Cole delivers another load of baloney

In her May 28 column, Althea Cole has delivered another load of baloney, this time trying to discount the fact that books are being banned from schools. Her misleading approaches to this subject include:

Overgeneralization: She mentions several books that are listed as banned in certain school districts, but in fact can be found in some schools in the district. Just because it is available somewhere, that does not mean it was not banned in some schools. Many banning efforts are focused on one school.

Selective information: She describes portions of books that some people object to, but not other attributes that may make a book particularly valuable.

False fairness: She confesses that the study from the Heritage Foundation is a decidedly conservative source, so for that reason she focuses on another source. However, what she doesn't discount is Heritage's tactics for poo-pooing banned-book lists. Figures don't lie, but liars figure.

Feigned statistical analysis aside, what is undeniably true about book-banning efforts can be seen in legislation and policy changes that increasingly promote distrust of teachers and librarians, and mandate that their expertise be replaced by so-called parents' rights. However, not all parents have equal rights under those policies. And what about the rights of the kids? The parents whose rights are ignored are those who listen to their kids and support them in seeking out the information they need to understand themselves and the world they live in.

Russell Lenth

North Liberty