My letter to the editor about the American Library Association's Banned Books Week was printed in the Wall Street Journal today. Here's what the letter said:
Mitchell Muncy thinks that the American Library Association is overreacting to attempts by “law-abiding parents” to ban books in their local libraries (Taste, September 25). I think it’s more accurate to suggest that we don’t face a serious threat to our free speech rights today because of the vigilance among librarians in resisting such pressure.
A small example: When I spoke at a local library last year about my novels, the librarian subsequently informed me that a resident had called to demand I be “disinvited,” because one of my books included “a reference to male genitalia.” Egad! Amusing? Sure. Harmless? I don’t think so. Such people hide behind “free speech,” but their real agenda is to dictate to their neighbors what they may choose to read and hear.
Fortunately, our librarians are a buffer against those would try to substitute their values and standards for our own. For that, we owe them thanks.
So to you librarians out there -- Thanks!
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