We also live in a world where somehow, some way, the few voices of the minority outweigh those of the majority and can get the likes of Ellen Hopkins disinvited from a teen lit fest in Texas. Seriously, are we at all surprised that this happened in Texas? And thanks to that bonehead move, a bunch of other authors pulled themselves out of the event in protest. Way to go, you anal-retentive librarian. You just fucked over a bunch of kids.
But despite all of this, there are people out there that really want to grind the salt into the wound these book banners try to make. And damn, do they do a good job doing it.
Americus, a graphic novel about a teen boy fighting to keep one of his favorite books on the shelves against the ills of the protesters, is going to get a heap of promotion during Banned Books Week at the end of the month. I mean, why not? It pokes the banners in the eyes directly. And watch, I'm sure they'll try to get this one banned too on some ridiculous claim that it's insensitive or makes someone look fat or whatever. Go MK Reed and First Second. I salute you.
And to the jackasses that actually tried to get a dictionary banned, what the fuck are you
thinking? Really? It's a dictionary. For the love of god, your kid's going to go have sex for the first time and is going to end up trying to fuck someone's foot. Would you just talk to your children at the very least to prevent athlete's foot of the crotch?
I mean, this was from a fifth grade class. I remember when I was in fifth grade we had this huge sex education unit that PARENTS ACTUALLY CAME ALONG TO. Oh my god, what a concept. Parents educating their children side-by-side. Novel! What is so wrong with having a conversation with your kid? Honestly. Chances are, if you explain what oral sex is to a twelve-year-old, they're going to think it's gross. But isn't it better to explain to them what it is than have them find out first hand? Let's think about that one for a second.
If you want your kid to be horribly sheltered and lose their virginity via their ear or nostril, then by all means, you go ahead and do that. You'll end up with a forty-year-old sweater-wearer that works at Target and lives in your basement. Who may or may not have a chronic masturbation problem. But don't subject everyone else's kids to that kind of torture. There are some parents still out there that find nothing wrong with finding definitions in dictionaries. I'm really not sure where else they'd find them, but dictionaries are usually good places to start for something like that.
And like the article said, if they're looking up the definition of oral sex, that's not the first time they've heard it. Really, it's okay. Your kid isn't going to become a fluffer slut by knowing what something is. It'll give make him or her aware of it. More educated, if you will. God forbid our children catch that, that horrid, horrible act of thinking. That's not what schools are for. They should just go back to being oversized daycares, right?
*headdesk*
5 comments:
Dear God in heaven. Seriously? We want our children to be -THIS- stupid?
This post makes me want to call my mum and thank her for not being a dumbass and for making sure I learned EVERYTHING I could regardless of what I did with the information.
I picture these poor children in a barren room with one chair, sitting there, denied dinner, being beating into submission, alternately with a grammar book and bible.
They're raising the kind of sheltered weird children that grow up and drive the white windowless vans....you know the kind.
Well, they say that every burned book englightens the world... so every banned book... releases.. the ideas?
I made a similar blogpost recently about a scheduled quran burning. :P
If you want to read a banned book, read the last book banned in the USA, namely, Fanny Hill, last banned in 1963.
No books have been banned in the USA for about a half a century. See "National Hogwash Week."
Thomas Sowell says Banned Books Week is “the kind of shameless propaganda that has become commonplace in false charges of ‘censorship’ or ‘book banning’ has apparently now been institutionalized with a week of its own.” He calls it “National Hogwash Week.”
Former ALA Councilor Jessamyn West said, "It also highlights the thing we know about Banned Books Week that we don't talk about much — the bulk of these books are challenged by parents for being age-inappropriate for children. While I think this is still a formidable thing for librarians to deal with, it's totally different from people trying to block a book from being sold at all." See "Banned Books Week is Next Week."
And then there's Judith Krug herself who created BBW:
"Marking 25 Years of Banned Books Week," by Judith Krug, Curriculum Review, 46:1, Sep. 2006. "On rare occasion, we have situations where a piece of material is not what it appears to be on the surface and the material is totally inappropriate for a school library. In that case, yes, it is appropriate to remove materials. If it doesn't fit your material selection policy, get it out of there."
Lastly, remember the ALA does not oppose book burning when doing so would interfere with its political interests. Go see what Judith Krug said about Cuban librarians: "American Library Association Shamed," by Nat Hentoff.
That said, I see you have the following comment policy:
"Leave your comment; I'd love to hear what you think! Please, spill your guts and if need be, bite back with intelligence and decorum. Start acting like a troll and I might have to drag you out into the town square and put you in the stocks. And I have a nice big basket of rotting vegetables ready for throwing."
Before throwing rotting vegetables at the messenger, address Judith Krug, Jessamyn West, Thomas Sowell, Nat Hentoff.
Oh for the love of god. SafeLibraries, you tried this last year. Nice to know you're still cutting and pasting from the same diatribe. You'd think after having facts thrown in your face that books are still legitimately being banned in this country, you'd stop. But of course, like all the rest of the crazy radicals in this country, it's just so much more appealing to the cause to stick your fingers in your ears and hear what you want to hear. Facts can be made up along the way, right?
I'd just recommend you stop now. I, and everyone else, proved you wrong last year. I'm not about to waste my time doing it again.
It saddens me that books are banned at all it also saddens me that twats like "SafeLibraries" are born and unleashed onto the world with their inbred nut job beliefs and would insist that we all think the same way. Well sorry freak you cannot change our minds no book should be banned look how well it worked for the nazis you will not win.
As for the dictionary banning that offends me so much I could scream.
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