Let's burn some books!

[Soriak]

http://www.abffe.com/bbw-booklist-detailed.htm

What a long list - those parents must have really hated reading. Wonder if they teach evolution in those schools

Some of my favorites objections:

Family Values by Phyllis Burke

Family Values is one of 55 books that parents in Fayetteville, Arkansas are petitioning to have removed from school libraries. The parents, who formed Parents Protecting the Minds of Children, object to the profane language and depictions of sexuality in many of the books and have accused the librarians and other opponents of their efforts of promoting a "homosexual agenda". PPMC objects to this book's discussion of gay parents.

The Homo Handbook--Getting in Touch With Your Inner Homo by Judy Carter

One of 55 books that parents in Fayetteville, Arkansas are petitioning to have removed from school libraries. The parents, who formed Parents Protecting the Minds of Children, object to the profane language and depictions of sexuality in many of the books and have accused the librarians and other opponents of their efforts of promoting a "homosexual agenda". PPMC objects to this book because of its exploration of being gay and coming out.

My Brother Has AIDS by Deborah Davis

Conservative community group Library Patrons of Texas tried, unsuccessfully, to have this book removed from Montgomery, Texas, area libraries. This novel, called “forthright” and “ultimately uplifting” by Publishers Weekly, is the story of a teen girl whose beloved older brother is dying from AIDS. The book contains realistic, informed details about AIDS, from its symptoms to its impact on a close family.

The Trouble with Babies by Martha Freeman

This book was removed from the shelves of several public libraries because of a brief mention of an adopted child's two gay fathers. In one incident, a Pittsburgh-area mother demanded the book be removed from the library because of its ""homosexual agenda"." Her protests succeeded. The author has been asked to re-issue the novel without this mention of gay men. Freeman says, "I should be able to write what I want, without fear of censorship. That's my version of America, for me and other writers."

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

An eighth grader from Stanford Middle School in California spearheaded a campaign to remove Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel from his classroom. He was uncomfortable with the use of racial slurs. In protest, he wore a shirt to school emblazoned with some of the racial epithets from the book. He was asked to cover his shirt. The book was taken under review of the school district and was kept in the classroom. To read more, click here. In another case last year, a high school principal in Anchorage, Alaska decided that his students would not be allowed to perform a stage adaptation of the novel. He, too, was troubled by the use of racial slurs and depiction of an attempted rape.

America (The Book) by Jon Stewart

Two libraries in southern Mississippi banned inclusion of the book in their collections due to nude photographs of the nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices. Wal-Mart, Inc. cited the same image in their decision not to stock the book. The trustees of the Mississippi library voted 5-2 to return the book.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

This classic novel was removed from three Renton, Washington high schools after an African-American student complained that the book’s use of the word ‘nigger’ offended her. Teachers protested that Twain was actually attacking racism and opening the door for important discussions about American history. After reviewing the case, school officials have suspended use of the book in area schools until a panel of teachers and outside advisors develop a sensitive method of presentation.

But NOTHING quite summarises their agenda like the objection to this one:

Gays/justice: A Study of Ethics, Society, and Law by Richard D. Mohr

PPMC objects to this book because it endorses stronger civil rights for gay people and opposes organized religion .

[masteen]

God forbid kids be forced to read material that is challenging. They might learn how to think for themselves!

[AlmmaStoofoo]

What I found hilarious was the big red letters at the top of the page:

AMERICAN BOOKSELLERS FOUNDATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION


WTF?

[Kasonic]

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression is the bookseller's voice in the fight against censorship.

What's the problem? Banned book bullshit is a huge part of that.

[randomguy]

so many things wrong , not sure where to start here. how one sided can people be ? i really hope the girl who read huck finn didnt take offense to it and actually was doing it all for attention, cause otherwise she is a dumb cunt that id step on the throat of.

i dont get why people want to revolutionize text from the past as if racism didnt exist. its not free thinking, its one sided thinking. what if the movie Glory never said the word nigger in it, would you feel bad for the slaves who fought for a country that didnt want them ? its very sad to see people fight to keep the population dumb. if you assume how the population will react to a topic in a way where they are cavemen, then they will grow up to be nothing but cavemen.

man this article pissed me off.

