Books Are There to Challenge Us, Not to Be Challenged

While reading through the newspaper this morning, I saw some interesting stories. But the one that really caught my attention-- as in are you freaking kidding me?!-- was about the list of books recently challenged-- books that have been petitioned for removal from schools and libraries.

A while back, I wrote a post about the selective re-editing of Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle stories by two know-nothing revisionist clods. I don't know which is worse-- to challenge/ban a book or to go back and remove the offensive lines. On the one hand: a challenged book still maintains its original structure, but no one enjoys it. On the other hand, a revised book does give a glimpse into the author's style and intent, however diluted that glimpse may be, but it's insulting artistically to take it upon yourself to rewrite literature.

I can't believe this is still an issue!

Correction-- yes I can. And that's the sad part.

Included on the list of challenged books are the Twilight series. I have no special love for those books-- in fact, I think they're pulpy, pretentious trash with lousy, dimwitted narratives and unappealing characters. (Not to criticize.) But if people want to subject themselves to the reason why many people think the novel is a dead art form, let them! If you're offended by the content, don't frooging read it!

Also included: And Tango Makes Three, a children's book about two gay penguins raising an abandoned chick in a public zoo. Now, this is more of a hot-button topic. But to me, this story (which I have never read, but I am familiar with the tale of these icy birds and their unwitting struggle for civil rights) reflects something good: two life forms taking the initiative to raise a baby animal that would have died if not for them. What kind of decent person is opposed to that? Should the chick have committed suicide just so as not to be raised by two queers? Are a man and a woman who beat and harass their child automatically better parents than two women or two men who love and support a child in their care?

Let's also look at some of the other books that have been challenged and/or banned in the past. Leon Uris' Exodus, for one, a powerful epic about the struggle for Israeli independence. This novel (and, more frequently, the 1960 film it inspired) draws ire from those who claim it vilifies the Palestinian Arabs. Does anyone who makes that claim remember Taha (spoiler alert), the Arab village chieftain who gave his life rather than see innocent Jewish children be slaughtered?

Of course not. And what about William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist? Now I can certainly understand the moral objection to this story: the route to its highly moral core is paved through and through with profanity, startling obscenity, frightening episodes, and the simple idea that pure evil would victimize an innocent twelve-year-old girl. It's not an easy, nor a fun, read. It's a shocker, a thinker, a faith check, and a bone of contention. No one is denying that (except the poor, desensitized children of my generation who find nothing shocking in it and call the harrowing 1973 movie masterpiece a lifeless bore). But at the heart of this story (and I emphasize heart) is the overriding supremacy of a mother's love for her daughter, a love that compels her to take every conceivable action to stop this horrid evil from claiming the young soul. That story could never be told without such a chilling level of horror. But so many allegations made against the book and film-- that they glorify Satanism and encourage child rape-- are not only purely wrong but thoroughly offensive to anyone with a simple grasp of the story's true nature.

I encourage everyone out there to read a book that's been banned. A book that has, in the past, been burned. Because these hateful, closed-minded organizations don't go after meaningless books. I'm not saying that Twilight has meaning (its only purpose is to make teenage girls sigh), but you have to admit that books that teach and challenge are usually targeted as "offensive to morality."

And I also challenge everyone to remember another book that's been banned many times over-- the Bible.