Banning plays like Grease and The Crucible in my home state of Missouri is one more incident in a series going back decades that make it difficult to tell people that yes, indeed, that’s where I was born and that’s where I’m from.
This case, like the others that have happened in Missouri, is shameful. In many of these incidents soul-blind and life-ignorant cells of squinty-eyed butter-eaters consider everyday evidence of gender or sexuality to be harmful. In others, teens and children have their rights withheld.
The cases run the gamut: banned books (lots of these), interference with consenting sexual relations between adults, banned video games, prejudice against homosexuals disguised as law, bans on skating and skateboarding, bans on supposedly sexual billboards, bans on certain clothing in schools.
If you think Harry S Truman is evidence that Missouri can be salvaged, just remember that the political machine that put Truman in power is exactly the same sort of sly old-boy machine that put Roy Blunt in Congress and his son Matt Blunt in the Missouri governor’s mansion.
Besides, Truman being a Missourian is far outweighed by both John Ashcroft and Rush Limbaugh also being from Missouri.