Land of the Free

I've recently started noticing the new censorship movement here in the United States. And when I say censorship I'm sure it conjures up images of jowly guys who wipe their brow with white cotton handkerchiefs while they exhort crowds of people to burn books in the public square. You know. The people that want "Catcher in the Rye" taken out of the public schools because it has swear words. Or that a book depicts a race in a way that we don't view them today because the book was written in a different age when society wasn't as enlightened as it is today. Just take a look at the ALA List of 100 most challenged books.
TOP 100

The people that want to ban these books are the nice woman in the pantsuit and the coiffed hair standing next to you in line at the grocery store. The buddy you're talking to about last weeks game. Your friends and neighbors. Why do they want to silence authors, photographers, painters, and musicians? Because they don't have the time to sit there and listen to an album with their kid. They don't want to have to take the time to monitor what their kids watch on tv, if they're there in the first place. Although most of the people who want to ban art actually have a parent at home. (going out on a limb here). Their best friend tells them that the schools and teachers are trying to corrupt their children. So, they're concerned. And then someone tells them that it threatens their way of life. And then, without having ever read or even seeing the book they join the movement. To save their way of life. To save their values. Instead of taking the time, they've followed the path of least resistance. Everyone else thinks that this is bad. Therefore it is bad and shouldn't be allowed. Not "my child shouldn't read this." Not, I should take this time to teach my child about our beliefs. No, no one's child should read this book. No one should have an opportunity to start a dialogue with their child about their beliefs. It's like they want the government to be the spam filter for them. They don't want schools to teach their kids critical thinking because the kid might just turn that critical thinking around on them. And then where would we be? Maybe with a lot fewer fearful people whose beliefs won't hold up to the first challenge that they face.
Fear and ignorance, the biggest threats to a free society that have ever existed.