The fault is not in the books

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Bellwood-Antis freshman Vincent Cacciotti

Vincent Cacciotti, Student Contributor

O Shakespeare, Shakespeare, wherefore art thou Shakespeare? Your works, made by any other name, would smell as sweet. Why obliterate the most famous lines in history? Why wipe away one of the most famous playwrights of all time as if he was nothing but a stray mark on a history teachers whiteboard. Why prevent the next generation from gaining the outright privilege of reading Hamlet, MacBeth, or Romeo and Juliet. It is about time that “Cancel Culture” gets cancelled, and nowadays there are enough alike opinions to stand up for the authors who are rolling in their graves, losing popularity, and can’t do anything about it. Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not. (Dr. Seuss, “The Lorax”: Future Cancelled Author.)

William Shakespeare, Theodore Seuss, and J. K. Rowling are among the many authors who are fighting back against the angry mobs. We all hope that Cancel Culture will eventually dissipate, but the main question is how long until this happens. These uncultured “culture canceler” mobs believe that there is safety in numbers, but if the people of the US stand up as one, this can be stopped. After all, the people using the guillotine at the beginning of the French Revolution were the ones who died in it halfway through. It is said that we pick and choose our battles, and if the people of the United States don’t revolt against the new normalcy, cancel culture will become exactly that.

Youth, in general, are already exposed to racism/stereotypes in communities, and unless the sensitive sally’s of the world cancel out US citizens in our communities, this is going to stay that way. While modern-day racism is clearly wrong, canceling semi-racist books is canceling history. Adolescents should not be forced to not read books such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, or Lord of the Flies because of “wording.” These classic books are among the many being thrown out onto the curb, and it isn’t long before Dr. Seuss’ star bellied sneetches portray students with unfair advantages which ignite systemic racism. 

The cancel culture followers will stop at nothing to burn our history. Americans were given a chance to comment on this subject, and sixty-four percent said they thought cancel culture posed a threat to freedom in the U.S. Mark Penn directed this Harvard poll study, and he commented, “Americans are showing increased and substantial concern about the growth of cancel culture.” Mark has statistics to back his point, and an argument that is tough to reject, for in another poll, thirteen percent believed that cancel culture was actually a good thing. This thirteen percent of the surveyed participants are best described as opinionated, uncultured, sensitive, or in some cases, clueless.

A growing evil, almost as if it was from a cancelled Harry Potter book, has overtaken today’s society and it has caused a loss of reputation, a gathering of mobs, and many hurtful remarks thrown at innocent writers. If this cancel culture sham doesn’t get slammed, it will continue to shame the books we love. Advances have been made in many departments in 2020, but it is not yet time to departmentalize the novels we love into trash bins. Be weary, for cancel culture will grow from books to you. Reject the new-age culture or reject your freedoms. Just because it glitters, does not mean that it is gold – William Shakespeare.