Re: Nice Planet © 2009
Re: Nice Planet © 2009
So this guy:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,561981,00.html?test=latestnews
doesn't approve of a book available at his 11th grade son's high school. He thinks the book's topics and language are inappropriate for his son. So far so good. Like most censors, however, he has also volunteered to make that decision for every kid in the high school, their parents and every adult everywhere.
I've never heard of this book and have no intention of reading it. However, I'll make that decision for myself, thank you. And isn't it possible there are some parents in that school who think a book that deals with these tough issues would be appropriate for their kids?
This guy seems hung up on the language in the book. I'm guessing he's never read Catcher in the Rye. As I say, this may be a bad book, there may be others that would be more appropriate, but it hardly matters. I'd still like to reserve the right to make that decision for my own kid--and so would most parents.
I'm reminded of those pathetic ignorant types who occasionally whip up a jihad against Huckleberry Finn because it uses "that" word. In an exercise of anal retentiveness that would surely get the seal of approval from Monk, they've even counted the number of times Twain used the N-word (215 I believe). Of course the story WAS set in the ante-bellum south and that's the way people spoke in those days. And Jim is the only adult worthy of admiration that Huck meets along the river. Jim, in fact, is the hero of the piece. Oh well. Not much nuance here.
All censors, regardless of their political perspective, assert they aren't censors. They always claim they support the First Amendment, but "this is a special case." Yeah.
Years ago the Last Temptation of Christ caused some conservative Christians to get the vapors. In addition to picketing theatres (their absolute right) they also demanded that theatres not show the film. Again, folks, I know what's got you p.o.'ed here, but I'll make that decision for myself. I saw it on cable and thought it was drec, but that's me.
Getting back to our friend in Virginia, his kid is in the 11th grade, which means the boy should be starting to make serious plans about where he wants to go to college--but daddy's still picking his reading material? This kid better plan to attend college on another continent to get out from under this guy's thumb. One thing daddy can be sure about is that this boy NEVER thinks about ho-mo-sex-uality, masturbation, drugs, booze or any other bad thing. And he NEVER thinks about these things using bad language. 'Course that does leave unanswered the question of why the boy would want to read the book in the first place. But I doubt this clod of a father would ever ask himself THAT question.
