Social media was abuzz on Saturday following a report that “conservative activists” on the McMinn County School Board in Tennessee had removed the award-winning graphic novel Maus from the 8th-grade curriculum. The usual suspects on social media called this “book banning” or even “book burning.”
“Books on race, gender pulled from schools amid conservative push against ‘radical’ literature,” was the headline at Yahoo! News. “A Tennessee school district has voted to ban the Holocaust graphic novel ‘Maus,'” reported NPR. “Conservatives Are Banning Books From Schools While Whining About ‘Cancel Culture,” claims HuffPost. Based on these and other stories, one would think the school board was run by anti-Semitic Holocaust deniers trying to keep their kids from being taught about it.
This is, of course, not the case at all. The school board noted in a statement that Maus was removed from the curriculum because of “unnecessary use of profanity and nudity and its depiction of violence and suicide,” which it felt was inappropriate for children. The board has asked its school administrators “to find other works that accomplish the same educational goals in a more age-appropriate fashion.”
Of course, these are details that the mainstream media likes to casually gloss over in favor of the typical straw-man headline that makes conservatives look like they’re banning books about the Holocaust. “It’s those darn conservatives up to their dirty tricks again!”
Pop culture has reinforced the stereotype that conservatives are all about “banning” books for decades. Here are a couple examples.
In the 1980s sitcom Family Ties, there’s an episode about book banning where the daughter, Jennifer, wants to do a book report on Huckleberry Finn, but the school board has “banned” it. Her entire family supports her, including her brother, Alex (played by Michael J. Fox), which surprises their parents because he’s a staunch conservative.
In the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, there’s a scene where Kevin Costner and Amy Madigan (who play former Berkeley hippies turned progressive parents) attend a school board meeting to help stop books from getting banned.
What the left doesn’t want you to know is that removing books from school libraries for sexually explicit or otherwise inappropriate content is not book banning. Parents decide what’s appropriate and inappropriate for their children to consume all the time. Whether it’s what kind of food their kids eat, what television shows they watch, or what books they read, parents have every right to assess the appropriateness of content available to their kids in school without their supervision. Likewise, parents have every right to feel confident their children won’t be exposed to something harmful.
Here’s another little secret: as much as conservative parents might be inclined to prevent sexually explicit material in school, progressive parents are at least as inclined to want books “banned” due to “racist content.” As a result, classic novels like Huckleberry Finn, To Kill A Mockingbird, and Of Mice and Men have been removed from schools for being “racist.” Obviously, these novels aren’t racist — quite the contrary. But as much as I know that good books have been and will continue to be pulled from school curricula for stupid reasons, I’d rather parents have the opportunity to scrutinize what their children are taught than be left powerless.
After all, parents who want their children to read controversial books can still buy them.
And that’s the difference between elected school boards making decisions about age-appropriate material and actual book banning.
Let’s look at examples of real book banning.
Last January, famed Portland bookstore Powell’s announced it would not carry conservative journalist Andy Ngo’s book on its shelves due to local backlash.
This is book banning.
Last March, the left decided that Dr. Seuss was racist, and six of his book were promptly pulled by their publisher.
This is book banning.
Also last March, Amazon decided it would no longer sell books that frame transgenderism as a mental illness.
This is book banning.
Target won’t sell Matt Walsh’s kids’ book Johnny the Walrus on its site or in its stores.
This is actual book banning.
Here’s another dirty little secret the left doesn’t want you to know: when it comes to banning books — actual, real banning of books — it’s the left, not the right, doing it. Conservatives don’t want critical race theory taught in schools to kids, but you don’t see them trying to get The 1619 Project banned from bookstores or Amazon. Conservatives don’t want LGBTQ propaganda taught in schools, but they aren’t trying to that banned from bookstores or Amazon, either.
Related: The Censorship Is Escalating at an Alarming Rate
As a parent, I will always reserve the right to scrutinize the content taught in my kid’s school. Every parent should feel this way. If you don’t want your kids exposed to LGBTQ propaganda or pornographic material in school, you have the right to do something about it. That’s not censorship, that’s protecting your children.
