Last week, the
Association of Library Service to Children renamed the award it gives authors or illustrators whose books "have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children." This award
used to be called the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, but the association's board decided to rename it the Children's Literature Legacy Award. Why? Because, according to board members,
Wilder's books include "anti-Native and anti-Black" references that fail to represent the association's "core values of inclusiveness, integrity and respect."Wilder wrote about her childhood experiences in a 19
th century pioneer family. Perhaps her most famous book,
Little House on the Prairie, describes Native Americans as "wild animals" and includes characters who believed "the only good Indian was a dead Indian."
Despite these references (and others like them), most people in America probably think removing Wilder's name from an award for Children's literature is
silly. The majority of us have been raised in a Christian tradition (over
70% of us still claim a Christian identity), and we've read many of the biblical narratives. As a result, we understand an important distinction that seems lost on those who decided to rename the award:
We understand the difference between descriptive and prescriptive literature.The Old and New Testaments include
both types of prose. The biblical authors
described the adulterous activity of King David (2 Samuel 11) and the polygamous lifestyle of King Solomon (1 Kings 11:3), for example, without
prescribing these behaviors for their readers. The Bible
describes people who engaged in a variety of sinful activities, but Christians who read these passages understand we are not to emulate this behavior.
Similarly, the New Testament authors
described early believers who sold all their personal belongings, attended temple on a daily basis, and met together in homes (Acts 2:44-46), without
prescribing this behavior for subsequent generations. Christians recognize these first century descriptions are simply that:
descriptions of the first century. They are not mandates for future behavior.
If you were exposed to Christian scripture growing up, you probably understand this important distinction. Sometimes an author denounces a belief or behavior (prescribing a better alternative), and sometimes an author pronounces a belief or behavior (describing what someone believed or practiced without endorsing it). This is true for the ancient biblical authors and it is also true for Laura Ingalls Wilder.
I have been an organic farmer all my adult life. When I say 'organic', I mean something that is about life and supporting life--as a whole, as a continuum. As a bit of a mystery and a wonder. (Just a 'wee bit', smile) As something to be cherished and experienced in the fullest, by everyone and everything. And very diverse. Yes, there are shortfalls to what we see and what we can experience. We do make mistakes. But life is unquestionable as the source of what we are and what we can become. Life.
Today's 'organics' are still being labeled as what I noted above and are supposed to exist in opposition to or at least as an alternative to conventional farming (which is very narrow-minded, industrial-based and destructive) and represent a return to sensibilities and sustainable practices (go to a website such as The Berry Center in Kentucky, to see what they are selling) but they are not. The organic and sustainable farming factions are a big lie and are functionally opposed to life because of the way they are operating.
Today's 'organics' preaching 'sustainability' are a mere subset of conventional farming. It is all very conventional and 'tailored'. There is no opposition. There is no wonder. There is no diversity. There is only a lot of prescription. Do this, take this pill, buy this product. Do exactly as we say. OR ELSE!
Everything is ordered about by organization and a wicked cocktail of rules and regulations. People are insane. They either live in fear or actively and stupidly producint fear.
It is organized crime, run by a central hierarchy of extreme power and control. Mind control.
That is our economy. That is our world today. That is our 'life'.
ALL RULES AND REGULATIONS.
AND ALL A BUNCH OF LIES.
ROLL OVER LAURA INGALLS WILDER.
Have a nice day.
ned,
out