Laura Griffin has a great post today talking about Banned Books Week and as I was sliding down the ALA list of the Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books, I was struck again by how stupid the idea of banning books is.
If I remember correctly, this is the United States of America. Right? I get to pick what I read - not some inbred yahoo and his sister-wife, not some supposed man of god, not some backwoods clem, and sure as hell not some uptight pretentious twat. I choose what goes in my head. I monitor what goes in my child's head. I don't need anyone telling me what I can't read or what I'm not allowed to show my daughter. Feh.
Looking over the ALA list, there are a lot of books on there I don't want to read, and several I'd rather my daughter wouldn't. Hell, there are even a couple I'd really rather no one read because I think they're that detrimental to mankind as a whole, but those are my opinions and I would never presume to force anyone to adhere to my beliefs. I wish I could say the same about other people, but I can't. There will always be people out there who feel the need to try and force others to believe what they believe and think what they think. And unless someone stands up to those people.... Well, welcome to the communist Russia (or Cuba, or China) that our beautiful country will become.
:deep breath in through the nose out through the mouth:
And now that I'm done with my rant, is it just me or does anyone else see the irony in the fact that some idiot somewhere wants to ban (or has banned) Fahrenheit 451?? I guess they figure if they ban the book about burning books, people will be less likely to notice what they're doing.
(Yes, yes, I know. Bradbury didn't intend Fahrenheit 451 do be about censorship per se, but this irony is so delicious, I don't think Mr. Bradbury would've minded the reference.)
My question is where are these yahoos when it comes to television shows and video games? I would like to think that reading a book requires much more imagination and, therefore, results in much more insight and intelligence than watching violent shows or killing people on the latest video game. Maybe I'm wrong?
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, B.E. - books should not be banned. And parents should be more involved with what their kids are reading and open to discussion about contraversial subjects. As an ex-teacher - at least those books being read in school are being discussed and questions the kids have answered!
Ooh, got on a bit of a rant there myself :)