December 10, 2004
End The Culture Wars
Who knew that I'd spend so much of my time on this blog complaining about censorship and morality? Increasingly, though, for me those are the issues that get my blood boiling.
I came across another example of the Right's annoying habit of trying to force its values on others when I was reading one of my book blogs today:
"No part of this book should be analyzed as to whether it is right or wrong, good or bad," she said. "It's all twisted, lewd and in every way inappropriate."So which book is Cerise Ivey, the mother of a Blue Springs, Missouri, middle school student talking about? The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women? XXX: 30 Porn-Star Portraits? No, it's perennial young-adult classic The Giver by Lois Lowry. Luckily, the Blue Springs Board of Education voted unanimously to keep the book on the reading list. The article didn't mention anything about her being laughed out of the building, but hopefully, that's what happened.
Besides the fact that I really liked "The Giver" while I was growing up, I got grumpy about this because, frankly, this whole conservative movement of silencing anything with which you don't agree is really getting out of hand.
One of the important foundations of our democracy is that everyone has the right to say anything. Your right is to ignore it-not to silence them. I can't help but feel that Cerise Ivey might really be missing the point of literature: it broadens your horizons. Reading a lot of different books makes you a more interesting person and more able to engage with and understand life. Had I not been originally required to read them in school, I never would read Zora Neale Hurston, Shakespeare, any poetry, or anything Russian. But I'm now a better person for all reading all of that. I pity her children growing up in a house devoid of intellectual rigor or engagement.
If a book offends you, don't read it. There are millions of others out there. If a television show offends you, don't watch it. There are now hundreds of other channels. If "expanding your horizons" doesn't really appeal to you, then don't go to the library. If you don't want your child exposed to the mean old intellectual elite at school, keep them home and school them yourself. But, please, just, please stop trying to force your values on other people. I find Rush Limbaugh disgusting and hateful, but I still run across him every so often on the radio. You know what I do? Switch stations. And if I come Britney Spears on the next channel? I just switch again. There's a lot of choice in life right now. Use it.
Chuck Klosterman addressed this whole problem in the January 2005Esquire—which I was reading earlier this week—in an essay (subscription required) entitled, "Culture Got You Down? Get over it. You'll be happier-and a lot less annoying":
... Do you want to be happy? I suspect that you do. Well, here's the first step to happiness: Don't get pissed off that people who aren't you happen to think Paris Hilton is interesting and deserves to be on TV every other day; the fame surrounding Paris Hilton is not a reflection on your life (unless you want it to be)....Don't get pissed off because people didn't vote the way you voted. You knew that the country was polarized, and you knew that half of America is more upset by gay people getting married than it is about starting a war under false pretenses. You always knew that many Americans worry more about God than they worry about the economy, and you always knew those same Americans assume you're insane for feeling otherwise (just as you find them insane for supporting a theocracy). You knew this was a democracy when you agreed to participate, so you knew this was how things might work out. So don't get pissed off over the fact that the way you feel about culture isn't some kind of universal consensus. Because if you do, you will end up feeling betrayed. And it will be your own fault. You will feel bad, and you will deserve it.
While aimed at liberals, his message holds true for the Religious Right as well: This is a democracy. Our diversity of opinions and taste, and our ability to choose among the whole spectrum of life and activity, is what makes our system strong.
