Disappearing Ink: Book-banning and free speech in the public arena

Recently organizations like Moms for Liberty, dedicated to an ultra-conservative political agenda, have launched all-out attacks on public education in settings such as school-board meetings, classrooms, and libraries. The goal: to drastically control the types of printed materials finding their way into the hands and imaginations of children of all ages. Topics like U.S. and world history, race relations, gender identity, sexual orientation, even fictional stories, have come under intense pressure from revisionists and exclusionists alike. Key words and acronyms, among them woke, CRT, DEI, LGBTQ, and BLM, carry a particular charge in communities eager to limit access to information that they believe threatens their narrowly defined traditional values. 

The passion for thought control is not new. Books like Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and 1984 1949), inspired by the recent experience of Soviet and Nazi totalitarianism, present dystopian views of a world in which access to information is rigidly controlled. This course will look at contemporary threats to printed materials in the context of our current political environment. The instructor will analyze the trends in book-banning and deconstruct the logical fallacies promoted by book-banners. The class will examine First-Amendment issues and the accompanying rights and responsibilities. A major focus will be the role of libraries in protecting free speech, and measures citizens must take to counter the challenges being leveled at a precious public institution. This course will include attendance at Ivoryton Playhouse's performance of Alabama Story, a theatrical treatment of book-banning and its consequences in a segregationist southern town. The course fee includes the price of the performance.

https://www.ivorytonplayhouse.org/our-season/alaba.... 

Instructor: Samantha Lee, with J. Hubbard (Ivoryton Playhouse) and M. Sommaruga (Pullman & Comley)

2 classes, Mondays, September 30 & October 7, 6:30–8:30 pm. Performance, Ivoryton Playhouse October 3, 4, or 5 (depending on ticket availability & participants’ schedules)

$175 (includes group admission price)