As a student of history, I can assure you of one thing: Individuals or groups who want to ban books are not on the side of good.
Conservatives in McMinn County, Tennessee, banned Maus from the eighth-grade curriculum. Book bans, whether they’re instigated by the extreme left (the Communists) or the extreme right (the fascists), are one of the earliest warning signs of authoritarian creep. (C) 1996 Pantheon Books. Cover art by Art Spiegelman
Alex Diaz-Granados (1963- ) began writing movie reviews as a staff writer and Entertainment Editor for his high school newspaper in the early 1980s and was the Diversions editor for Miami-Dade Community College, South Campus' student newspaper for one semester. Using his experiences in those publications, Alex has been raving and ranting about the movies online since 2003 at various web sites, including Amazon, Ciao and Epinions.
In addition to writing reviews, Alex has written or co-written three films ("A Simple Ad," "Clown 345," and "Ronnie and the Pursuit of the Elusive Bliss") for actor-director Juan Carlos Hernandez. You can find his reviews and essays on his blogs, A Certain Point of View and A Certain Point of View, Too.
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4 thoughts on “A Quick Thought: Book Bans”
Says it all. We need to stop the ultra-right from book banning (and just about everything else on their agenda). Thanks for the reminder, Alex!
I love the argument “the books aren’t banned, you can go out and buy them anywhere in America.” Yet we’re stopping English teachers from teaching some great classic literature. I remember reading Animal Farm and 1984 with my high school English class and it was great. It was also the first time I read Faulkner who I grew to like quite a bit. And Catcher in the Rye – I identified then and now with Holden Caulfield. Yet we’re taking that away from young adults and are ready to put teachers – whose ranks are already thinned out – in jail for teaching about these books. How did we end up here?
70 years or more of conservatism becoming more extreme, I think. The U>S. has gone through wild electoral swings from left to right throughout its existence, but I think it’s getting worse.
A Certain Point of View, Too 
Says it all. We need to stop the ultra-right from book banning (and just about everything else on their agenda). Thanks for the reminder, Alex!
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I wish I didn’t have to write stuff like this in 2023 America.
And yet, here we are!
Thanks for stopping by, Schingle!
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I love the argument “the books aren’t banned, you can go out and buy them anywhere in America.” Yet we’re stopping English teachers from teaching some great classic literature. I remember reading Animal Farm and 1984 with my high school English class and it was great. It was also the first time I read Faulkner who I grew to like quite a bit. And Catcher in the Rye – I identified then and now with Holden Caulfield. Yet we’re taking that away from young adults and are ready to put teachers – whose ranks are already thinned out – in jail for teaching about these books. How did we end up here?
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70 years or more of conservatism becoming more extreme, I think. The U>S. has gone through wild electoral swings from left to right throughout its existence, but I think it’s getting worse.
LikeLiked by 1 person