Worthington is a middle-class suburb of Columbus, Ohio and parents there are wondering why their school district apparently has zero standards on what it allows in libraries for students. Or perhaps there are zero standards they will admit to parents.
It’s ironic that here during so-called “Banned Books Week,” we still have many if not most U.S. school districts robotically following the alleged no-limits content policy of the depraved American Library Association.
Or, schools will say they adhere to this “freedom to read” approach. But just try to find Christian/conservative titles in your public school library. There are few or none and most schools have no intention of correcting that “censorship.” They are too busy pointing their fingers at parents.
“Banned Books Week” (October 4- 10) is the ALA’s annual effort to intimidate parents into remaining silent about the obscene, trauma-inducing content of many novels in school libraries. “You’re a Nazi!!” is the historical knee-jerk response to parental concern, but today, many progressives admire the Nazis, so it’s become uber-confusing for them. Just be prepared for whatever slimy label they invent if you are the parent who speaks up.
The school will stonewall or send you through a committee process. Teachers may doxx you and humiliate you or your child on social media. Most schools want to eliminate complaints, one way or another. They seem to hate Christians, Jews and Judeo-Christian values. Muslims and communists are fine, though.
Are you one of those ridiculous parents the school district hates to hear from? One who doesn’t want your 12-year-old to read details about homosexual or heterosexual hook-ups (body fluids included with sometimes, illustrations), drug habits, porn use, teen prostitutes, cutting, bulimia, pedophilia, underage drinking and X-rated language laced with F -bombs? What is wrong you, Mom and Dad?
These are themes in many teen novels routinely included in middle and high school libraries. Many of ALA’s list of top “challenged” books include these totally inappropriate story lines.
The ALA and its acolytes call this type of content “gritty” or “coming of age.” Read the summaries from ALA’s incestuous satellite review sites. The reviews are carefully screened to never convey the horror your child will suffer from fantasized atypical teen experiences, tales transmitted by heartless authors. Stories intended to shock and corrupt kids are one more “check” on the factors contributing to adolescent mental health struggles.
So Worthington parents asked questions about Heartstopper. It’s a graphic novel series (i.e., expanded comic books), which has also become a Netflix production, and the characters are two teen boys in a same sex relationship. Among their friends are a “girl” who is actually a boy; a lesbian teen couple; and a character who identifies as asexual. One may wonder, where are the ordinary heterosexual kids?
And then we realize, this is once again all about normalizing homosexuality and its “queer” offshoots.
One of the boys has an eating disorder. There’s bullying and formulaic depictions of “homophobia.” People in ALA-approved novels are not depicted as having valid objections to homosexual/transgender behavior, which should be allowed in a realistic world, since no one is born that way. These are developed desires and identities, not inborn.
Have I mentioned enough content problems here? It goes without saying that most parents would not consider many of these novels as positive reads for their middle schoolers, if they find out what their child is reading.
The NBC affiliate in Columbus, NBC4, reported about the Heartstopper controversy, “Pages reviewed by NBC4 depict two characters kissing, lying together in bed, removing clothing and engaging in implied sexual activity.”
They scarcely mention the “two characters” are boys. We are all supposed to believe this point is irrelevant. Well, most parents would not want either homosexual or heterosexual characters engaging in any of this sexual activity in stories read by their children.
But if parents are also concerned about content that affirms homosexuality, they have a right to this opinion.
Now, the Worthington parents addressing the media said they were not anti-“LGBTQ,” but concerned about the sexual innuendo in the series. There is not explicit sex in the pages of Heartstopper, but by volume 3, the two boys have had sex and it is referenced.
This seems to be yet another novel that seeks to mainstream homosexuality. Who would object to that? Well, it’s very likely that a sizable number of families in the Worthington district believe the Bible’s prohibition of homosexual behavior and Scripture’s affirmation of sex between one man and one woman, in marriage.
Common sense also enters here as well as common perception. Males do not fit together, nor do females. They cannot create new human life. Such relationships are basically a dead-end road with many drawbacks. Nature (God) did not design human pairing in this way.
It should not be up to parents to screen out obscene material that exists in many libraires. This material is inappropriate for ALL students and schools should not select these titles to begin with.
At the very least, all schools in a spirit of true inclusion should honor their own policies against religious discrimination and for that reason, should be careful to not pack their libraries with such material. If a student from a religious family accesses objectionable material, the school should respectfully remove these books.
Do schools do this? No, most thumb their noses at such families. If they are Christians, they can go pound sand. If they are Muslim, well, that might be a different story. Those are people who deserve deference and accommodation, because after all, most are Democrats.
If I sound cynical, it’s because I am a veteran of the phony fight that has been going on for decades. It is not “censorship” to select some titles for appropriate inclusion in schools and reject others. It’s called “book selection” and it’s been going on the whole time in every school. This is the librarian’s job!
The real underlying theme of “Banned Books Week” is power. The educators paid by taxpayers and the school boards that hire them want to retain control over these selections. And the ALA is unfortunately a force to be reckoned with. Book publishers back them.
And controversy is gold. Publishers and book distributors love sex in books because “sex sells.”
So let’s not be fooled. The biggest “book banners” around are the librarians and teachers in schools themselves, and it’s part of their job.
But as parents, it’s our job to make sure they are not idiots.
