Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
North Idaho: A Brave New World
There is a big controversy brewing in Kootenai County. The School Board has been trying to decide what books are and are not appropriate for required readings in school. Some of the books being called into question are astounding. Tom Sawyer??? I think I read that in elementary school. What harm can a good adventure story do? How about The Catcher in the Rye??? Probably the most identifiable, best written coming of age story that every boy should read. Yes, it's profane, but aren't we supposed to look beyond the words and "get something out of it?" The there was Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. This one really had me confused. I can't figure out what is so controversial with some good modern philosophy told through a man and his son's motorcycle trip across the US. The Grapes of Wrath, The Scarlet Letter, 1984, the list goes on.
The issue has been all over the editorials in the Press and I am floored by the responses. The book that is getting the most attention though is Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World. If you haven't read it (first of all you should), here is the basic plot....
Society has progressed along with technology to create what is presented as the perfect world where everybody has what they need. No one speaks out for themselves, they suppress anxiety with a government sponsored drug, Soma, and are conditioned as children through repetitive audio recordings to fit a specific class in society. Everyone is happy with there place. Orgies are encouraged, preferably very high on Soma, to help relieve stress and reduce the chance of someone speaking out of line. Those who reject their conditioning are ultimately banished to the wilderness. John the Savage is one such exile who meets a young lady within the society and teaches her what it is like to really live. I have to admit I haven't read it in a while so I might be off on a couple facts there, but that is the gist.
So everyone here is North Idaho seems to be up in arms that a book that "damages conservative family values" would be taught in school. So the book should be removed from the required reading lists, they say. Excuse me, but this sounds an awful lot like Fascism. Why don't we burn the book while we are at it. Aren't conservatives supposed to be all about less control? Yet they want to ban books from reading lists, restrict the basic human rights of same sex couples, take away a woman's choice.... but, I regress...
The funny part is it that these people obviously don't realize that the book does more to support their "conservative family values" that it does to damage them. Those out there that think the Brave New World is inappropriate for school need to read the book again. Aldous Huxley wrote this classic novel as a satirical view of the direction he thought society was moving. Notice how the society keeps track of their years with the term AF (After Ford, as in Henry Ford). Henry Ford was a proponent of Anti-Semitism in America and he believed that the human race needed to be cleansed of un-pure blood. He even included anti-Semitic propaganda pieces in the glove box of the new cars he sold, right alongside the owner’s manual. Huxley found Ford’s views terrible and in true satirical style, aimed to show that a world of “perfect humans,” as genetically engineered in this Brave New World, simply would not work. Yes, the book has its characters regularly involved in orgies and addicted to a drug called “Soma,” but if you think Huxley meant to glorify this behavior, you are missing the boat. Huxley named his main character John the Savage. While portrayed as the antagonist to the Brave New World, John the Savage was Huxley’s protagonist. He was what a human was supposed to be. He wasn’t “Savage,” Society was just scared of him because he was different. Sound familiar in our own society? Banning Huxley’s book would be making his story more real. It would be controlling society; an attempt to make people think the way we want them to, bringing us one step closer to the Brave New World he described. The people who think this book is inappropriate obviously don’t understand satire and don’t have the benefit of a high school teacher to explain it to them as the kids reading it would. Huxley reminds us what it really means to be human. He supports diversity, emphasizes the importance of free thought and free will and condemns racism, classism and sexism. Most importantly, The Brave New World (through satire) supports Democracy and the basic human rights given to us by the constitution of the United States. Sounds like good reading for everyone.
What gets me is that if this book and many of the others are indeed removed from the required reading list, they will be doing exactly the type of thing that Huxley predicted the world was headed to. They will be attempting to pre-condition our youth by controlling what goes into their minds and what cannot. If kids are allowed to read this novel under the experienced guidance of educators, I have no doubt they would be able to understand the satirical nature of the novel and would understand what type of world Huxley was suggesting we steer clear from. They would also probably realize that the world we live in isn't all that far off from the Brave New World. And that would be a good thing because maybe our "leaders of tomorrow" will have the understanding and education to help guide our country in the right direction for the future.
North Idaho, Banning Books = A Brave New World
The issue has been all over the editorials in the Press and I am floored by the responses. The book that is getting the most attention though is Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World. If you haven't read it (first of all you should), here is the basic plot....
Society has progressed along with technology to create what is presented as the perfect world where everybody has what they need. No one speaks out for themselves, they suppress anxiety with a government sponsored drug, Soma, and are conditioned as children through repetitive audio recordings to fit a specific class in society. Everyone is happy with there place. Orgies are encouraged, preferably very high on Soma, to help relieve stress and reduce the chance of someone speaking out of line. Those who reject their conditioning are ultimately banished to the wilderness. John the Savage is one such exile who meets a young lady within the society and teaches her what it is like to really live. I have to admit I haven't read it in a while so I might be off on a couple facts there, but that is the gist.
So everyone here is North Idaho seems to be up in arms that a book that "damages conservative family values" would be taught in school. So the book should be removed from the required reading lists, they say. Excuse me, but this sounds an awful lot like Fascism. Why don't we burn the book while we are at it. Aren't conservatives supposed to be all about less control? Yet they want to ban books from reading lists, restrict the basic human rights of same sex couples, take away a woman's choice.... but, I regress...
The funny part is it that these people obviously don't realize that the book does more to support their "conservative family values" that it does to damage them. Those out there that think the Brave New World is inappropriate for school need to read the book again. Aldous Huxley wrote this classic novel as a satirical view of the direction he thought society was moving. Notice how the society keeps track of their years with the term AF (After Ford, as in Henry Ford). Henry Ford was a proponent of Anti-Semitism in America and he believed that the human race needed to be cleansed of un-pure blood. He even included anti-Semitic propaganda pieces in the glove box of the new cars he sold, right alongside the owner’s manual. Huxley found Ford’s views terrible and in true satirical style, aimed to show that a world of “perfect humans,” as genetically engineered in this Brave New World, simply would not work. Yes, the book has its characters regularly involved in orgies and addicted to a drug called “Soma,” but if you think Huxley meant to glorify this behavior, you are missing the boat. Huxley named his main character John the Savage. While portrayed as the antagonist to the Brave New World, John the Savage was Huxley’s protagonist. He was what a human was supposed to be. He wasn’t “Savage,” Society was just scared of him because he was different. Sound familiar in our own society? Banning Huxley’s book would be making his story more real. It would be controlling society; an attempt to make people think the way we want them to, bringing us one step closer to the Brave New World he described. The people who think this book is inappropriate obviously don’t understand satire and don’t have the benefit of a high school teacher to explain it to them as the kids reading it would. Huxley reminds us what it really means to be human. He supports diversity, emphasizes the importance of free thought and free will and condemns racism, classism and sexism. Most importantly, The Brave New World (through satire) supports Democracy and the basic human rights given to us by the constitution of the United States. Sounds like good reading for everyone.
What gets me is that if this book and many of the others are indeed removed from the required reading list, they will be doing exactly the type of thing that Huxley predicted the world was headed to. They will be attempting to pre-condition our youth by controlling what goes into their minds and what cannot. If kids are allowed to read this novel under the experienced guidance of educators, I have no doubt they would be able to understand the satirical nature of the novel and would understand what type of world Huxley was suggesting we steer clear from. They would also probably realize that the world we live in isn't all that far off from the Brave New World. And that would be a good thing because maybe our "leaders of tomorrow" will have the understanding and education to help guide our country in the right direction for the future.
North Idaho, Banning Books = A Brave New World
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