Comments on: Columnist Supports Banned Books Week; Illinois Family Institute Objects

By: Ana Apurada

Ana Apurada — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 19:45:22 +0000

It seems like most of you have failed to notice that Laurie Higgins always takes the high road when she is defending her convictions. It’s unfortunate that most of you are unwilling (or unable) to extend the same courtesy. Are you all so fragile that you can’t tolerate someone who disagrees with your opinion. Maybe you’re not convinced that you’re right. They say that if you throw a stone into a pack of dogs, the one that gets hit first will yelp. Maybe you’re all yelping so loud because you feel stung by her words of truth. I suggest you learn to disagree with a little more class.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:26:02 +0000

There is a lovely post by Jamie Larue, a librarian refusing to remove a book from his library after a complaint.

http://jaslarue.blogspot.com/2008/07/uncle-bobbys-wedding.html

Neil Gaiman linked to the post today in discussion of book banning week. I’m really glad that we don’t have these types of issues in Australia.

By: lurker111

lurker111 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:40:56 +0000

The only problem I ever had with Huck Finn was that the reintroduction of Tom Sawyer late in the novel made the plotline totally unbelievable, and I stopped reading at that point. (I think ol’ S. Clemens wrote himself into a corner & couldn’t write himself back out of it again.)

By: wheatdogg

wheatdogg — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:50:47 +0000

When I was a kid, my parents wouldn’t take me to the Sean Connery James Bond movies. But they did let me read Ian Fleming’s 007 books.

The books were way more, um, educational, than the movies were.

By: JulietEcho

JulietEcho — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:59:04 +0000

I *totally* relate to the wanting-to-read-a-book-specifically-because-it-was-banned phenomenon.

My mom said plainly once, when I was a teenager, that she didn’t want me reading “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and I always remembered the name of the book so I could read it when I got a chance.

Fortunately, my parents weren’t fans of science fiction, so they had no idea what sort of stuff I was reading in Heinlein – or I’m sure that would’ve been taken away.

By: Marsha in TN

Marsha in TN — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:31:29 +0000

As a librarian, I was proud to put up my Banned/Challenged book display this week. I’m at an academic library, and some of my kids have said, “Why would anyone want to ban that…..?”

I’m in east TN, and this summer there was a church (Baptist of course) that had a book burning with free hot dogs and soft drinks. They could not understand why some people in the community were incensed about it. They were “only burning books we don’t want our children and grand-children to see.” Several us threatened to show up with our old bibles to see if they would burn those too.

Religion mixed with ignorance=total stupidity. Hopefully some of those kids will have enough sense to decide for themselves. I’ve seen it here at this small college, all of them don’t swallow this crap and do question and make up their own minds.

I have a bracelet I wear it says “Open books, open minds.” That’s what the fundies are terrified of. Here’s hoping the smart kids get out, and open their own minds.

By: Miko

Miko — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:04:51 +0000

The goal isn’t to control what children read, per se: the goal is to control what anyone reads. It’s just easier for them to make the argumentum ad “do it for the children” and pretend that banning the books for everyone is just an unfortunate side effect.

It’s about shaping an entire society to fit their narrow view of what society should be: don’t read this book, don’t take this drug, do say the Pledge of Allegiance daily, pay a special tax to drink a soft drink, fork over money to a health insurance corporation or go to jail, etc. Banned books are one of our leading forays against the provincialists, but really it’s a much larger battle of pluralism vs. communitarianism.

By: Laura Lou

Laura Lou — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:54:06 +0000

As Atris says, “Separation from evil is no protection from it.”

By: writerdd

writerdd — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:43:15 +0000

Books made me an atheist. I’m so glad my (born again Christian) mother never censored what I read.

By: Andy S

Andy S — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:08:57 +0000

The teacher didn’t force the book upon the students and he gave them an option to read an alternative book (Camus’ The Stranger).

The Stranger is overtly anti-religion, so from the IFI’s standpoint it may not have been a good alternative.

I loved it, though. The teacher should have had them read both. The Stranger is an excellent (and short) novel. Never read Angels in America, but now I want to.