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Censors always have the best of intentions.

John Krull, publisher,TheStatehouseFile.com

They see themselves as our protectors, a shield that prevents harmful or dangerous ideas or pieces of art from finding their way through our moral and ethical defenses. They keep books and music and paintings away from us for our own good.

Because they consider their hearts and their motives to be pure, they take umbrage when we suggest that maybe, just maybe, we can be trusted to make up our own minds.

Or parent our own children.

Or develop our own tastes.

How, how, how can we be so ungrateful? How can we not appreciate the good they have done for us by making books and songs and art harder for us to find?

Thats what is behind the dustup with the Hamilton East Public Library, which has made national news by moving many popular young adultor YAbooks to the adult section. The library did so at the direction of the Hamilton East Public Library Board, which considered the works inappropriate for young people.

Among the books moved was John Greens The Fault in Our Stars, a novel that has proved to be a touchstone for young readers since the day it was published. Green, who makes his home in Indianapolis, protested when he heard about the move.

He said he wouldnt be caught alive or dead in Fishers until the policy was changed.

I know John Greennot well but well enough to realize he is one of the most decent guys around.

Once, I asked a favor of him. He just had been a guest on a radio show I hosted.

One of my daughters friends had been diagnosed with cancer. Cancer figures prominently in the narrative of The Fault in Our Stars.

I asked Green to sign a copy of the book for my daughters friend. He did more than that. He wrote a note to her inside the book, one filled with compassion and encouragement.

After that, I learned that such graciousness and generosity were common for him. He was, and is, devoted to young people, particularly those who read his books. He takes both their lives and their troubles seriously, which may be the reason that The Fault in Our Stars has sold, at last counting, nearly 25 million copies worldwide.

But because Green acknowledges in his work that teenagers think about and occasionally even have sex, the board membersnot the librarians, who are trained to guide readers of all ages, but the board members, who are notdecided his work was not appropriate.

And now those same board members cannot understand why Green has raised a ruckus about their policy.

They cannot figure out why a man who has devoted his career and his art to writing for and helping young people might take offense at the accusation that his books were bad for those same young people.

A few of the board members supporters even have suggested that Green took issue with the library boards policy just so he could sell some more books.

Yeah, right.

A guy who has sold more than 40 million books worldwide and has had several of his novels turned into successful movies really desperately needs the help of a public library in central Indiana so his work can find an audience.

No, what it comes down to is this.

Because the board members of the Hamilton East Public Library are pure of heart, they know better than John Green what young need.

They also know better than the 40 million young people who bought Greens books.

Or their parents.

Or their teachers, who have devoted years of training to understanding how young people think and live.

Or the librarians, who have undergone rigorous schooling and preparation to help them serve readers.

The library board members, untutored and untrained though they may be, are better suited to make decisions about what we read and what our children read than we or anyone else could be.

Because they are pure of heart and have nothing but the best of intentions.

As censors always do.

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Censors, not father nor mother, know best | Commentary ... - The Statehouse File