So now some folks in Florida are trying to prevent their kids from seeing Michaelangelo's famous sculpture of David because his entire body is exposed. A principal was even fired because allowed the renaissance sculpture to be seen by his students. This famous piece of classical art has been around since___ but suddenly in 2023, it is considered pornography by some overzealous parents. It is, no doubt, the offshoot of time people trying to ban books from school libraries.
If you've wondered about the word sanctimonious lately since Donald Trump applied his invented word de-sanctimonious to Ron Desantis, the governor of Florida, this is a good example. When a person or group of people are sanctimonious they are making a show of being morally superior. That applies nicely here. Of course, the way Trump uses the word is more of his nonsense as desanctiminoius is not really a word. Trump could hardly be morally superior to anyone or anything, having a rusty moral compass himself.
So, what is going on with these folks that try to prevent others from making their own decisions about art, music, and literature? Are they afraid of the human body? Is sexuality or sensuality something to fear or hide away? What do they think will happen to their children if they see or read about other human beings who don't exactly believe or act the way they do?
Often in these book-banning cases, we find that those most vocal have not even read the works under scrutiny. Or if they have, they often misconstrue the author's intention or misread the meaning of the scenes in question. When I was in high school, The Catcher In The Rye, was a very big deal. You had to have your parent's permission to check it out of the library. The big fuss seemed to be the use of the F word somewhere in the text. Of course, everybody wanted to read it then. A generation later, when I taught American literature to high school Juniors, the book was still banned in many places, but many schools, like the one I taught in, had made the text part of the curriculum. It is perfect for adolescents grappling with personal identity, the corruption in the adult world, and of course the ever-present fall from innocence. Ironically the part that caused the big kerfuffle was a minor reference to Holden Caulfield's grave. He says that when he died someone will probably scribble "fuck you" on his gravestone. A true sign of how awful the world has become that nobody can even die peacefully without some fool marring their eternal rest. That's it. That's what all the fuss was about. As if 17-year-olds haven't heard the term before. The fact is, you can go into any secondary school anywhere in the nation and find these words written on walls and stalls all over the place. You can also find much worse if you know where to look.
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