Books, censorship, and the loss of empathy

Monday night I traveled to Indianapolis to listen to one of my favorite authors discuss censorship and how books, schools, and librarians are faring in our current state of politics. This event with John Green and the Indiana Freadom group popped up on my radar when I was attempting to acquire tickets to John Green's Everything is Tuberculosis book tour. Sadly, I was unable to nab tickets to that event (they were gone in about five minutes!), but the censorship discussion was in "recommended" events on EventBrite and I thought, "it's only a three hour drive, why not?"

One of the biggest reasons I wanted to attend this hour conversation was because I will have to opportunity to be a part of a panel with two other authors in two weeks at the Columbus Book Festival discussing censorship and book bans. I figured getting to hear another author, especially one who has been dealing with censorship for many years, discuss the implications of censorship and why it seems like we're seeing an uptick in the number of these bills all across the country, would help me A) feel less nervous about my very first author panel and B) address the FOMO I had when I missed his Tuberculosis book tour. (Spoiler, it did both of those things, though I do wish we could have sang Auld Lang Syne- if you don't know what I'm talking about, I recommend tracking down some of the videos from the Tuberculosis book tour. I cried watching them.)

It was an enlightening conversation and I enjoyed listening to Mr. Green discuss his role in the fight against censorship in Hamilton County, Indiana, as well as hearing him talk about his role in the Penguin Random House lawsuit with both Iowa and Florida. He, along with several other authors, have lawsuits going in two states, fighting to remove the bans on several YA books and requirements that libraries keep these books away from students under the age of eighteen. In Ohio, Mike DeWine just vetoed a similar provision in House Bill 96, so currently our YA sections here are safe, kinda. You can read more about the lawsuits here.

If you're part of the Nerdfighter community, you're familiar with John Green and his constant lean in toward optimism, and I find that when I'm really struggling to see the light at the end of this very upsetting tunnel, finding a Vlogbrothers video is enough to lift my spirits, even if it's just temporary. While he did talk about being optimistic, mostly because he says we're still in the middle of the story, he did say it's been very difficult not to feel disheartened with the level of cruelty and the blatant disregard for those in marginalized groups being displayed by our current administration.

To me, one of the most enlightening parts of this discussion on censorship was when Mr. Green pointed out that we have experts telling us how libraries should be run. There is a complete lack of trust in the experts that we see every day in every aspect of American society- you have those that distrust the scientists telling us the Earth is becoming too warm or that we should be looking at sustainable energy sources, those that refuse to believe that vaccinations are the way to stay healthy, the people who refused to wear masks to keep those around them safe, and parents who no longer trust teachers to educate their children. We have experts when it comes to books and curricula and those experts are the librarians and the teachers. Why aren't we trusting the librarians when the recommend where books should go within the library? That's a question I never thought to ask, but now I cannot stop repeating it over and over in my mind.

Further, when we remove a book from the library or from a school, when we place that book on a list, we're telling the students, "we don't trust you to make appropriate decisions. We don't trust you to decide what you should or shouldn't read. And we don't trust your parents or guardian to help guide you in those choices." For a party that is so caught up on personal freedoms and not being "tread on", they certainly want to make a lot of choices for everyone else.

When I was in eighth grade, I had an incredible history teacher called Mr. Thuman. I credit him with my love of history, particularly my love of German and World War 2 history. At the end of our WW2 unit, we watched Schindler's List in class- something that I have no doubt in my mind would be challenged by many, many parents today. We did have to have a permission slip signed in order to watch the film in class and two students were not allowed to watch, so they went to the library for those three or four class days. I absolutely respect a parent's choice to say "I'm sorry, I don't think this is appropriate for my child" but what about the 28 other students in the class? Do those two parents who did not want their child participating get to decide what every single student in the class does? Of course not. Parents and government officials do not and should not be permitted to decide what books are available to students- full stop. If you don't want your child watching or reading something, that's on you to have that conversation.

This mistrust of experts goes hand in hand with a mistrust in intellectualism and, what seems like, a total hatred of those that are educated. Books are incredible things, in that they take the reader into the shoes of someone else. That's why many on the right find these books dangerous in the first place. Books like The Hate U Give, Speak, The Bluest Eye, and The Diary of a Young Girl can take a high school student out of their middle-class suburban, mostly white town and drop them directly into another person's life, someone having a completely different lived experience. These books create empathy around the human experience and that does not make them dangerous, it's what makes their access vital to students.

There is a reason the Nazis targeted books about the queer and Jewish experience first. Empathy is a muscle, and that muscle is strengthened when you learn how to feel another person's point of view. Marginalization comes easier and faster when empathy for those different from you no longer exists and without books, I fear that empathy and understanding is going to be difficult to come by. And if you support the banning of specific books, as yourself why. Why don't you want children learning about people who live differently then them? Why don't you want your child or your teen to have an expanded world view?

What, exactly, are you so afraid of?