It is a testament to how far the culture wars in America have extended to see school and public libraries now on the front lines.
In normal times, libraries are noncontroversial places, only irritating to those who don’t like to be hushed in public spaces.
But the conservative movement in the U.S. has portrayed them as clandestinely brainwashing America’s young people on subjects such as gender identity, sexuality and race. U.S. politicians, often willing to pander to whatever popular movement is afloat, have grabbed onto this cause. At least one presidential candidate — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — is hoping to boost his national profile with his crackdown on libraries and other educational institutions that he claims are too liberal.
The attack on libraries has gone so over the top that there have been sporadic reports of librarians and library trustees resigning their positions because of the harassment they have experienced. Some states have introduced legislation that would allow librarians to be prosecuted who run afoul of new regulations. The American Library Association reports that the number of attempts to ban or restrict books is the highest on record since it began keeping this statistic two decades ago.
It is understandable that parents don’t want their children exposed to material for which their young minds are not mature enough to handle. The problem becomes when efforts to restrict access is based on the opinion of those whose definition of what’s objectionable may not be shared by other parents.
Although most of the attention recently has been on conservatives’ efforts to tightly regulate libraries, there also have been attempts by the left to remove titles from school libraries and reading lists, including some classic works of literature, whose themes and language don’t conform to current sensibilities. No political faction should get to decide what others get to read. To empower such censorship runs contrary to the freedoms on which this democracy is based.
Besides, libraries are hardly the information source by which most young people are influenced today. The amount of time they spend in front of a TV or computer screen far outnumbers how much time they spend with their nose in a book. If parents want to protect their children from values that run contrary to what they are trying to instill, it’s the electronic media they should worry about.
