Once again, it is Banned Book Week. This is the time of year when we remind ourselves of the poor, hapless individuals in the world who are deeply threatened...by ideas. Sad to say, it's a growing movement once again in this country, and especially in my part of it, to ban books. Mostly in the guise of "protecting children", these misguided souls are rampaging through libraries and bookstores searching for anything they disagree with. Not content with merely suppressing ideas, they are threatening the employment or even physical harm to those who they view as not sufficiently closed minded. Quite predictably, the same people who want to post their Ten Commandments in schoolrooms and who offer the solution to "just don't look at them" to those who follow another faith or none at all, can't follow their own advice when it comes to school library books they choose to be offended by. Or more likely, are told to be offended by, as it is often the case that book banners have never actually read the books they want to ban. So this week, take a moment to remember these troubled, perpetually aggrieved souls, who are burdened to go through life persistently outraged by ideas they can't accept.
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