If you went into a bookstore and saw the books being openly sold, that’s strong evidence that they’re not banned.(Source for illustration.) This bookshelf is a performative contradiction. You should be ashamed of taking it at face value, instead.
I spent half an hour searching and trying to chase down exactly where The Lord of the Rings was supposedly “banned”, because it looked like a particularly implausible entry. Digging into citations and chasing claims, I found a game of telephone and a gradient of weasel words. An initial bombastic reference to “Banned Books” would link to a list of “Banned and Challenged Books” where the subheader negotiates down to “attempts to remove books from schools, libraries and universities” and eventually bottomed out in the American Library Association posting this fucking shit:
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That is not a ban. That is not even vaguely resembling a ban. That’s closer to a Florida Man headline. New Mexico Man Burns Bookshelf. Also they spelled it wrong, which underlines how much of a middle-of-nowhere, who-gives-a-fuck town this is.
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It is not the only bullshit entry. In the case of Maus, the supposed “ban” amounts to the fact that the McMinn County Board of Education voted to remove it from the eighth-grade curriculum. This is slightly less retarded because it at least features an official organization, but curricula don’t have infinite space and it’s still deceitful to use the word “ban” to describe a local curriculum change. The book remains legal to buy, sell, own and read.
I have read the meeting notes of the Board where the motion passed, and they were explicit that they will still be teaching the topic of the Holocaust, but looking for a different book to use. This did not stop circlejerking j*rnalists from crying about Holocaust denial and book bannings, fabricating a Streisand Effect from a non-ban until Maus became a national bestseller. Unlike being banned, being “banned” is very profitable!
When you hear “Banned books”, it may be useful to ask “Banned where?” (By whom? When?)
Reductio ad absurdum: I hereby ban all books from my bathroom. It’s for your own good, to prevent water damage. Every book is now “banned” for a sufficiently low value of “banned”.
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