Author Buzz Bissinger spoke out against the removal of his book Friday Night Lights from school libraries in Mason City, Iowa, the Gazette of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, reports.
Bissinger’s nonfiction book, originally published by Addison-Wesley in 1990, is the account of one season of a high school football team in Odessa, Texas. The book inspired a 2004 film directed by Peter Berg and a popular television series that ran from 2006 to 2011.
It was one of 19 titles that the Mason City school board pulled from library shelves after using artificial intelligence to detect whether the books contained descriptions of sex acts.
“This use of AI is ridiculous,” Bissinger told the Gazette. “There’s no sex at all. I’ve never depicted a sex act. I don’t know what … they’re talking about. I purposely stayed away from that.”
Other books pulled by the school board include Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.
“I’m flattered to be in the same company,” Bissinger said. “These are great, great books.”
The author had harsh words for the school board officials who decided to involve AI in the removal of the books.
“It’s also symbolic of how we don’t read anymore,” he said. “Let’s go to AI. Pathetic. Yeah, absolutely pathetic, and infuriating and dangerous. Because who knows what other school districts will do in Iowa or around the country. Whoever determined this is a complete idiot. And frankly, whoever determined this is a danger.”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
