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Banned Books Week
29/9/09 12:36
Before I went away I spent a couple of hours thinking about how much easier life would be if I was the kind of person who could silence all those people who I didn’t agree with. All those dissenting voices would disappear from my life and I could go around, never hearing another vile opinion like the one I had just read at a friend of a friend of a friend’s blog.
Of course, being of a liberal political persuasion I’m well aware that placing bans on viewpoints, even the most despicable kind, is not the way to go and is really a shortcut that transforms liberal people into the monsters they despise. Knowing this doesn’t stop me hankering for a quick fix (like a full face muzzle) for those people who spout all kinds of hateful rubbish, but I believe it does keep me on the path to eventual decent human beingness.
As tempting as it sounds to place a ban on the freedom of speech that all bigots are entitled to I know that’s a pact only a big, scary devil would endorse. Everyone gets freedom of speech, otherwise we become equivalent to the censors we hate and we risk creating precedents for people to ban our own freedom of speech. Plus we all need to be open to the idea that our opinions may not be as absolute and right as we think (although I hope we can agree there are some things we are right about and others are really, really wrong about, even if we can understand that their own internally logical reasons have led to them developing those views – fyi if you think homosexuality is wrong you will not find that idea supported here and I am still mad boiling every time I think about that post I saw before I went on holiday, so while I respect your right to have an opinion I can never respect your opinion) or we risk becoming tyrannical and unbending.
Really I know we have to look for the reasons behind people’s hate, try to understand it, re-educate and push forward with positivity, but finding out someone I thought was decent and tolerant actually has some extremely objectionable views and is in a position to influence future generations placed yet another tiring weight on me, and for a few hours I was tempted by the warmth of the big, black capes you get when you join the dark side. How much easier must it be to be on the side that preserves their own liberties and their own peace of mind, by denying other people their own liberties and speech platforms? How light must your step be when you know you’ve managed to silence the views you hate to have to hear?
And so we come to Banned Book Week, where people who believe in freedom of speech react against people who don’t. It is that simple. Where you stand on banned books should not come down to whether you agree with the existence of books about single parent families, or gay relationships, or teenage sex, or any number of subjects (although personally I hope people do think these are all acceptable and important subjects to find in fiction and non-fiction), it should and does essentially come down to whether you believe everyone should be allowed to speak freely, or not. It should not be liberals against everyone else, it should be everyone else against bigots. If you disagree with what someone else is saying, write a letter to them, start a blog, get a television chat show, join a protest march, find a way and express your views, but do not attempt to make it illegal for them to say what they think, or for other people to hear what they say. Banning a book says that you don’t believe in free speech, in anyone’s right to say whatever they want and anyone else’s right to listen to them. Opposing book bans means you believe in free speech, it demonstrates that you have enough respect for people to allow them to make up their own minds and make their own choices.
Sometimes the choices they make won’t be so good in your opinion, sometimes the choices they make will suck when compared to basic human decency and sometimes those choices will need to be reacted against as they cause harm, but we will all be able to speak freely, we will all be able to explore ourselves and others, none of us will see our voices cut off. Hopefully we will grow out of any small, petty beliefs and become better beings, as we are allowed to explore, reject and embrace different ideas. Hopefully before my life span is up.
Of course, being of a liberal political persuasion I’m well aware that placing bans on viewpoints, even the most despicable kind, is not the way to go and is really a shortcut that transforms liberal people into the monsters they despise. Knowing this doesn’t stop me hankering for a quick fix (like a full face muzzle) for those people who spout all kinds of hateful rubbish, but I believe it does keep me on the path to eventual decent human beingness.
As tempting as it sounds to place a ban on the freedom of speech that all bigots are entitled to I know that’s a pact only a big, scary devil would endorse. Everyone gets freedom of speech, otherwise we become equivalent to the censors we hate and we risk creating precedents for people to ban our own freedom of speech. Plus we all need to be open to the idea that our opinions may not be as absolute and right as we think (although I hope we can agree there are some things we are right about and others are really, really wrong about, even if we can understand that their own internally logical reasons have led to them developing those views – fyi if you think homosexuality is wrong you will not find that idea supported here and I am still mad boiling every time I think about that post I saw before I went on holiday, so while I respect your right to have an opinion I can never respect your opinion) or we risk becoming tyrannical and unbending.
Really I know we have to look for the reasons behind people’s hate, try to understand it, re-educate and push forward with positivity, but finding out someone I thought was decent and tolerant actually has some extremely objectionable views and is in a position to influence future generations placed yet another tiring weight on me, and for a few hours I was tempted by the warmth of the big, black capes you get when you join the dark side. How much easier must it be to be on the side that preserves their own liberties and their own peace of mind, by denying other people their own liberties and speech platforms? How light must your step be when you know you’ve managed to silence the views you hate to have to hear?
And so we come to Banned Book Week, where people who believe in freedom of speech react against people who don’t. It is that simple. Where you stand on banned books should not come down to whether you agree with the existence of books about single parent families, or gay relationships, or teenage sex, or any number of subjects (although personally I hope people do think these are all acceptable and important subjects to find in fiction and non-fiction), it should and does essentially come down to whether you believe everyone should be allowed to speak freely, or not. It should not be liberals against everyone else, it should be everyone else against bigots. If you disagree with what someone else is saying, write a letter to them, start a blog, get a television chat show, join a protest march, find a way and express your views, but do not attempt to make it illegal for them to say what they think, or for other people to hear what they say. Banning a book says that you don’t believe in free speech, in anyone’s right to say whatever they want and anyone else’s right to listen to them. Opposing book bans means you believe in free speech, it demonstrates that you have enough respect for people to allow them to make up their own minds and make their own choices.
Sometimes the choices they make won’t be so good in your opinion, sometimes the choices they make will suck when compared to basic human decency and sometimes those choices will need to be reacted against as they cause harm, but we will all be able to speak freely, we will all be able to explore ourselves and others, none of us will see our voices cut off. Hopefully we will grow out of any small, petty beliefs and become better beings, as we are allowed to explore, reject and embrace different ideas. Hopefully before my life span is up.
