'Last Week Tonight' Tackles Book Banning and Public Libraries

The big picture

Parents are pushing to ban certain books from public libraries.
Parents cite concerns about LGBTQIA+ content in books, but libraries are democratic spaces that offer options for all ages.
Some cities have caved to pressure and banned the books even though the authors agree that the books should be properly sectioned.

Whenever a subject of a new episode of Last week tonight shows up, it's pretty easy to see why he's the host John Oliver should do a deep dive on it. When the episode focused on Medicaid, for example, you could tell what kind of issues the main segment of the show would highlight. But sometimes the assumption isn't so easy: On this week's show, Oliver tackled public libraries… which you wouldn't immediately associate with imminent danger, but here we are.

It's not enough that social networks and the digital age keep younger generations away from reading habits. There is also movement inside the US was actively trying to ban books from public libraries. These concerned parents claim that you can find books on the shelves that encourage child trafficking, terrorism and even pedophilia. The situation has escalated to such an extent that librarians have had to go on record to declare that they are not pedophiles or hairdressers, and that Parents need to actually read the books they are trying to ban to know what the hell they are talking about. But that's too much trouble, and their response to that is that they “read the summary” and think it told them everything they needed to know.

Also, book censors are very concerned that some books may promote the LGBTQIA+ “agenda”, but Last week tonight it reminds us that a library – especially a public one – is a democratic space that must offer reading options for everyone, and most importantly, for all ages. If a child is flipping through a book with adult content, it probably means they were wandering unsupervised inside the library, and Oliver suggests that would certainly be a bigger problem to solve.

'Last week tonight' reminds us how libraries work

It is also important to note that the authors themselves agree that books should be properly stored in their correct section. Author Maya Kobabewhose graphic novel Queer gender was targeted by conservative parents because of its sexual content, he strongly agrees that the memoir should not be in the hands of children because they are not the target audience. She stated:

“I don't think the book is for children, but I do think it's suitable for teenage readers. And also that libraries have books for all ages, you keep them labeled and people look for and find the books they need . in a library Not all books in a library are for all readers, but they must still be available.”

However, there are several cases of cities that buckled under pressure and acceded to the book ban demands of parent groups. You can find out what kind of books they were targeting and their arguments by watching the main segment of the show above.

New episodes of Last week tonight airs Sundays at 11pm ET on HBO and segments are available on YouTube on Wednesdays. You can watch full episodes on Max.