I think the saddest thing about book banning is actually this: It shows what low esteem in which these Republicans and these parents hold young people, and their very own children. The very premise behind their book banning is twofold: 1) assuming young people are so weak and fragile they have to be huddled away from the realities of the world and 2) assuming young people are so weak and fragile that they could be instantly brainwashed by whatever words they come across.

Do they really believe teenagers are that fragile, that weak, that stupid, and that incapable of analyzing these books? They have so little faith in their own kids that they must hide books from them for fear their weak little minds would be warped by the exposure? What a tremendous disrespect they show towards the intelligence of their own children.