Crashing the Bookmobile

 

I read things that make me mad. I read things that make me sad. I read things to explore worlds and lifestyles I’d never normally have any access to.  Passageways to unbridled imagination. 

Which I guess is…bad? 

I mean, I’m trying to understand the other side of the argument here. The part where books illustrating or representing differences in ideology, love, romance, war, sex, goose poop, what have you, or different points of view are somehow bad for us and should be banned.   

I mean, I’m not a fan of Mein Kampf but I still believe you can read it if you like and make your own decisions about what it means to you.  I’m not asking any library to take it off the shelves because the ideas represented in it are quite reprehensible. It is, after all, just the ravings of an incarcerated lunatic so upset he didn’t get his way he has to blame an entire ethnic group for all his, and therefore the worlds, problems. But I’m not asking for it to be removed. I’m not afraid of it. I might be a little afraid of the people who read it and think, “Yeah, this really speaks to me”. That is the terrifying part, but I still don’t want the book removed. 

I don’t agree with or accept a lot of what is written in the Bible. There’s a lot of killing and murder and sex and all kinds of really crazy things going in in that book. Yet, I don’t want it pulled from Libraries or bookstores. I am not afraid of it. It is a book, written centuries ago by a mostly patriarchal bros club of religious whack-a-doos. I am afraid of the people who take it literally though. They scare me more than most groups. To have the gall to say you understand the words of an omnipotent super-sky being and how those words should be interpreted; that’s something to fear. And yet, I still do not write and cry and complain to have the Bible taken off the shelves. I’m even respectful enough to still capitalize the “B” in the word, “Bible”. (Thanks Catholic school.) 

So I don’t get it. I don’t understand where all this fear of ideas is coming from. I genuinely don’t get where this vitriolic hate for the written word is spawning from. An idea is just an abstract construct. It takes many minds and hands and shoulders of the willing to bring any idea to a fruitful reality.  When did resistance to new ideas ever help to move a society forward? When did sticking our heads in the sand ever make us cool, hip, or even mildly palatable at social gatherings? 

“Hey great wine, where is it from,” asked Gary. 

“Oh!  I read this wonderful book about the vineyard, it tells you all about how the wine was made, the colorful history of the region, the atmospheric condi…, Hello? Gary? Um, why did you just ram your head into my floor?” 

“Books are scary,” was Gary’s muffled response. 

Is that really how some people want us to behave? Are we just an eyelash away from a Fahrenheit 451 future? (If you don’t get that reference, then you have to read more.) 

I cannot wrap my head around a desire to limit our human capacity for empathy, understanding, compassion, love or even the exploration of our own humanity. To try and limit that search is like hobbling an explorer or blinding any sailor who looked over the oceanic horizon and wondered what was on the other side.  I cannot fathom a civilization in which the exploration of our humanness is abandoned for the sake of “Morality” or “to safeguard the children”.  You might as well crash the bookmobile into the side of a mountain, set it on fire and run away screaming, “it was the elves, it was the Elves!” 

A society that bans the availability of books to anyone who wants them is in league with the worst autocrats, despots, dictators in history. A book banner will always be on the wrong side of history. It’s been proven over and over again. And I know that, because I’m not afraid of certain uncomfortable truths I read about, in a history book, in school, when I was nine.   

I just don’t understand where it comes from. It makes me sad. It makes me mad, every time I read about it. And still, I don’t demand it be removed from my field of view. I only ask more questions.

 Questioning is what we’re supposed to do and it’s…good.