Too late, I realized I’d missed the followup question.

After all of those years of reporting, I missed the most obvious question.

Good thing I’m retired.

A few weeks ago, I posted a meme during Banned Books Week. It showed a stack of books that included Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye,” Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five,” Ken Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies,” George Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter,” Orwell’s “1984” and Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451.”

The meme noted: “These are the most banned books from public libraries and schools in the U.S.” My accompanying comment: “Read all of these. Most still on my home library shelf.”

The post generated some interesting comments and discussion.}A few folks pointed out that a quick check of the local library showed all of these books are on the shelf and available to the public. Great news, but neither the meme nor my comment claimed they weren’t available here, simply the titles are among the books most often banned in the U.S. and that I happened to have read all of them.

A couple of comments noted this is an old and only a partial banned book list. True. Many more books dealing with issues of gender, sexuality and race have been banned or challenged.

he majority of comments expressed surprise, dismay and outrage that these 10 books are the most banned. Many of these commenters noted they had read these books in high school. That all of these books had been required reading when they went to school.

}All of these comments generated some interesting discussion, but looking back, I failed to ask the important followup question. The question that may have an answer just as chilling as banning books.

The question: What book are you reading now?

Annual studies and statistics claim most of the answers would have likely been nothing. A further followup question may have revealed it has been years since some had read a book. Or that some folks might claim they are reading a book just so they don’t have to admit they aren’t reading a book. Polls regularly claim the majority of people are not currently reading a book, haven’t read a book in more than a year or can’t name the last book they read.

But this speculation may not have applied to the folks who commented on my post. That’s why the followup question could have provided some insight. Nothing scientific, just some additional information into whether people are still reading books on a regular basis.

Because if the polls are true, which is more sobering – A society that bans books? Or a society that does not read books?

There are no correct answers to these questions.

However, Author Neil Postman provides some insight into the questions.

In his book, “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” Postman compares George Orwell and Aldous Huxley. Orwell wrote the aforementioned “Animal Farm” and “1984.” Huxley wrote “Brave New World,” a book that is also regularly on banned lists.

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books,” Postman writes. “What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism.”

Postman continues noting that Orwell feared the truth would be concealed while Huxley feared truth would be overwhelmed by irrelevance. Postman pulls directly from Huxley when noting critics who are ever looking to stand against oppression fail “to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.”

“In ‘1984,’” Huxley wrote, “people are controlled by inflicting pain. In ‘Brave New World,’ they are controlled by inflicting pleasure.”

Postman concludes, “In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.”

There’s the importance of that followup question.

Because the answers might have shed some light on a far more problematic question: Are we more in danger because someone wants to ban books or because we are too busy to be bothered with reading books?bOne commenter on my post said, maybe she should go back and reread some of those books she had read in high school. Maybe a lot of us should revisit those books. Or read any book.

Dean Poling is a former editor with The Valdosta Daily Times and The Tifton Gazette.