Image compiled by Kym Gordon Moore

I can be a reasonable person who is very capable of sitting down and having a civil conversation with people, at least most of the time anyway. The fiery spewing of name-calling and biased opinions will only exhaust and infuriate me even more, especially when it’s uncalled for. As with many of you, creative works are important to me, just as recipes are to a chef, music is to a musician, the galaxy is to an astrophysicist, or marine life is to an oceanographer.

On this “WordPress” forum, I am friends with many novelists, poets, authors, writers, librarians, researchers, teachers, professors, publishers, artists, photographers, homemakers, retirees, college students, and a myriad of educators and administrators whose voices are echoed through the power of their pens! Now, what would happen if said band of book banners protested against and banned this social forum of creatives? Would you be outraged that anyone could have that kind of power and chutzpah because they feel emboldened by it? Now, honey, I understand that certain books aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. I have certain authors and genres that I gravitate to more than others, as well as art, music, fashion, and architecture. Many may not be to my liking but they have fans who support them. I respect that.

For me, banning a book is like burning the entire book and then acting as if it didn’t exist. Or, it’s akin to putting a ball and chain on it to weigh it down and watch it sink to the ocean’s depths. To have an all-out intentional and divisive campaign to ban books when we are already facing rising illiteracy rates and declining literacy rates is nonsensical to me. Some of you may remember RIF (Reading Is Fundamental) as I do, that came on the scene in 1966. This non-profit organization is devoted to children’s literacy by providing books and reading resources to children nationwide. This mission was absolutely fundamental to children everywhere then and still is.

Now, let me weigh in on the obscenities that are being thrown out about the influence these banned books allegedly have on our children. I definitely think it is wise for parents to get involved with their schools and public libraries to check out the material that kids could potentially read that may not be age-appropriate. I would hope school administrators and school librarians are a little smarter than exposing our kids to salacious material like that. Nowadays, however, it’s like pulling teeth to get kids to step away from their digital devices for a minute and pick up a book to read. But let’s be clear about what our children are exposed to that a book can’t influence. My questions are for another discussion, taking a deep dive into where some problems are seeded with dysfunction.

What are these book banners doing to keep drugs and vaping out of their kid’s hands, whether in school, at a ballgame, behind closed doors in their bedroom, or at a friend’s house during a sleepover? What are these banners doing to monitor the various sites their children are on once they have logged into their online accounts? Remember, kids know how to skedaddle around parental controls like the invisible man. And what kind of conversations are parents having with their children when they come of age to prepare them for this dysfunctional society we live in? What about the adults and relatives hanging around your house and around your kids, who are some shady characters, and messing with them when you are distracted?

So let’s look at those moving parts that are more damaging, creating long-term mental health issues, that are gradually shoving our young people into becoming a menace to society once these damaged kids become adults. Nope, I am not a healthcare professional and I don’t play one on TV. I’ve volunteered with young adults, abused and exploited women, and a few men, who have shared some pretty intimate and heartbreaking details about how they became delinquents stemming from their contact with an adult they trusted who used them. Still, this is a different conversation that I momentarily digressed to and away from this book-ban conversation.

To many of us authors, poets, and publishers, we see these band of book banners sending a message that this fight is more about something not relative to the material they claim to be fighting about. This is targeted diabolical divisiveness with a sanctimonious attitude. How can you be offended by something you haven’t read and know nothing about, especially that of multicultural applications? And you want to talk about our 1st Amendment Rights, which include protecting our freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances? #BanBookBans

In my book, “We Are Poetry: Lessons I Didn’t Learn in a Textbook, I included the chapter “The Power of Poetry in the Fight against Illiteracy.” My mission is to increase literacy awareness by using poetry to help fight against illiteracy and aliteracy. Below is a recording of the podcast I did last year, “The Voice of Poetry” on my POETRY, PASTRIES, & PIES PODCAST. For individuals insisting on pushing the book ban buttons, it appears you are promoting the “Dumbed Down” syndrome when we are facing declining rates of literacy, especially among children. Such unwarranted attacks will eventually backfire. Don’t be naive to think your kids won’t stumble upon the books you’re trying to keep them and others from reading, because we know they will be curious, and you may have very well opened up a can of “bookworms!”

If you are unable to listen to this episode, “The Voice of Poetry” on the above podcast banner, try connecting to this Spotify channel by clicking on this link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kym-gordon-moore/episodes/The-Voice-of-Poetry-e2aq08f/a-aaggj9n

Image Credit: Prettysleepy/Pixabay

 

Source: The Hypocrisy of Book Bans: #BanBookBans | From Behind the Pen