In the mythical land of Kansas, I woke up from a deep slumber and read two nationally syndicated editorials in our local paper, the Lawrence Journal World. Yes, we do have newspapers and access to the internet here, and of course libraries.
One writer expounded on the threats to ban books in libraries. A second writer expressed his disdain for rewriting books to avoid exposing people to dangerous and scary ideas that don’t fit in with the sensitivity in vogue today.
Efforts to ban books continue.
Froma Harrop informed readers in her editorial “Threatening librarians is barbaric” that our good legislators to the east of us in Missouri have passed a measure that librarians could be put behind bars for having books in their libraries that local authorities have determined as “off limits”.
Those on the extreme right of today’s political spectrum are leading this debate, one that has raised its ugly head in many cultures and nations since the invention of the printing press. Certain ideas and content are deemed so dangerous by those in charge that they must be banned in their local libraries.
The proponents for banning books have determined selected books to be pornographic, whatever that means, and books that broach the subject of gender identification along with gay and transgender issues. Given their intense enthusiasm for ridding libraries of these kinds of books, they must come to libraries often since they recognize the dangers so effortlessly.
One solution for offensive books in libraries, noted in Ms. Harrop, is to handle them like a librarian handled them in her youth. Certain offensive books were kept on a shelf under the counter and were checked out only upon a specific request for one of the books. Ah, such a simpler time.
“Rewriting books is cultural vandalism”
Rich Lowry then shared his dislike of rewriting objectionable books, “Rewriting books is cultural vandalism”. A few books for children have recently been re-written by Puffin Books to promote “inclusion and accessibility in children’s literature”. They went about this by primarily removing and replacing offensive words and phrases, like replacing “enormously fat” with “enormous”. I would think a rewrite of this kind for children’s book would be welcomed by many on the left.
This must be a rising issue of sorts because I watched the newscasters from Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live make a joke about this rewriting development. There is a move afoot, they said, to rewrite books by Ian Fleming of James Bond fame. I checked and that part of the joke appears to be true. SNL is a funny place to learn something new.
Thomas Bowlder, from the 19th Century, rewrote some of the plays of Shakespeare. According to Mr. Lowry, these rewrites were “ham-fisted editing of texts for political and social reasons”. “Bowdlerize” is even a verb used to describe the rewriting of text for whatever is the cause of the day.
The dangers of rewriting books are real.
Rewriting books so they will not offend the sensibilities of progressive or conservative types is dangerous. It can be painful to read uncensored books that do not reflect our current treatment of social and political issues, such as sexism and racism. Yet being denied the right to read outdated language closes windows for looking at how things were and comparing them to the present. It is called thinking for one’s own self.
While I see rewrites of famous literature as a crime really, I don’t think we need a statute to outlaw the rewriting of classic books. Though adding a warning label that the language has been “modified for your own protection” might be in order though.
Banning books and rewriting books to conform to current societal standards are two sides of the same coin. Both are equally dangerous because they limit our use of knowledge to see things from more than one perspective. To do that, we need all the help we can get.
Ken Grotewiel writes for the publication Our Sacred Democracy on Medium and is a Founding Member of the None of the Above Society.
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