It is Sunday morning, 18 September 2022, and I’m thinking about books.
I read. I love books, whether the big is on paper in hand, or an e-book reader (Kindle, Android or Windows tablet), or in an audiobook format – although I will admit, when I’m listening to an audiobook, I prefer just a narrator and the story, you can leave all of that other-the-top radio production stuff out – I find it is more of a distraction than an enhancement.
These days I’m lucky if I have one or two fiction titles in play while I have a dozen or more technical titles in play as I continue my ongoing professional pursuits. I don’t think I have to worry about any of the technical titles I work with being banned by local libraries, but I have a real problem with this growing trend of banishing books because they don’t “fit” conservative populations.
Here’s the reality that conservatives don’t like to admit… our kids are going to be different than we are. Some children that come from conservative households will continue that to form a multigenerational trend. Some other kids are going to go their own way, and some of those kids can probably benefit to read stories about kids like them. Some of our kids are going to grow up in households with single parents, some with same-sex parents. Some of those kids are going to grow up feeling differently about gender and sex, and we as a society have a responsibility to let those kids know they are going to be welcomed, loved, and accepted for who they are. Conservatives can pray all day for that reality to change, but just wishing for something does not make it so.
It’s a proven fact that those who favor book banning and book burning are never on the right side of history.
Go read a banned book.
I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.
Peace y’all.
