“Censorship is telling a man he can’t have a steak just because a baby can’t chew it.”
― Mark Twain

Censorship.

I came across an article on The Friendly Atheist about Glen Ellyn School District 41 and its ban on The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

A handful of parents have raised concerns that the material covered in the book to be too mature for 8th grade students. Thinking that homosexuality, rape, and sex are absent themes from teenagers is myopic–parents cannot continue to live in a fantasy land.

Parenting and being a parent are not one in the same. To think that a book that covers unconventional topics be eliminated from the hands of those who need it because a parent finds the material distasteful is by no means a logical reason for its removal.

What’s most discerning is that there is still a push to ban books that a handful find obscene or distasteful. In today’s age of instant gratification of any bit of media one desires, to think a book tackling issues teens deal with on a daily base is in the crosshairs shows how far we still have to go before speech is truly free.

“History proves there is no better advertisement for a book than to condemn it for obscenity.” ― Holbrook Jackson

I hope this happens with the students of Glen Ellyn School District 41.