Some right-wing activists who push for restrictions on classroom instruction defend their position by claiming that they only target objectionable material such as pornography or “woke indoctrination,” while sparing important historical and controversial material. However, a controversy over the use of Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel “Maus” in a Missouri school board curriculum suggests otherwise.
The controversy centers around a review of “Maus” conducted by Nixa School Board employees, who flagged the book in accordance with a Missouri law that prohibits the provision of sexually explicit materials to minors. Although it’s not yet clear what the board found objectionable, the book graphically depicts Spiegelman’s parents’ experience of the Holocaust, including a scene where his mother’s naked corpse is shown lying in a bathtub after taking her own life.
According to Spiegelman, the repeated targeting of “Maus” over alleged sexual content is a mere pretext for targeting the book’s depiction of genocide. He suggested that book purgers seek to restrict school curriculums with their own acts of othering, which could also harm marginalized groups such as Asians, Indigenous Americans, Black people, Muslims, LGBTQ individuals and others.
Spiegelman also opined that the book removal frenzy is about “squelching what’s supposed to happen in school, which is an education that allows people to become one country that can talk to each other with a base of knowledge.” This highlights an ugly feature of the book purging craze, where even if those targeting books are genuinely motivated by narrow objections to supposedly sexual content, they often seem undisturbed when those objections result in the removal of material with profound historical significance.
In a warning against authoritarianism, Spiegelman ruefully commented that the impulse to target books seems to have a built-in tendency to expand, sweeping in even revered works such as “Maus” under absurd pretenses. Ultimately, the targeting of important cultural and historical artifacts only serves to limit access to knowledge and understanding, furthering societal divisions rather than fostering unity.
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