Book Burning??? Are you serious?
Jul. 23rd, 2009 10:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bewizeReading articles like this where people want to burn books both infuriates me and terrifies me. The main problem is that I can see where these parents are coming from - to a degree. They want to decide what is appropriate for their children to read.
Fine. With the issue aside that I strongly suspect they will raise intolerant children who share their same bigotry and bias, because how could they not since they aren't allowed to make up their own minds, it is the parents right to decide just this question of appropriateness.
My problem is that since when does it become the duty of the library to protect someone else's children? The library catalogs the books in the way that ALL libraries would catalog these books. (Librarians on my list, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the point of the current cataloging system?)
If parents want to keep their children from reading inappropriate things, then I suggest they read the books first. And if they don't like them, they can tell their kids no. Quit being lazy, intolerant book-burning freaks, and start being parents already.
Besides, parents have different views on things. To some, The Perks of Being a Wallflower may be deemed inappropriate for some children by their parents, and others might reject books where entire families are legally executed for the crimes of the father, daughters are offered by their fathers as rape victims, and innocent men are hung from crosses only to rise from the grave three days later.
My point: both books should be available and parents should get off their butts and make their own decisions and stop expecting libraries to do a parent's job. Otherwise, I suppose, we'll have to burn all the books and welcome back the Dark Ages.
Fine. With the issue aside that I strongly suspect they will raise intolerant children who share their same bigotry and bias, because how could they not since they aren't allowed to make up their own minds, it is the parents right to decide just this question of appropriateness.
My problem is that since when does it become the duty of the library to protect someone else's children? The library catalogs the books in the way that ALL libraries would catalog these books. (Librarians on my list, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the point of the current cataloging system?)
If parents want to keep their children from reading inappropriate things, then I suggest they read the books first. And if they don't like them, they can tell their kids no. Quit being lazy, intolerant book-burning freaks, and start being parents already.
Besides, parents have different views on things. To some, The Perks of Being a Wallflower may be deemed inappropriate for some children by their parents, and others might reject books where entire families are legally executed for the crimes of the father, daughters are offered by their fathers as rape victims, and innocent men are hung from crosses only to rise from the grave three days later.
My point: both books should be available and parents should get off their butts and make their own decisions and stop expecting libraries to do a parent's job. Otherwise, I suppose, we'll have to burn all the books and welcome back the Dark Ages.
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Re: I'm trusting you to give me the same respect I give you....
Date: 2009-07-23 04:08 pm (UTC)I believe that there are things that children shouldn't be exposed to, and I believe that it is the parents responsilibity to ensure that they aren't exposed to it. End of question.
The library books in question were not Hustler, or Playboy, or detailed "HOW TO" guides to have sex. They were fictional stories. And for the record - I've not read the book. But I have reserved it at my library to read. (Irony, I embrace thee.)
My problem is, and always will be, that I disapprove of censorship of any kind. I decide what it is that I want to read and watch - and to that extent, I don't read romance novels and I don't watch slasher flicks. For me, there is little redeeming value in either, but I recognize that there are lots of other people who disagree with me.
When I was little, my mother would look through my library books and decide what I could and could not read. She stopped doing that when I was about 12, though, and told me that she wanted me to ask her any questions that I had and talk to her about what I read and saw, but at the end of the day I was responsible for the images I would put in my head by reading/seeing things that I didn't want.
My problem - the one that I most vehemently oppose in my comment - is the idea that the library should decide what I, or anyone else, wants to read. I did put the Bible alongside the contested work, for a reason. It's a terribly violent book, with many horrid people in it.
But I own 4 different copies of it. And regardless of what I believe about what it says, I would disagree with anyone who told me that it was "inappropriate" for a library.
Book burning, in my opinion, is the strongest form of willful ignorance. The article acknowledges that the parents who began this whole fight do not support book burning, and while I am grateful for that, my response to them does not change.
Parent your own children and don't expect the library to do it for you.
Re: I'm trusting you to give me the same respect I give you....
Date: 2009-07-23 04:32 pm (UTC)Your mom sounds a lot like mine, which I think is wonderful. We weren't repressed; our parents took a very serious role in what we were allowed to see, etc, when we were little, and they made sure to comment on things like language and behavior in the media even when we were older, but we were encouraged to talk about them, to ask questions, etc. My mom started sex ed with us when we were very young because she wanted to be responsible for what we learned and how, she wanted us to be armed, for lack of a better term, and she wanted us to be absolutely confident that we could always talk to her about anything at all, because she hadn't had that with her mother, which meant that she was never able to tell her parents about some things that happened to her when she was very young. My parents *used* books and movies and television to start conversations with us, and I will forever be grateful for that. My parents were parents, and when I got to be an adult, they trusted me more than I trusted myself.
As a writer, the idea of censorship rolls my stomach. Like I said, I lean toward judgment and wisdom and consideration. I believe that writers have responsibilities concerning what we write and what we put out for others to read, and readers have the responsibility for choosing what goes into their minds. We were created with free will and with the ability to think, and to disregard either of those under the guise of censorship is to not only rob people of valuable choices but also to thumb hairy noses at the Creator.