Why I love efforts to ban books

 

Image source

There is nothing quite like a “Do Not Touch” sign near an object that makes me want to put my fingertips on it. I can’t be the only contrarian who has these impulses.

Nor am I the only reader for whom books on a “banned” list are must-reads. Do those who wish to limit the reading of others by keeping books away from them, realize how their actions actually have the opposite effect? Especially kids.

There is the common, and I believe accurate, perception that banning books increases their popularity. Banned books certainly get a lot of press and the awareness of a title leads to more readers. There is that undeniable thrill of learning something that is naughty. Many of us like to be challenged by thinking that may be outside societal norms - or at least outside the norms of our own families and communities. And, ah well, there is something in the adolescent brain that simply loves being subversive - a something that some of us never outgrow.

I’ve written a number of books and sadly none of them were ever placed on a banned list. But should I write another one, I am going to be damned-well certain that some parents and politicians will find it unsuitable, especially for young people. Perhaps I’ll compose a racy novel with a sexually non-conforming protagonist and a racially stereotyped antagonist - all seasoned with a good dose of critical race theory, a dollop of cancel culture, and a touch of profanity. Ought to get a few old fart’s undies in enough of a bunch to raise the curiosity of readers. And raise my sales.

So go, book banners, go! Let’s keep those books that make people actually think in the limelight. I, for one, appreciate your efforts.

The best of times, the worst of times

The last few decades have been the most peaceful era in human history. Whereas in early agricultural societies human violence caused up to 15 percent of all human deaths, and in the twentieth century it caused 5 percent, today it is responsible for only 1 percent. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Yuri Noah Harari

Every morning newspaper headlines look increasingly grim. Pick your “existential” threat*:

• Viruses
• Climate change
• Nuclear war
• Sexual harrassment
• Police brutality
• Cyber attacks
• Random shootings
• Trump running for re-election

How could the world possibly get any worse?

Yet…

I often think of a theory given by the cultural anthropologist Jennifer James that human beings at some point in their lives recognize their own mortality. That, yes indeed, we all will die. And somehow this reality is easier to reconcile if we believe we will be leaving a world that is getting worse rather than getting better.

While I grumble and fret with the best of them about the negative happenings of the 21st century, I also recognize that I would not want to live in any other era of human history. As recognized by Harari (and others like Steven Pinker), our world is the freest of violence that it has ever been. While modern medicine still has unsolvable diseases to eradicate, I would not want to be treated by doctors trained even 100 years ago. World-wide, poverty is decreasing (Factfullness, Rosling) and awareness of institutional racial and sexual bias is growing and being addressed. Even in painfully slow ways, businesses, politicians, and individuals are taking action to slow climate change.

Our world is far from perfect. As Charles Dickens observed over 150 years ago:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. ― A Tale of Two Cities

James’s theory of easing the reality of one’s mortality does not apply to everyone. I genuinely want the world to grow safer, more peaceful, more equitable, and more environmentally stable. Although I will not be a resident, my children and grandchildren will live many more decades. I wish this for them.

* Being a grumpy old guy, these and other headlines and click-bait subjects are often topics of discussion with other old guys. There is legitimacy for concern around all the threats listed above. People are and will suffer because of some of these serious problems. I acknowledge that I live in a safe, middle class, suburban neighborhood in a politically stable (more or less) country. My problems are almost always first world problems.

Better a has-been

In doing my taxes this year, I realized that 2021 was the first year that I had not earned income from speaking or consulting since 1994. 

In ‘94, the New York School Library Media Specialists Association was the first professional organization to take a chance on me as a keynote speaker. I remember two things about the event:

• I mispronounced Sinn Fein - and a librarian called me on it after the talk.

• After socializing into the wee hours of the morning on which I was to speak, I learned that there were bets being taken on whether I would actually make it to the keynote.

Somehow I must have done OK since over the next 25 years I was asked to speak, give workshops, and conduct program evaluations for over 175 professional organizations and school districts ranging from schools right here in Minnesota to conferences in Beijing, Mumbai, Cartagena, and Addis Ababa. (Here is the complete list.) I missed only one engagement - the date had changed and I somehow didn’t record the new date. At two conferences the electricity went out and I had to improvise without my slides. One organization decided it would not pay my stipend because an administrator attending disagreed with a statement I made.  But it was nearly miraculous how many just plain went as planned.

A friend who is also a speaker/consultant recently commented that a number of people on the speaker circuit of tech, library, and education conferences have “retreated.”  I have a couple of good Facebook friends who have also retired from speaking as well. How many stopped doing this work voluntarily and how many stopped because of conferences going dark during the pandemic, I don’t know. 

I also don’t really know why my invitations to speak stopped. But they did - rather abruptly. I had voluntarily ended writing my regular columns. My last book was published in 2015. And I retired from my day job in 2019. So it really was time to “retreat” from my speaking gigs anyway. I had always been proud that I based my talks and workshops on real experiences from my district work as a technology and library director - not just theory and conjecture - and those experiences were now in the past.

As much as I enjoyed working with fellow professionals, meeting new people, seeing new places, creating and presenting new talks, and, yes, hearing compliments about my work, each trip came with a certain level of stress. Would the equipment work? Would my flight arrive in time? Would my ideas be well-received? Would I experience a memory lapse that would keep me from delivering my talk? Was I actually creating positive change?

I miss “the circuit” but I like that now travel for me is leisurely. I can leave the dress clothes at home. I can spend the time I would have used prepping for the talks for other things. I can “retreat” knowing that other younger, brighter, more inspired minds than mine are working on the problems of education, technology, and libraries.

It was fun to be sort of a big fish in a small pond for a few years. But it’s just as nice to be a minnow once again.