In the name of progressive
politics, ‘social justice warriors’ have turned their self-righteous wrath on a
celebrated early-to-mid 20th century US author whose only crime was honestly
portraying the events of her turbulent age.
There are particular moments in history when no pleasure can be
gained from being right. These are such times. Following last summer’s riot in
Charlottesville, Virginia over the removal of a statue to Robert E. Lee, a
Confederate general in the Civil War, I wrote on these
pages that removing historical monuments is just one step away from “history books purged… for fear
of offending somebody.” What I could not have predicted at the
time, however, was that I would be writing on that very topic less than a year
later.
This week, the Association for Library Service to Children
(ALSC) dumped a literary award named after author Laura Ingalls Wilder, giving
it instead the soulless title ‘Children’s Literature Legacy Award.’ The stated
reason for dropping the ‘Laura Ingalls Wilder Award’ was due to the “anti-Native and
anti-Black sentiments“ that
purportedly peppered Wilder’s writing.
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Before diving into that mosh
pit, who was Laura Ingalls
Before diving into that mosh
pit, who was Laura Ingalls
Wilder?
Born in 1867, Wilder was a Wisconsin school teacher whose first book, ‘The
Little House in the Big Woods’ (1932), wasn’t published until she was 65-years
old. It told the semi-autobiographical story of five-year-old Laura and her
life growing up in the rugged American Midwest between 1870 and 1894. In other
words – snowflakes brace yourselves – it was a subject strewn with life’s
occasionally vicious vicissitudes. A dozen or so other books followed,
including ‘Little House on the Prairie’ (1935), which was adapted into a wildly
popular television series that ran from 1974 to 1983.
For the uninitiated, Wilder’s work is ‘the real McCoy,’ the
living, breathing, organic material that uncovers the very essence of the
young, impetuous nation as it ambles recklessly towards an elusive maturity.
‘Little House on the Prairie’ is an artistic work of huge historic importance
that provides a first-person account of a tumultuous period in America’s
history; essential reading for coming to grips with the collective events
behind our national origins. In other words, it’s not all roses and picnics,
nor is it meant to be.
For example, in the book entitled ‘Going West,’ which has fallen
on the radar of the liberal thought police, Wilders describes a character named
‘Pa’ after her own father who – like so many other adventuresome, pioneering
Americans – dreamed of going “where
the wild animals lived without being afraid… the land was level, and there were
no trees.” And where “there
were no people. Only Indians lived there.”
Did it occur to the ALA that #lauraingallswilder is a woman writer in
a historical time period and that by taking her name off the award also erases
a woman’s voice in significant children’s literary accomplishments https://t.co/8EbqnLQt42
—
Mindy Hardwick (@mindyhardwick) June 25, 2018
Today, it would be difficult to find anyone in the United States
who would agree with the implicit message of that line, which essentially says
that ‘Indians are not people’ (incidentally, the decision in 1953 by the book’s
publisher, Harper, to change the term ‘people’ to ‘settlers’ apparently was not
enough for the critics). At the same time, few Americans could feel any sense
of pride knowing that their ancestors treated the Native Americans with such
murderous disdain, or that their great-great grandfather was a slave owner. In
other words, Americans have been learning great moral lessons from their
turbulent history, a humbling experience that the world of literature provides
in abundance.
Yet there are a number of books in the pantheon of American
literature that seem destined for endangered-species status due to the
uncomfortable historic associations they make, including Mark Twain’s
‘Adventures of Tom Sawyer,’ which is redolent with racial slurs, as is Harper
Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ And what about Harriet Beecher Stowe’s
groundbreaking work on abolition, ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin,’ which practically lit
the spark on the Civil War (‘Uncle Tom’ has become a derogatory term used to
describe an excessively subservient individual).
By dispatching the legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder to the
literary cellar – and let’s not kid ourselves, this writer will be
‘disappeared’ from bookshelves in short order – we are close to committing the
same despicable act that Winston Smith, the protagonist in Orwell’s dystopian
novel 1984, understood all too well. As a clerk inside of the Ministry of
Truth, Smith’s job was to rewrite historical documents to match the party line
as dictated by the omnipotent Big Brother. When truth is banished from the
historical record, it is substituted with lies and propaganda, and this will do
nobody – least of all the oppressed minorities – any favors.
Banishing Wilder’s name from the children’s literary award does
not mean that her books have been banned, blacklisted or burned. They have not
been – at least not yet. But the writing is certainly on the wall. Her
voluminous body of literary work has been forever tainted by America’s social
justice warriors, the self-anointed conscience of the nation, who fail to see
that Wilder’s collection of books was not written as some sort of Miss Manners’
Guide to Social Etiquette, but rather as a mirror with which to observe a
particular historical epoch. There is a great social need for such literature.
Books like ‘Little House on the Prairie’ give testimony to the regrettable
mindset behind one of the worst genocides in history (Historians estimate that in
1492, at the time of Columbus’ landing in the Caribbean, there were some 10
million indigenous peoples living in what is now the United States. By 1900,
the number had dropped to less than 300,000). Shielding readers from unsettling
historical nuances out of some contrived morality not only serves to diminish
the full scale of tragedy various minority groups have suffered, but
practically guarantees another similar event sometime down the road.
In the timely words of philosopher George Santayana: “Those who have forgotten the
past are condemned to repeat it.”
Did it occur to the ALA that #lauraingallswilder is a woman writer in
a historical time period and that by taking her name off the award also erases
a woman’s voice in significant children’s literary accomplishments https://t.co/8EbqnLQt42
—
Mindy Hardwick (@mindyhardwick) June 25, 2018
Incidentally,
for anyone who thinks the ALSC Board was acting on behalf of the democratic
will of its constituents, think again. I would recommend skimming through the
reader comment section on the ALSC
website announcing the change. It is very enlightening. I gave up trying to
find a single person – who was not a board member – who had anything positive
to say about the switch.
It is no exaggeration to say that the US is now teetering on the
precipice of absolute cultural insanity, and this thing can rock either way.
After all, censorship is like a downhill luge event; once you get started into
the curves there is no slowing down, and before you know it, otherwise
intelligent people are warming themselves around a bonfire of books in the town
square. And just like the Nazis and Soviets before them, America’s social
justice warriors are confident of their moral superiority. This brings to mind
a quote by Sinclair Lewis, who said: ‘When fascism arrives in America, it will
be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.’
First, they came for
historic monuments and we didn’t say much; then they banned controversial
thinkers from speaking on college campuses, and still there was little
resistance. Now they are coming for authors and books through the back door,
and it seems this would be a good time to draw the proverbial line in the sand
before things get totally out of control.
America’s oppressive
atmosphere of political correctness threatens to shut down critical thinking on
all uncomfortable topics, and this lamentable state of affairs can only lead to
national ruin.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in
this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent
those of RT.
Reprinted from RT News.
