rinse and repeat

[perlmonger]

Via diablochicken, I find that the fine citizens of Marshall, Missouri are complaining about feelthie peectures in a couple of graphic novels their library board had the temerity to purchase.

Same old same old, of course. I wouldn’t have bothered mentioning it but for one quote from a Concerned Citizen that just sums the whole thing up:

“It’s not a matter of censorship,” John Raines of Marshall said, “but a matter of looking out for our kids.”

Well, that’s all right then; after all, the worst might happen:

“I don’t want seedy people coming into the library and moving into our community,” Aulgur said.

ETA: and TheBeat informs us that a Texan family want Fahrenheit 451 removed from their daughter’s school curriculum. Because of the cussin’ and the Bible burning (do they think it’s in favour of book burning?). Oh, and because of the firemen (eh?). That the book was assigned by the school, apparently coincidentally, during Banned Books Week is an irony that may escape the family...

Comments

[syllopsium.livejournal.com]

I was under the impression that Libraries had a children's section, before even discounting other books full of depraved practices like say Shakespeare or The Odyssey

[nerdware.livejournal.com]

Yeah, right. Us "seedy people" will always move the instant we hear of a library with just one graphic novel. We're that cheap. Never mind the expense and trouble of moving. Never mind the relatively non-existant costof purchasing a graphic novel. No, we never miss an opportunity to move somewhere new. Any excuse will do! No effort is too great!

Blah, blah, blah.

Fahrenheit 451

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

I went to a Catholic boys school run by priests and brothers in Alexandria, VA. ... Fahrenheit 451 was a *required* book in English class, every single one one of us had to read it and be able to answer questions on it. [1]


[1] We also had The Hobbit, The Catcher in the Rye and several other influential and important books. [2]

[2] At A-Level (advanced level) English in the UK we had Gulliver's Travels, which involves a giant man pissing in through a window to put out a fire ... surely that can't be suitable for children (grin!)