“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men – not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.”
~ Edward R. Murrow (1954) speaking of Sen. Joseph McCarthy
What do Banned Books Week and National Newspaper Week have in common? The words from renowned journalist Edward R. Murrow, above, presented during the “Red Scare” led by junior senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s sum it up well: we, as Americans, have fought since our founding for the right to read, to write, to publish, and to think independently and sometimes in dissent with those in power.
National Newspaper Week has been observed since 1940, bringing attention to the importance of local journalism and the freedom of the press to publish words that might make people in power angry or unhappy. Newspapers have both kept people informed about events and provided a mirror on which we can reflect who we are as a people.
Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 by the American Library Association, highlighting shared support of the freedom to read what we choose, without fear of government censorship.
The publishing industry has never been an easy one. Since the invention of the printing press there has always been a contingent of power-hungry people who wanted to exert control over what was printed and who was allowed to read it. Why? Because if you can control what people read, you can control what they think, and if you can control what they think, you can control their time, their loyalty, and perhaps most importantly, their money.
For much of history, receiving an education was denied to many — the poor, people of color, women. Today, at least in America, learning to read is both a right and a responsibility available to all, something for which we should be grateful.
This is a good week to remember that what we’re grateful for needs to be protected. Journalists should be able to point out when something is false, or refute and debunk a politician’s rhetoric without fear of retribution. Our libraries should have as many disparate views and ideas as the shelves will hold. If we have become a people who are afraid of ideas, we have become weak. If we are afraid to change our minds or correct a course of action in light of new information, we have become brittle. And things that are weak and brittle are vulnerable.
Murrow perhaps phrased it best: “We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason.”
As it was in the McCarthy era, the real enemy is not people who look, think, believe, or behave differently than we do, the real enemy is fear.
We can do better, and we should. In Murrow’s closing words: “Good night, and good luck.”
