In an alarming development, the US National Archives has slapped warnings of “harmful language” on the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence. The source makes it especially disturbing; archivists should stand strongly against scaring people off from important documents.
Update: According to some sources, the National Archives stuck this warning label on all the documents in its online catalog, which is sloppy and makes the warning useless. As an analogy, if you rate all movies R, you might as well rate none of them R.
It’s outrageous that the U.S. government should discourage people from reading the documents that define and limit its powers. The only people these documents are “harmful” to are power-lusting politicians who don’t want anyone to know about what they are and aren’t authorized to do. But in this blog, my point is that writers need to push back against the trend to treat anything controversial as “harmful.” It treats readers as children who’ll physically go into shock if they read something that doesn’t accord with their views.
Which readers? In practice, the “harmful language” people especially want to “protect” minority groups and women. What’s the motive? Maybe it’s to make these people ignorant and easier to control. Maybe they think that these groups aren’t able to process controversial material. Here I’ll focus on the second hypothesis, not because it’s more likely but because it’s more insidious.
Writers taking on controversial topics should challenge their readers, not offer them a baby blanket. They should assume that readers of any sex or ethnicity can handle controversy and potentially frightening concepts. “Protecting” readers’ minds leaves them defenseless. They need to know about the challenges a society faces and the terrible things that have happened to people at the hands of evil governments. They need to know how and why limits are placed on a government’s power. People shielded from “harmful language” are intellectually disarmed.
Treat your readers as competent adults. Don’t shy away from a topic because someone claims reading about it will “harm” them. If you respect your readers, they’ll respect you.
As a bonus, here’s a song parody on that sort of thinking.
Baby Brain
Lyrics: “Baby Face” by Benny Davis and Harry Akst
Baby brain,
You’ve got a fragile little baby brain,
To read the Bill of Rights is too much strain,
Baby brain,
Its contents would alarm you,
Those words are bound to harm you.
Baby brain,
Don’t let those documents disturb your pretty head.
You do not need to know,
We don’t want to show
Them to your pretty baby brain.