the Industrial Revolution and when she had trouble finding one, the librarian said, "Oh, we don't have books on that topic."
There are some great recent books for children, but you have to read many to find the gems. I wanted my children to acquire vocabulary (lots of newer books are pathetic in that regard) and read books that developed their intellects and their characters. Obviously, what character you think should be developed is no longer agreed upon in our society. So, how does a school or library choose? I hear Mr. Wells points, but we have lost a common definition for words like moral, ethical, and principled, so I don't see how these decisions can be made. As a parent or grandparent, I would rather shelter my child more and expose them to ideas with which I disagree when I feel it's appropriate. There is no putting Pandora back in her box if they are exposed to damaging ideas for which they aren't ready. Sadly, libraries today are full of those.
School libraries aren't worth fighting about. They're always political because school boards are always political. Libraries always reject books that students might gain value from. More importantly, the books required in school are usually more aversive than influential. High school made me hate Shakespeare and Milton and Melville, and I've never read them since. If today's kids are required to read woke stuff, they'll most likely hate it and refuse to read it later.
of course they are worth fighting about. Where do those kids go at lunchtime and at break - the ones who need a quiet place just to be? There are so many kids now who don't have anywhere to go during the day, which only leads to mounting anxiety these kids have. School libraries are where the battleground line is drawn in terms of having safe spaces for kids. Sadly, as with other aspects of today's schools, kids are being forgotten.
This interview was fantastic. It explains so many of the issues that have developed in recent years in regard to children’s books. As a recently retired teacher I have a deep love for children’s literature. In the past 20 years the quality of books available to purchase has declined greatly. This is because focus on identity or “progressive” ideas trumps a good story every time. Children’s book publishers have focussed on marketing these types of books rather than books with well drawn characters, who have interesting experiences or face challenges. I stopped visiting bookstores in my area because it is too depressing to see what is on offer in the children’s book section. Even if schools are not “auditing “ their classroom or school libraries, these are the books that are now available to purchase. As books in schools are weeded out, because they are damaged, these are the books that will replace them unless somebody makes a conscious effort to purchase good quality children’s literature instead. Unfortunately, public libraries and families have the same pool of new books to draw upon. That is why I have been steadily purchasing books by authors I love and respect and classic children’s literature, from thrift stores. Now these books are available for my grandchildren to read. It is a small way to fight against censorship and illiberalism and to make sure that meaningful and well written stories are still available and treasured by my own family.
This is an unfortunate trend in teen and adult books too. The quality, in general, is definitely on a downward slope.
Book banning has been going on since the time of Socrates; it won't stop anytime soon. Just a point on books in our schools - if our schools prioritized the 3 R's rather than identity politics, we wouldn't be seeing such illiberal atrocities. It begins at the top, allowing this nonsense to fester, and when funding is involved to peddle the latest trend, you can be sure teacher unions and ed consultants fight to dictate to school principals and staff what our kids "need". Really though a lot of this starts in the home. If there's a few books of interest and kids see their parents reading them, they might be more open to reading too.
Censorship reduces ownership of one's morality. In teacher-speak, such ownership is based on the ability to compare and contrast. Reducing access to materials used to compare and contrast moral considerations turns individual morality into something borrowed and followed from others. Such morality cannot be responsibly owned. And that reduces individual autonomy. There are many pejorative terms to describe those who wish to reduce individual autonomy in the name of something else. And none of them are deemed 'liberal' but grades of illiberal authoritarianism.
"the important thing to remind ourselves is that it’s not only about giving others the right to say things that we disagree with it, it’s about giving ourselves the right to hear it. "
It is only by debate, and knowing the other that we can understand ourselves. By focusing on things such as race, gender we make the other a "lesser person". By focusing on their humanity, you make the other a person of value who has contributions worthy of respect, even if it not the same as our own. When I know someone as a person, know their hopes and dreams, I no longer see them as Hispanic, queer, Muslim, etc. but rather as another person worthy of respect.
