You may have missed it, but last week was Banned Books Week in the United States—and you didn’t miss anything. It’s a program undertaken some 40 years ago by the American Library Association. But there are really are no banned books in the United States—at least not in the sense that the American Library Association wants to tell you. 
 
When you look at the list of the books they claim have been banned, it turns out not a single one of them has actually been banned. Sure: Some have been complained about, but none has been banned.
 
But: There are books that are now effectively banned, but they’re not the books that the ALA is willing to speak up about. One example of a book that really is marginalized right now is “When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment” by Ryan Anderson”—a solid, well researched book that you cannot get on Amazon today.
 
It starts with books but it’s really about ideas, and it’s the ideas that are in danger of being banned. But, that’s not the focus of those who are behind Banned Books Week—and therein is a parable.