More Letters to the Editor

To the editor:

Most books contain sentences and paragraphs. Those, in turn, often comprise words. As we all know, words can be bad. Very bad indeed.

String some of those offending words together and one can come up with some pretty dangerous and disgusting notions. Notions can lead to some really troublesome behavior.

It surely follows, banning certain books may prevent some of those wicked notions and behaviors from taking seed. Cut ‘em off at the pass … to mix a metaphor.

Might be a good idea to look at a list of some of the more famous books banned by American authorities over the years. We could probably yank ‘em all quickly.

Let’s see …. I came across a helpful list. “The Color Purple” is on it, as is Huxley’s “Brave New World.” (That one sounds Marxist to me.)

Then there is “The Kite Runner,” alongside “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “A Farewell to Arms” and “Of Mice and Men.” Then we have “To Kill a Mockingbird.” (Just what was that sneaky Atticus Finch up to … REALLY?)

And some of these were clearly crafted to warp the inchoate minds of our youth. “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” for example. And who can forget “The Lord of the Flies.” Clearly meant to convince our kids to take up arms against one another. And as for “Catcher in the Rye’s” anarchical Holden Caulfield––well, he would just delight in convincing our kids to regard all adults as phonies.

I’d be remiss if I failed to mention one of the most deceptive titles on the list: “Charlotte’s Web.” Which purports to be a story of innocent friendship and sacrifice. But we really know of the sinister message just beneath the surface. I shudder to think what would happen if this evil book made its way to our young ones. And we all know how our youth are so very into books nowadays. They can’t get enough of ‘em.

So, banning books … yes, even those we’ve not actually read … may not be such a bad idea if we want to protect young folks among us from dangerous ideas. Hey, it seems to work for Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin and the Chinese government. Why not here in our own back yard?

Jim Austin La Grange