Used to think banning books was just about protecting kids, then I read 'Maus'

I always figured people banning books had good intentions, but after reading Art Spiegelman's Maus last month I saw how it's really about controlling what stories get told. The way they tried to hide the Holocaust from my local library in Texas just because of some swear words and a mouse drawing... that's not protection, that's erasure. Anyone else had their mind changed by a specific banned book?

2 comments

2 Comments

logan_thomas8716d ago

What finally clicked for me was realizing that keeping Maus in a high school library would be way different than sticking it in an elementary school, and the people calling for the ban never seem to make that distinction.

the_faith16d ago

Oh wow, I gotta respectfully disagree here. I actually think there's a line between wanting to protect kids from really mature content and straight up censorship, but Maus isn't some harmless comic book it deals with heavy trauma and violence that maybe isn't right for every age group. Honestly, keeping certain books out of elementary school libraries isn't always about erasing history, sometimes it's about matching the material to the right audience.

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