WHEREAS, the freedom to read is essential to our democracy, and reading is among our greatest freedoms; and
WHEREAS, privacy is essential to the
exercise of that freedom, and the right to privacy is the right to open
inquiry without having the subject of one's interest examined or
scrutinized by others; and
WHEREAS, the freedom to read is protected by our Constitution; and
WHEREAS some individuals, groups, and
public authorities work to remove or limit access to reading materials,
to censor content in schools, to label "controversial" views, to
distribute lists of "objectionable" books or authors, and to purge
libraries of materials reflecting the diversity of society; and
WHEREAS, both governmental
intimidation and the fear of censorship cause authors who seek to avoid
controversy to practice self-censorship, thus limiting our access to new
ideas; and
WHEREAS, every silencing of a heresy,
every enforcement of an orthodoxy, diminishes the toughness and
resilience of American society and leaves it less able to deal with
controversy and difference; and
WHEREAS, Americans still favor free
enterprise in ideas and expression, and can be trusted to exercise
critical judgment, to recognize propaganda and misinformation, and to
make their own decisions about what they read and believe, and to
exercise the responsibilities that accompany this freedom; and
WHEREAS, intellectual freedom is essential to the preservation of a free society and a creative culture; and
WHEREAS, conformity limits the range and variety of inquiry and expression on which our democracy and our culture depend; and
WHEREAS, the American Library
Association's Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is
observed during the last week of September each year as a reminder to
Americans not to take their precious freedom for granted; and
WHEREAS, Banned Books Week celebrates
the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one's opinion even if
that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses
the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or
unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that MAD
Hoydenish celebrates the American Library Association's Banned Books
Week, September 30 - October 6, 2012, and be it further
RESOLVED, that MAD
Hoydenish encourages all libraries and bookstores to acquire and make
available materials representative of all the people in our society; and
be it further
RESOLVED, that MAD Hoydenish encourages free people to read freely, now and forever.
Adopted by MAD Hoydenish
September 30, 2012
Out in the Yard, USA
