American Values in Headlong Retreat

From NYT:

But a month after the performances [of Grease] in November, three letters arrived on the desk of Mark Enderle, Fulton's superintendent of schools. Although the letters did not say so, the three writers were members of a small group linked by e-mail, all members of the same congregation, Callaway Christian Church.

. . .

One letter, from someone who had not seen the show but only heard about it, criticized "immoral behavior veiled behind the excuse of acting out a play."

. . .

But challenges to longstanding literary or artistic works are not unusual, said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, deputy director of the American Library Association's office of intellectual freedom. Complaints generally are growing; in 2004, the last year for which figures are available, 547 books came under fire, an increase of nearly 20 percent over 2003, when 458 books were challenged.

"That a literary work is a classic does not protect it from being challenged, or even removed from a particular community," Ms. Caldwell-Stone said.

. . .

For the moment, Dr. Enderle acknowledged, the controversy has shrunk the boundaries of what is acceptable for the community. He added that "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was "not a totally vanilla play."

But asked if the high school might put on another Shakespeare classic about young people in love, "Romeo and Juliet," he hesitated.

"Given the historical context of the play," the superintendent said, "it would be difficult to say that's something we would not perform."

Read this whole article. I don't think I need to comment at all, except to note that three people in a town of 10,000 are dictating what's acceptable for everyone. (They cancelled The Crucible. Offhand, I'd say this is a community that needs to see that play, but I doubt that a lot of them would get it.)

This is traditional American values? Censorship by a cabal of the weak-minded?

OK -- I am going to comment. I realize I'm getting a little shrill, but I am thoroughly outraged by stories like this. Yes, people do have the right to object to things they find offensive -- that's exactly what I'm doing here. My outrage is directed at the idea that the school district has just thrown in the towel without, as you will note if you read the article, public discussion, no sense of what the community at large thinks about the situation, and way too much willingness to pander to the most ignorant and small-minded.

Three complaints. Three. One from someone who hadn't even seen the production.

To my mind, the only appropriate response is, "Trot on down to WalMart and get a life."