I am still doing National Novel Writing Month, and while the result right now isn’t, strictly speaking, good, I’m having some fun. If this draft goes anywhere I’ll need to go back and fill in a lot of gaps, but some people say that’s a fine way to approach writing.
Last week was YALLFest, hence the lack of Saturday Note, and I had a lot of fun! I’m about to talk smack about one of the panels though, but keep that in mind.
And hey, I finished re-watching Spectacular Spider-Man on Netflix! It’s going to be taken down after December 15, but it will be up on Disney+ if you have that, I think? If it’s not already? Something to look for.
I also realize that the word “indoctrination” is being thrown around a lot in regards to books and what children have access to, and I’m not really talking about book banning in the media so I’m (perhaps irresponsibly) kind of sidestepping that entire topic in doing this Note.
Books That are Teaching vs. Indoctrination
There was a panel at YALLFest that was, in theory, about the legacy of Lewis and Tolkien on the fantasy genre and how their religiousness can still be felt on fantasy. Or something? What this ended up being was a lot of bashing of Lewis, and I think some of the criticisms were unfair or, at best, silly. For instance, there was this agreed-on notion on the panel that Aslan’s resurrection was some kind of cheap move, and that the Pevensies should have been able to beat the White Witch on their own. And that’s dumb because you’re missing the entire point of the story if you don’t realize Lewis is saying we need Jesus to fully conquer capital ‘E’ Evil.
I’m straying here, I’m sorry.
But something that kind of bothered me was this idea that C.S. Lewis, in imbuing his children’s stories with an overt moral message, was indoctrinating children, and that there were other more traditional stories for kids. And this…bothers me, because very often at YALLFest (though not as much this time around, and not at this panel) I hear authors saying that it is essential to put messages about society into books to be able to reach even young audiences.
Authors claiming that they have to use their books to be able to teach kids what’s right or wrong; how is that different than the “indoctrination” of more traditional stories that this panel was railing against? In message maybe, but not necessarily in format. The answer, as far as I can tell, seems to be, “Indoctrination is when the book teaches a lesson that I don’t like.” And that’s not a good definition. It’s a bit like defining the word ‘cult’ as “religion that I don’t like.”
[Breaking in the Habit has a good video about trying to define what is and isn’t a cult here, actually!]
Probably only slightly related, but I remember this thing that came up in The Oatmeal (I think??) that suggested, because the author obviously thought religion was a Bad Thing, parents should not actually “force” kids to observe their own religious beliefs and instead say, “Well some believe X, and some believe Y; what do you think?” and let them sort it out as they get older. This is missing that people follow religions because they believe them to be true, so this is the equivalent of me suggesting that, when teaching children, you should not take a hard stance on whether or not the Earth is flat. After all, you shouldn’t force children to follow your beliefs, right! And it is a topic of controversy, after all!
[If you react to that suggestion with some level of horror: good job! Get yourself a cookie! If you reacted with, “But the Earth is flat!” then. Uh. We need to talk.]
I also think that Chronicles of Narnia is a particularly bad example of what you’d call “indoctrination,” because in the few results I have found that aren’t just making it sound like a long word for ‘teach’ it suggests that part of what makes it indoctrination is that it makes you refuse to consider other viewpoints or question the beliefs being taught. Which isn’t really the case in Chronicles of Narnia. I mean, yes, it ultimately sides with Christianity, and you’re clearly meant to agree at the end of the story, but books, and the characters in them, ask questions. They have doubts. Alternate viewpoints are suggested, sometimes by villains, and sometimes by misguided characters, and are proven, within the world of the book, to be wrong (whether those points work for the reader is a YMMV thing).
Compare this to a book like Fell, aimed at teens, which is my go-to example for bad message books. In this book it’s rammed into the readers’ heads by all the sympathetic characters that all myths, religious stories, and fairy tales are all lies meant to obscure the truth, and you shouldn’t listen to stories at all in order to make judgments about the world. This always struck me as an odd stance for a story I am reading to take. No one has a good argument against this point of view, it’s preached as truth throughout the book, even though it doesn’t make much sense.
It has talking magic wolves though, so it isn’t all bad.
“Indoctrination” is not a word you should throw out lightly! It certainly should not be used to mean “lessons or ideas that I disagree with” because then we’re getting into very shaky territory, in the same way that conspiracy freaks who call it “indoctrination” because you believe it when the news repeats well-known, documented, and verifiable facts. And more and more I see people saying, online and elsewhere, that they’re not indoctrinated and have the true facts because they reject traditional religion or high school history or the news media, but instead are parroting without question Internet “intellectuals,” celebrities, debunked documentaries, or out-of-date research.
If you think a text is teaching lessons you think are bad, you’re allowed to say that, of course, and react appropriately, but that doesn’t make it indoctrination.
Words have meaning! Please think about them!
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