Censorship, Wal-Mart & The Banned Book

September 26th to October 3rd marks the annual Banned Books Week. The American Library Association states that “Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment.  Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.”

This topic is extremely important because all of us have the right to read books no matter what their content, especially state funded schools and libraries. Every time a book is challenged or banned in a public funded sector, a little bit of our rights are taken away.

I believe that censorship misleads the public into believing that there is a reality out there that doesn’t exist. If I hide violence from my children, does that mean it doesn’t exist? If I deny that people have sex, then my kid won’t have sex? If a provocative topic is presented in a forth-coming and appropriate manner, then that topic can be an amazing catalyst to discussions with our children. A discussion brought forth from a book is much safer for me to discuss with my child, then having that discussion when a real life situation occurs.

Whenever censorship is mentioned, I always think of Wal-Mart. I will never shop at Wal-Mart because Wal-Mart participates in censorship. Wal-Mart has made the policy to not sell music that has a parental sticker on it. So many artists have made the decision to revise or edit their music so that Wal-Mart will sell their music (Wal-Mart accounts for approximately 10% of record sales). What bothers me so much about this is that just because you take away the “foul language,” you have not taken away the meaning. For example, Nirvana had to change one of their song titles from “Rape Me” to “Waif Me.” I think that most people can figure out that the title was changed and what Nirvana really meant. However, it was good enough for Wal-Mart and they sold Nirvana’s CD. This is what Wal-Mart deemed “family-friendly” material. Huh?

At the end of the day, I do not want the government, a retail chain, or other parents deciding what is right for my family. I will decide when my child is ready to read a certain book. I will decide if Nirvana is appropriate for them to listen to. I will decide how and when to talk to my children about sex. As far as I’m concerned, have all books available everywhere and when I feel my children are ready, they can read all of them. But what a shame it would be if they couldn’t find those books in their school library.