If Ya Can't Beat 'Em, Burn 'Em

Another book-burning attempt, although to be fair, the guy who wants to burn the book isn't even a resident of the community in question -- he's just some Christianist wing-nut from Milwaukee.

Outside West Bend, the fight caught the attention of Robert Braun, who, with three other Milwaukee-area men, filed a claim against West Bend calling for one of the library's books to be publicly burned, along with financial damages.

The four plaintiffs -- who describe themselves as "elderly" in their complaint --- claim their "mental and emotional well-being was damaged by [the] book at the library."

The claim, unconnected to the Maziarkas, says the book "Baby Be-bop" -- a fictional piece about a homosexual teenager -- is "explicitly vulgar, racial and anti-Christian." (Emphasis added)

Can I repeat this? They don't live there, and it's questionable whether they've ever even visited that library. What we're left with is a favorite Christianist claim: they suffer injury because something that they don't approve of exists. Remember the infamous NOM "Coming Storm" ad?

The core dispute is somewhat knottier. As usual, some parents objected to something available to their children. Being the kind of people they are, instead of just telling their children that they are not allowed to read those books, they demanded that access to the books be restricted for everyone.

The strife began in February when West Bend couple Jim and Ginny Maziarka objected to some of the content in the city library's young-adult section. They later petitioned the library board to move any sexually explicit books -- the definition of which would be debated -- from the young-adult section to the adult section and to label them as sexually explicit.

Ginny Maziarka, 49, said the books in the section of the library aimed at children aged 12 to 18 included homosexual and heterosexual content she thought was inappropriate for youths.

She and her husband also asked the library to obtain books about homosexuality that affirmed heterosexuality, such as titles written by "ex-gays," Maziarka said.

"All the books in the young-adult zone that deal with homosexuality are gay-affirming. That's not balance," she said.

Of course, one of the basic objections is that the library makes books available to young people that are "gay-affirming" while not including titles written by professional homophobes. "Balance"? Can I make a statement here? When the conflict is between reality and ignorant opinion based on lies and distortions, it's not a question of "balance" -- it's a question of factual truth versus untruths, no matter how popular the latter might be. This is something that seems pretty basic to me, although it seems to elude a lot of people, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Time magazine, and a few others of note. And has anyone pointed out to this idiot that heterosexuality doesn't need "affirming"? I mean, when's the last time a kid had to come out to his parents as straight and hope that they would accept him? Sheesh!

Fortunately, there is someone in this community with her head screwed on straight:

Maria Hanrahan, also a West Bend mom, set up a rival blog to argue the other side.

"I'm against any other party telling me what's appropriate for my child and what isn't," said Hanrahan, 40, who also created a West Bend Parents for Free Speech group. "We don't mean to say these are appropriate for everyone, but we don't feel they should be set apart from other materials or restricted from the young-adult section."

Bingo!

And suddenly we see some moderation:

"We want parents to decide whether they want their children to have access to these books ... and we want the library's help in identifying [them through labeling and moving]," Maziarka said. "It's just common sense."

Why don't the Maziarkas start with telling their own children what they have permission to read, and leaving other parents to make that decision for their kids?

I've reviewed a fair amount of YA literature in the past few years, and it's a lot different than the stuff I was reading when I was a kid -- it's the difference between this and this. Let's just face it, the world is a lot more complicated and much scarier than it was then, and hiding things from kids is doing them no service. I think parents need to be there for their children, to talk about these issues honestly and openly. It's no stretch to say that you can always point out that these are your beliefs and your standards, and others may see things differently, but to insist that your children can't have all the information is doing them real harm.

And to insist that someone else's kid can't have access to information is beyond the pale.