{"id":43623,"date":"2025-01-03T00:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T05:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themysticalunderground.com\/?p=43623"},"modified":"2025-01-05T12:56:07","modified_gmt":"2025-01-05T17:56:07","slug":"banned-books-a-dystopian-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themysticalunderground.com\/?p=43623","title":{"rendered":"Banned Books & a Dystopian future"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Recently, I responded to a man on linkedin who is an avid supporter of book banning. It\u2019s ridiculous to even engage people like this. But banning books is the quickest way to render people clueless and stupid about cultural, societal issues, and human issues.<\/p>\n

According to the Tallahassee Democrat<\/a>, Florida ranked first in the 2023-2024 school year for book bans – more than 4500, much higher than the precious year\u2019s 1406 book bans.
\nAccording to PEN America, \u201cOf the 4,231 individual titles banned last school year, 39% included LGBTQ characters. In addition, 44% included characters of color and 57% had sex or sex-related content.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s governor, Ron DeSantis, takes issue with the term \u201cbook banning.\u201d Last year, he said, \u201cExposing the \u2018book ban\u2019 hoax is important because it reveals that some are attempting to use our schools for indoctrination. In Florida, pornographic and inappropriate materials that have been snuck into our classrooms and libraries to sexualize our students violate our state education standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man on linkedin argued that parents have the right to make the decision about what their kids read. Yes, that\u2019s fine. What\u2019s not fine is when someone else makes that decision. Take Lois Lowry\u2019s young adult book The Giver.<\/em> First published in 1993, it\u2019s set in a Dystopian future, in a society where Sameness is the name of the game.<\/p>\n

The protagonist of the story, Jonas, 12, is selected to inherit the position of Receiver of Memory, the person who stores all the memories of the time before Sameness. Jonas struggles with concepts of the new emotions and things introduced to him, and whether they are inherently good, evil, or in between, and whether it is possible to have one without the other. The book won the Newberry Medal in 1994 and has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide. It has also been one of the most frequently banned books.<\/p>\n

As Lowry says, \u201cBanning books is dangerous and takes away an important freedom. While parents can choose not to have their children read a book, no one should try to make that decision for others.\u201d<\/p>\n

With all this book banning and trump entering office in less than a month, threatening mass deportations and other horrors, it feels as if we\u2019re about to enter a Dystopian future.<\/p>\n

Here’s a list o<\/a>f frequently banned books..<\/p>\n

Among them are titles most of us have read:<\/p>\n

Catcher in the Rye<\/p>\n

The Handmaid’s Tale<\/p>\n

Animal Farm<\/p>\n

To Kill a Mockingbird<\/p>\n

1984<\/p>\n

Fahrenheit 451<\/p>\n

Lord of the Flies<\/p>\n

Of Mice & Men<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, I responded to a man on linkedin who is an avid supporter of book banning. It\u2019s ridiculous to even engage people like this. 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