There is no real right-vs-left book banning topic to discuss. It is all about critical social justice theory... an ideology that is a pseudo "woke" religion that evolved from a fake scholarship toxic mind virus pushed by the 3rd wave feminists and socialists malcontent radicals on campus. The left has been involved in child indoctrination of this crap having infiltrated western institutions. They have been leaking the propaganda into children literature for decades, but in the last decade they have gone all in attacking, mobbing, censoring, de-platforming and destroying anybody and any thing that opposes their woke ideology while they stuff more of their crap into schools and libraries. With little exception, the right is opposing it on pure principles of classic liberalism just as it would, for example, radical Islamists started doing the same.
Those that find moral equivalency in right-side children book banning and what the radical left is doing... well you are either complicity in the radical left movement, or you are a useful and foolish tool of theirs.
One more consideration. The acceleration of the woke crap isn't so much the radical left taking power... it is the managerial western elites, the establishment power, connected to the primarily US-funded global western military industrial complex that perpetuates the Global Order, that have employed social destabilization techniques to influence elections as their soft power hegemony and method for generating more war machine business... that have used the radicals as tools to cause social destabilization of their own western countries in order to influence elections and maintain the status quo that feeds the establishment well.
This all started after Brexit.
Fighting the radicals over their radical crap is just what the elite establishment power wants. Because meanwhile you will ignore all the government debt and growing taxation that is basically a money-laundering scheme for the elite establishment. They want to control the people just like the Matrix where you feed them until you cannot feed yourself. Indoctrinating our children is part of that plan.
By banning books our younger generation is deprived of the essential opportunities to formulate questions, enliven imagination, discussion and critical thinking. The intention behind this form of deprivation is a political manipulation that more often than not, leads the young to accept information (misinformation as well) as knowledge. . . much harm is done .
First off, to me, book banning is when a government confiscates all copies of a book and destroys them. That is not what is happening at all. Libraries make decisions what to stock, they have limited resources and space. Universities too. They should be making prudent decisions based on historical practices and community standards. They need to be, dare i say it, "conservative". They need to listen and reflect, not dictate. Not choosing a certIn book is not censorship. Culling a collection for "content" is. How is it that virtually every discipline now is acting like an ethical arbiter? It's wrong headed. The problem we have now is how to course correct. Massive penalties or re-education come to mind.
Great interview. I have a mixed perspective on this. I often want to read books that expand my horizons, but I'm an adult. I was very deliberate about what my children read when they were younger. As homeschoolers, they pretty much lived at the library. Fast forward to now, and my children do not let their own children go to the library. They buy books from used book stores instead. The attempted indoctrination is too heavy. Aside from books that they feel are completely not age appropriate, when they are seeking a biography, for example, the only ones available are of modern Left-leaning people. They have trouble finding older scientists or historical figures as well as conservative leaning modern people. A friend was looking for books on the Industrial Revolution and when she had trouble finding one, the librarian said, "Oh, we don't have books on that topic."
There are some great recent books for children, but you have to read many to find the gems. I wanted my children to acquire vocabulary (lots of newer books are pathetic in that regard) and read books that developed their intellects and their characters. Obviously, what character you think should be developed is no longer agreed upon in our society. So, how does a school or library choose? I hear Mr. Wells points, but we have lost a common definition for words like moral, ethical, and principled, so I don't see how these decisions can be made. As a parent or grandparent, I would rather shelter my child more and expose them to ideas with which I disagree when I feel it's appropriate. There is no putting Pandora back in her box if they are exposed to damaging ideas for which they aren't ready. Sadly, libraries today are full of those.
School libraries aren't worth fighting about. They're always political because school boards are always political. Libraries always reject books that students might gain value from. More importantly, the books required in school are usually more aversive than influential. High school made me hate Shakespeare and Milton and Melville, and I've never read them since. If today's kids are required to read woke stuff, they'll most likely hate it and refuse to read it later.
of course they are worth fighting about. Where do those kids go at lunchtime and at break - the ones who need a quiet place just to be? There are so many kids now who don't have anywhere to go during the day, which only leads to mounting anxiety these kids have. School libraries are where the battleground line is drawn in terms of having safe spaces for kids. Sadly, as with other aspects of today's schools, kids are being forgotten.