Lie Barry

 Libraries are closing. Not content to simply remove "banned" books from the shelves, Missouri lawmakers have decided to defund public libraries in an effort to get words out of the hands of its citizens. Ideas like the ones found in The Hate You Give and Handmaid's Tale would no longer be available for public consumption, free to be checked out and discussed among the public. Which pretty much flies in the face of the "public" library model. For many of the rural residents, public libraries are their only point of Internet access. As with most other states, public libraries function as city centers, a place to meet and connect for free concerts, celebrations, and by the way: books. 

There is good news: clear-thinking Republicans in the Missouri Senate are likely to restore the library funding once the budget lands in front of them. But we are already digging a hole out if which it may be difficult to climb. Controlling the thoughts and words that find their way into the public's head isn't something that our First Amendment should allow. There are those who would suggest that if consenting adults have a yen to dip their toes in the dystopian Republic of Gilead, they need only to Google it. Except for that lack of Internet connection. For extreme right wing conservatives, that sort of thing is best left to the individual. The individual writing the extreme legislation that keeps Missourians in the dark. 

And what about the would-be readers in Idaho? And it wouldn't be Texas if they weren't hopping on that ultra-MAGAt bandwagon, just in case drag queens showed up at their libraries. And I'm pretty sure that books in any form have been outlawed in Florida. 

And if you thought that heading off to California would allow you any relative freedom in terms of what you or your children might read, try not to land in San Ramon. At a recent school board meeting, a parent insisted, "It's a matter of indoctrination. They're going after kids' hearts minds and souls with stuff that neither the parents want, nor is it appropriate for those kids." It is at these meetings that the frightened mobs begin with the "most offensive" books they can find, like the autobiographical graphic novel by Maia Kobabe, Gender Queer. It's a pretty sure bet that most, if not all, of the outrage was confined to those who heard the title and decided that if there was anything in it that touched on pronouns it should be banned, burned, and the publisher should torn down and the earth where it stood salted, never to be looked upon by another god-fearing soul. 

Or maybe we should let libraries be repositories for human thought, right left and middle. It's a grocery store for ideas. Just because they sell kale doesn't mean you have to load up your cart with the stuff, nor do you have to buy a case of Twinkies. Maybe you can try them out, and if you don't like them separately, maybe you're not mixing them right.