I assume that the majority of people who come here and continue to read my writing are supporters of freedom of expression. Not just supporters but active participants in freedom of expression. No matter how many ways or for what reasons we might censor our writing, people who maintain blogs exercise the privilege to express as they see fit whatever scampers through the brain on a given day. This is magnificent and ought to be celebrated often.
This week is Canada’s Freedom to Read Week. While, as a rule, my reading list includes challenged or banned books, I like to make a point of reading something during this week in particular that has been frequently challenged or banned at some point in history. Admittedly, Canada is pretty laid-back when it comes to the content of books. The national boards in charge of censorship tend not to get in a twist about controversial content. The school curricula seem to recognize the importance of reading difficult books in the development of critical thinkers (and there are plenty of schools that encourage the development of critical thought). Nevertheless, there are books that come under pressure from parents, teachers, and generally concerned citizens.
What flakes my fingernails about people who challenge books is that they are largely not interested in wrestling with complex content. The offending points of the written material are taken out of context or not properly treated within context. It is easier to shove the book out of view than come to terms with it in any mature sense. Or to teach a child to treat it with any maturity. How can a child learn to be properly horrified by the realities of racism or to subvert true injustices if they are never exposed to such concepts in a way that can be internalized? Too much cannot be said about the benefits of vicarious experience. Where else will we learn understanding outside our own lives if we don’t become submerged in another’s story?
My life as a literate adult can hardly be called oppressed. As much as possible, I choose what I put in my brain, and I like to think I do so with reason and intelligence. But I didn’t become this way because I was protected from controversial reading material. I was allowed to read and encouraged to think about the content. This cannot be taken for granted. We owe it to ourselves as reasonable, intelligent people to continue to explore the reasons behind the controversy. To confront dangerous ideas fearlessly and allow them to be gloriously dangerous.
This banner links to the Freedom to Read website, which contains a list of frequently challenged material in Canada and ways to become involved in Freedom to Read activities.
Interesting and very well put. My only uncertainty about such sentiments is that those who express them are liable they presume that all readers share their own responsible liberal values. It’s right such people as yourself have access to all literature, but some others might feel inclined to copy the horrors of racism rather than to feel its injustice. The film of Clockwork Orange did actually inspire imitation violence, and I do think that a culture in which violence is regularly portrayed as exciting is liable to increase some young people’s attraction to actually committing violence. And there is a danger in thinking that anything prohibited is ‘challenging’ and therefore good art. It’s complicated, I just feel a little sad that the liberal cause that once championed great important works now extends to works which I find insensitive and disgusting.