“And when you stop and think about it
You won’t believe it’s true
That all the love you’ve been giving
Has all been meant for you” — Justin Hayward

For some reason, I have been thinking about scumbags lately and when I think of scumbags my mind somehow wanders to Kirk Cameron. For those unfamiliar with Cameron and his work, he gained some fame and notoriety as the child star of “Growing Pains” back in the 1980s. Like most child stars, he didn’t successfully make the transition to adult actor. Once he stopped being cute he left the public eye for the most part.

What also happened is that Cameron went through a pretty dramatic conversion to Christianity. This conversion to Christianity may or may not have resulted in an actress getting fired from the show. For those that don’t want to go down the rabbit hole, Julie McCullough played his girlfriend on the show, but it was discovered that she had posed for Playboy. The rumor was that Cameron had her fired, because that kind of image didn’t jive with his new found Christian beliefs. Of course, he denies this version of the story. Needless to say, her career went the way of the doodoo bird and he went on to make more sanctimonious films and creative works.

Well, all that is old is new once again. Cameron is embarking on a library tour to read his children’s books. A Hendersonville Library director made the call to cancel an event involving Cameron as a way to keep the library from becoming a venue that would take part in a culture war. The director in question stated that he wanted to keep all potentially controversial events away from the library. This would include drag queens reading to children as well. Fair is fair after all. Well, the Sumner County Library board voted 4-3 to terminate the director of the library after Cameron and his group complained.

In a growing trend, some threatened violence if they didn’t get their way. To be perfectly fair, his supporters were not the only ones to threaten violence. Some on the left responded with threats as well. We aim to be fair here as much as possible and being fair means calling out bad behavior all the way around. All that being said, this is a pattern with Cameron. I’m legitimately thrilled when anyone finds a religion that works for them. If his Christian beliefs keep him on the straight and narrow then that is fantastic. Those Christian beliefs are also supposed to be tolerant and forgiving of those that may not subscribe to the same mode of thinking.

That goes for a young actress that may have made a decision she regrets and it goes for a librarian that decides that he doesn’t want his library to be used in a game of political ping pong. Free speech is a right that protects people from government oppression or government censorship. I suppose a library is in some way an extension of that, but the first amendment states, “Congress shall make no law…” It certainly doesn’t guarantee you the right to a platform and it certainly doesn’t make you look more Christian if you use coercion and threats to get your way. I’m sure Cameron’s books have a nice message, but that message is at least somewhat sullied by his tactics to get the story heard in the first place.

“The books are to remind us of what asses and fools we are.” — Ray Bradbury

It always starts easily enough. A concerned citizen sent a list of 60 books that she found objectionable. These books should be removed from the public library. At least that is how everything got started in Llano County. It ended up turning into a federal lawsuit.

In the meantime, a librarian was caught in the crossfire as they usually are. She was fired when she refused to remove books from the shelves. A secret cabal of concerned citizens bandied together to come up with the list of books that should be removed. The same librarian caused a stir when she attended the meeting. Obviously, she wasn’t supposed to be there.

Why should she be there? The meeting only concerned the books that would be on the shelf in her library. Again, I would have to repeat that we aren’t talking about school libraries here. We’ve already seen enough stories about districts (Katy, cough) that have tried to censor what their students can read. Now, we are going after the adults.

One of the groups most effected is a group you wouldn’t think would be effected. The group that is the most up in arms in Llano County are the senior residents there. Many of them have taken up electronic books because they are not as mobile as they used to be and can’t necessarily make it to the physical branch. Many of these titles have been wiped off of the electronic catalog.

I still remember battling with my parents over technology. Simple word processing and spreadsheet tasks were a nightmare. I remember when my mother first got one of those Nooks from Barnes and Noble. She was reluctant at first, but now she hardly ever puts it down. She can purchase new titles for pennies online and at Itunes. I could just imagine if her favorite author was removed from the list.

These things are very simple. If you have to meet in secret to do anything then there is something rotten in Denmark. I won’t say that you are definitely on the wrong side, but chances are pretty good that you are. Anything that you want to do in private should be able to be done in public. It really is that simple.