Cheers and Jeers is a weekday coping mechanism from the great state of Maine.
Unnecessary Censorship
As long as there have been books there have been dumbasses trying to ban them, and America’s dumbasses are among the most obnoxious, Jesus-freaked, censorship-mad, and delicate-fee-fee’d in the civilized world.
According to the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF), there were 2,452 book titles targeted for censorship last year. Thus the reason why the ALA has designated this Banned Books Week:
Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in libraries, bookstores, and schools. The annual event highlights the value of free and open access to information and brings together the entire book community—librarians, educators, authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers of all types—in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas.
The theme of this year’s event is “Censorship is So 1984. Read For Your Rights.”
By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.
This week’s honorary chair is George Takei, who says, “I remember all too well the lack of access to books and media that I needed growing up. First as a child in a barbed-wire prison camp, then as a gay young man in the closet, I felt confused and hungry for understanding about myself and the world around me.”
And who are the current crybaby book banners?
The 2024 data reported to ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) shows that the majority of book censorship attempts are now originating from organized movements. Pressure groups and government entities that include elected officials, board members and administrators initiated 72% of demands to censor books in school and public libraries. Parents only accounted for 16% of demands to censor books.
The top 5 banned books last year were (cue the sound of conservative fake MAGA Christians grinding their teeth):
1. All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
2. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
3. (Tie) The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
5. Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
Kudos to you all, you’re definitely worth reading. Look ‘em up online, kids!
See the various events scheduled for the rest of the week here. The closest I ever came to banning a book from our house was the time I almost tossed an old Rush Limbaugh screed in the trash. How it got here in the first place is still a mystery, but we held on to it. Makes a great doorstop.
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