The county boards statement on that removal seemed pretty reasonable to me:
The McMinn County Board of Education voted to remove the graphic novel Maus from McMinn County Schools because of its unnecessary use of profanity and nudity and its depiction of violence and suicide. Taken as a whole, the Board felt this work was simply too adult-oriented for use in our schools.
We do not diminish the value of Maus as an impactful and meaningful piece of literature, nor do we dispute the importance of teaching our children the historical and moral lessons and realities of the Holocaust. To the contrary, we have asked our administrators to find other works that accomplish the same educational goals in a more age-appropriate fashion. The atrocities of the Holocaust were shameful beyond description, and we all have an obligation to ensure that younger generations learn of its horrors to ensure that such an event is never repeated.
Though I would very much agree that censorship of any kind is a delicate matter and can easily become heavy-handed in exactly the way you describe.
I actually don't know anything about that source. It came
up in a search and appeared to summarise and provide source-links to cases I'd previously seen. It wasn't as sensationalist as others so seemed worth including.
Glad you appreciated it. I wasn't able to find something that specifically summarised what I've seen from the US, but it is out there and was as concerning. Maybe it's a bit "boy who cried wolf" with the right in the US on this.
That is, while there's often puritanical hyperbole that's easier for left to switch off to, the right appear to have a valid point most people either side would agree to here, but it's maybe not represented well in mainstream left media.
The McMinn County Board of Education voted to remove the graphic novel Maus from McMinn County Schools because of its unnecessary use of profanity and nudity and its depiction of violence and suicide. Taken as a whole, the Board felt this work was simply too adult-oriented for use in our schools.
We do not diminish the value of Maus as an impactful and meaningful piece of literature, nor do we dispute the importance of teaching our children the historical and moral lessons and realities of the Holocaust. To the contrary, we have asked our administrators to find other works that accomplish the same educational goals in a more age-appropriate fashion. The atrocities of the Holocaust were shameful beyond description, and we all have an obligation to ensure that younger generations learn of its horrors to ensure that such an event is never repeated.
Though I would very much agree that censorship of any kind is a delicate matter and can easily become heavy-handed in exactly the way you describe.
I actually don't know anything about that source. It came up in a search and appeared to summarise and provide source-links to cases I'd previously seen. It wasn't as sensationalist as others so seemed worth including.
Glad you appreciated it. I wasn't able to find something that specifically summarised what I've seen from the US, but it is out there and was as concerning. Maybe it's a bit "boy who cried wolf" with the right in the US on this.
That is, while there's often puritanical hyperbole that's easier for left to switch off to, the right appear to have a valid point most people either side would agree to here, but it's maybe not represented well in mainstream left media.