Maus

Having grown up in East Tennessee, I’m not the least surprised that the McMinn county school board is offended by a book that teaches the horror of the holocaust and misdirects by pretending they object to a couple of naughty words and a drawing of a nude mouse.

If there’s anything worse than avoidable ignorance, it’s prideful ignorance. One critic quoted as an example of vulgarity in the curriculum the lyrics to a 1921 Eubie Blake song that Harry Truman used in his 1948 campaign. Another admitted he hadn’t actually read Maus, and was opposed to it based on hearsay.

The pretzel logic and bafflegab is a threadbare disguise for what is self-evidently fear that McMinn County children will be told the truth about the atrocities committed by racist whites in the 20th century. I derive some solace from the knowledge that copies of Maus are selling like hotcakes and being read.

“In any event, Shamblin suggested, this wouldn’t do: “It’s more offensive than that.” He added this kicker: “I have not seen the book and read the whole book. I read the reviews.” The only item on the meeting’s agenda was what to do about Maus, and this board member had not bothered to glance at it.

Moments later, the board voted. All 10 members chose to boot Maus. Not one vote for teaching reality. This is a loss for the students and their teachers. They will miss out on a literary breakthrough and a crucial slice of history. (A 2020 poll found that 63 percent of adults under the age of 40 did not know that 6 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.) What’s worse for the kids is that their intellectual development is being held hostage by board members who are stuck in another era, who find vulgarity in an old pop song, and who cannot be bothered to do their own homework. The best hope is that this foolishness from the board will prompt students to read Maus on their own—the book sold out on Amazon as the result of this sad kerfuffle—and, more important, take a hard look at these censorious overseers and their closed-mindedness. That will provide a good education for the teenagers of McMinn County.” https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/02/the-inside-story-of-the-banning-of-maus-its-dumber-than-you-think/?fbclid=IwAR3gtlV6rEMvpdHGzmbuQQpNsJd76xf3_21jiVXWhWsVMdMI6D3ax84CnBk