With One Word, Children's Book Sets Off Uproar

The word "scrotum" does not often appear in polite conversation. Or children's literature, for that matter.

Yet there it is on the first page of "The Higher Power of Lucky," by Susan Patron, this year's winner of the Newbery Medal, the most prestigious award in children's literature. The book's heroine, a scrappy 10-year-old orphan named Lucky Trimble, hears the word through a hole in a wall when another character says he saw a rattlesnake bite his dog, Roy, on the scrotum.

"Scrotum sounded to Lucky like something green that comes up when you have the flu and cough too much," the book continues. "It sounded medical and secret, but also important."

The inclusion of the word has shocked some school librarians, who have pledged to ban the book from elementary schools, and reopened the debate over what constitutes acceptable content in children's books.  [full text]

What utter nonsense!  Though it does seem apropos of the times.  In the current battle against so-called Islamic extremism, a good many civilians--who had the misfortune of simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time but had done no real harm--were detained and designated "enemy combatants."  In the current battle against so-called liberal extremism, a good many anatomical terms--which had the misfortune of simply being in the wrong place (on the body) at the wrong time (neo-Puritan era) but had done no real harm--were constrained and designated "private parts" (and thus verboten).  Not surprisingly, conservatives have led the way in these battles, often zealously.  They are out of line.  And out of step.  And partially out of their minds.

In fairness, I suppose they genuinely mean well and want what's best for their children.  But, as Martin Luther King, Jr. once opined, "nothing in the world is more dangerous than a sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."  Our progress as individuals and as a nation can only be impeded when we allow ignorance and fear and intolerance to be our guides.  Scrotum is not a bad word.  But knee-jerk is.  No good can come of taking undue offense at the innocuous and then reflexively engaging in repression.  No good can come of keeping people in the dark when it is neither needed nor deserved.

Dr. King also said that "darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."  Haven't we enough darkness already?  Do we really need to augment such by promoting censorship because of one descriptive word?  It is time to step out into the light and embrace the glorious diversity of human language, culture, and anatomy.  It begins with a scrotum.  Say it with me...