In which I refer to the "parents" in "Parents Against Bad Books In Schools" as one singular entity with one singular child.
Oh, good grief. Dear "Parents Against Bad Books In Schools", in case you didn't get the memo: grow. UP. A book in the school library that you as a parent find objectionable is not being forced upon your precious, innocent baby. Also, you can't keep your children from the world, nor keep them children forever. From keeping a site like this, I can only assume that you're the type to try to arrange your child's life into neat little boxes - so therefore your child is going to need some kind of outside assurance that - as an individual growing up and going through big changes that don't ever fit into clean, labeled spaces - he or she is normal and going through normal thought patterns and bodily changes, which means that he or she may turn to a book for said assurances. Oh, gasp!
Among the phrases used to describe some of the books that your child or someone else's child might come across in the school library is "pornography weakly disguised as literature" - have you actually read non-visual porn? My dad had a stash of girlie mags and smut rags in his side of the closet and, ladies and gents, I was reading actual porn as a child in my own home, not at school. And? It still didn't turn me into a raging pervert/slut/prostitute/crack addict. Boggles the mind, doesn't it?
Here there is a list of 'questionable' or contested books from A - Z which are accompanied by out-of-context sentences and paragraphs. Of course when you separate lascivious particles from a cohesive whole the book will end up looking like smut, and I gather that this is the general idea.
I read some pretty questionable material when I was a kid - like the oeuvre of Virginia Andrews when I was in the sixth grade - and "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret" was practically my bible, but I managed to come out okay on the other side in terms of my life choices. Books never caused me to seek out drugs, alcohol, or sex with wimmen, mmm'kay. When there came a point in my life when I exhibited behaviours such as a tendency toward disordered eating and a penchant for self-mutilation, it wasn't books that made me "go bad"; it was an extremely fucked-up home environment that prompted me to seek equally fucked-up comforts. However, I also found comfort in books. The world of words provided an escape that didn't result in any sort of harm to myself or others. If it weren't for books, and from the books a love of written self-expression, I don't know whether I'd be here today.
While you might be practically breaking your arm to pat yourself on the back for providing such a comprehensive resource for the caring parent, you're not really doing much good for anybody. If I had a child, I would check out what he or she was reading myself because I would be taking an interest in his or her life. I would recommend a lot of the books I read myself as a kid and I wouldn't try to shelter him or her from what is widely perceived to be a "bad book". As an avid reader I would probably read everything my kid was reading in school just to keep up with what he or she is studying, and as long as they don't put "American Psycho" on the syllabus or the library shelves (which at 20 gave me a bona-fide case of the Heebie Jeebies, that's all), then fine. Throw all the Margeret Atwood, Judy Blume, Paul Zindel and Robert Cormier you want at my hypothetical kids. There still remain some parents who a) care about what their kids are doing enough to be actively involved instead of taking the word of a bunch of censor-happy whackos with a website and b) understand that a book in itself is a whole work, not sentences and "objectionable themes" to be picked apart and left for carrion among the right-winger set.
Sincerely,
Doesn't Have A Kid, But Loves (LOVES!) The Written Word In All Its Form And Splendour (Really!).
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Then again, the maintainers of this site use "impact" as a verb. Take that as you will. (I'm not a grammar/usage queen, but it's right up there with the use of "addicting" in place of "addictive".)
Oh, good grief. Dear "Parents Against Bad Books In Schools", in case you didn't get the memo: grow. UP. A book in the school library that you as a parent find objectionable is not being forced upon your precious, innocent baby. Also, you can't keep your children from the world, nor keep them children forever. From keeping a site like this, I can only assume that you're the type to try to arrange your child's life into neat little boxes - so therefore your child is going to need some kind of outside assurance that - as an individual growing up and going through big changes that don't ever fit into clean, labeled spaces - he or she is normal and going through normal thought patterns and bodily changes, which means that he or she may turn to a book for said assurances. Oh, gasp!
Among the phrases used to describe some of the books that your child or someone else's child might come across in the school library is "pornography weakly disguised as literature" - have you actually read non-visual porn? My dad had a stash of girlie mags and smut rags in his side of the closet and, ladies and gents, I was reading actual porn as a child in my own home, not at school. And? It still didn't turn me into a raging pervert/slut/prostitute/crack addict. Boggles the mind, doesn't it?
Here there is a list of 'questionable' or contested books from A - Z which are accompanied by out-of-context sentences and paragraphs. Of course when you separate lascivious particles from a cohesive whole the book will end up looking like smut, and I gather that this is the general idea.
I read some pretty questionable material when I was a kid - like the oeuvre of Virginia Andrews when I was in the sixth grade - and "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret" was practically my bible, but I managed to come out okay on the other side in terms of my life choices. Books never caused me to seek out drugs, alcohol, or sex with wimmen, mmm'kay. When there came a point in my life when I exhibited behaviours such as a tendency toward disordered eating and a penchant for self-mutilation, it wasn't books that made me "go bad"; it was an extremely fucked-up home environment that prompted me to seek equally fucked-up comforts. However, I also found comfort in books. The world of words provided an escape that didn't result in any sort of harm to myself or others. If it weren't for books, and from the books a love of written self-expression, I don't know whether I'd be here today.
While you might be practically breaking your arm to pat yourself on the back for providing such a comprehensive resource for the caring parent, you're not really doing much good for anybody. If I had a child, I would check out what he or she was reading myself because I would be taking an interest in his or her life. I would recommend a lot of the books I read myself as a kid and I wouldn't try to shelter him or her from what is widely perceived to be a "bad book". As an avid reader I would probably read everything my kid was reading in school just to keep up with what he or she is studying, and as long as they don't put "American Psycho" on the syllabus or the library shelves (which at 20 gave me a bona-fide case of the Heebie Jeebies, that's all), then fine. Throw all the Margeret Atwood, Judy Blume, Paul Zindel and Robert Cormier you want at my hypothetical kids. There still remain some parents who a) care about what their kids are doing enough to be actively involved instead of taking the word of a bunch of censor-happy whackos with a website and b) understand that a book in itself is a whole work, not sentences and "objectionable themes" to be picked apart and left for carrion among the right-winger set.
Sincerely,
Doesn't Have A Kid, But Loves (LOVES!) The Written Word In All Its Form And Splendour (Really!).
Then again, the maintainers of this site use "impact" as a verb. Take that as you will. (I'm not a grammar/usage queen, but it's right up there with the use of "addicting" in place of "addictive".)
