," : Book banning is so quaint. In an age with literally exabytes of porn and other explicit sexual interactions accessible to anyone with a modern phone or a computer, with celebrities seemingly vying to be the most naked-looking in public gala events and online posts, restricting a handful of books in public libraries seems so unconstructive.
A government solution to stem the tide? I don't think there is one. Governments that try authoritarian approaches more often than not fail, as banning something just drives it underground. Rating systems seem useful but are certainly not foolproof. At least they warn you with what might be found in the media being rated. Today's R rating on a movie was an X rating back in the day when they first started that.
Let professionals assess a book or film for all manner of content, classify the book and place it on the shelf according to age appropriateness in that particular local community. It's a leaf blowing in the wind, but really it's about all that can be done. Individual media providers, parents, children and adults will self-select and create a de facto but ever-changing definition of appropriateness without government assistance.Rep.
While Rep. Thierry can be in charge of what her family reads, she does not have the right to dictate what other families read. Parental rights seem to be a hot topic these days, but no one is admitting that these book bans are taking away parents' rights to choose what their children are allowed to read. If I have a problem with a book, that's something to be handled between my children and me.