One of the things that has irked me in this current legislative session has been the state house trying to overstep local control or even parental controls in their legislative decisions.
Especially the bills currently targeting public libraries and their collections.
I grew up in a household where my parents had items they deemed inappropriate. When “South Park” started getting popular with my peers in late middle school and early high school, that was one of those programs that mom and dad both said “not in our house.” They had children who were at that point 13 (me), 10 (Andrea) and 7 (KC), and were trying to protect KC most.
Material that I wanted to watch for the first time as a teenager that was R rated, including horror movies like “Scream” or “Alien,” had to be done when my younger sibling KC was not going to be subjected to those same films. That’s partly a carry-over lesson we all learned from sleepless nights when Andrea somehow convinced KC that “Child’s Play” was not as scary as the VHS cover implied … But it’s also parenting.
After a highly stressful week in the past month, I needed to get away from the job for a few hours. That meant a trip to the multiplex theaters.
In late February, choices on what to go see in theaters are usually horror movies hanging out after Valentine’s Day.
And it got me thinking about the type of media what I enjoy.
What is beyond good taste for me, an almost 41-year-old male is not the same as others in my community (young children among them). For me, there was a release in watching somewhat gory movies like “Heart Eyes” and “The Monkey.” But they aren’t going to be for everyone, and I know that. And I appreciate ratings that also make that clear that this isn’t appropriate for children to view or the subject matter is spelled out so people know before buying a ticket if that’s what they’re into.
We all put limits on what is and isn’t for us every day when we evaluate media we engage with. I know people who absolutely adore Hallmark movies. I don’t mind the occasional Hallmark movie, either.
But I’m also very opposed to limiting things from my local library that others have said they want on those shelves and show that by checking out that material.
Libraries already have books selected for wide audiences, like children, teenagers and adults, and put signage up to help us all determine what sections are what. And local librarians make choices on the literary, scientific and artistic merit of material curated for the community.
Parents also have a role in what their children are watching, reading and engaging with, and if they don’t want certain material to be checked out by their children, they need to make that clear to children in their household like my parents did.
Just because your house doesn’t watch “Wizard of Oz” or “South Park” doesn’t mean a public library should keep that from everyone. Again, the libraries are managing material for a wide swath of users for their entire community to be clearly represented.
And we should all be concerned when any branch of government wants to overstep local controls to tell us what is or isn’t allowed and the trust we’ve put in librarians and local library board members who take that position seriously.