[Zehn - Vhex]

Welcome to freedom of expression where it's one mans right to shit all everybody else.

[Eomer]

What I found hilarious was the big red letters at the top of the page:

AMERICAN BOOKSELLERS FOUNDATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION


WTF?

I had the same initial reaction as you, it stank of double-speak. However, as Kasonic pointed out, they aren't the ones calling for or organizing the bans, they're the ones fighting them.

[dak]

Fine with keeping the gay agenda books out but To Kill a Mockingbird? That's book owned.

[Regime]

Yeah I live in this fuckin god forsaken town [Fayetteville, AR]. This bitch is a pyscho. Her church are the same fucks that carry crosses down Dickson (the bar strip) and have "you'll burn in hell" signs.

Good times.

Oh and go Razorbacks?

[Kasonic]

RAWR LOOK OUT

[James]

Originally Posted by dak

Fine with keeping the gay agenda books out but To Kill a Mockingbird? That's book owned.

I'll agree there. Reading a book about some faggots written by, of all things, a chick is probably not something that is covered by school curriculum in any normal sense of the word. To Kill a Mockingbird, however, is a classic, NAY, timeless piece of literature that should be required reading by at least your senior year of high school, and hopefully much sooner than that.

Shit, I had to read Catch-22 for my junior year english project, and for those who haven't read it the main character spends most of his time in one whorehouse or another. Excellent read, though, Major Major Major Major had to be the best part of the entire thing, and after having joined the military it's damn near a guide book on how to survive. So much of that book still rings true in today's military life, that's for damned sure. Anyway, that's quite a tangent.

Fuck the homos, give us To Kill a Mocking Bird.

[...]

http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedboo...frequently.htm

http://www.marshall.edu/LIBRARY/bann...eindex2005.asp

I'm a librarian. In library school they drill into your head about the dangers/effects of banning books. It's always been rather ironic that some of the classics and wildly popular books are near the top. huck fin and harry potter. Usualy whatever's popular for kids is targeted for bans Tons of award winning books are challanged constantly. The most ironic thing is that a gigantic chunk of banned/challanged books are kids books, and most of the banned/challanged books are due to language.

The book Fallen Angels for instance is about some young men in vietnam shooting VC, getting killed etc. At one point a woman give a soldier a baby with a land mine attached to it which blows up the baby and the soldier who rushed to grab it. Later two of the main characters (who are teenagers) kill a vietnamese soldier in a fox hole, then drag the dead guys body into the hole on top of them, and then hide untill nightfall with the bleeding corpse. The most common reason it's banned? Profanity and racial slurs.

[dak]

The book Fallen Angels for instance is about some young men in vietnam shooting VC, getting killed etc. At one point a woman give a soldier a baby with a land mine attached to it which blows up the baby and the soldier who rushed to grab it. Later two of the main characters (who are teenagers) kill a vietnamese soldier in a fox hole, then drag the dead guys body into the hole on top of them, and then hide untill nightfall with the bleeding corpse. The most common reason it's banned? Profanity and racial slurs.

Desensitizing our youth to battlefield violence so they will grow up to be more effective killing machines in the armies of tomorrow. Very Good.

Disenfranchising the religious and ethnic minority voting base. Very Bad.

[Glaive]

A big "Fuck You" to everyone saying it's ok to "keep out the fag books."

There's a huge fucking difference between material that argues some sort of whacked out militant agenda and things that simply mention that there are gay people and imply that they might actually be just like everyone else. God fucking forbid!

If you read through that a great majority of the books labeled as having a "homosexual agenda" just make mention somewhere of gay parents, homosexuality, the issues surrounding coming out of the closet, etc. These are all realities that we deal with, but if you dare to try and show things like that and not do your part to sweep homosexuality under a rug you are part of the "gay agenda."

Fuck that. It's this same goddamn attitude that makes it possible for people to get away with harassing, beating, raping, or even murdering homosexuals in this country with often lenient penalities or none whatsoever.

And no, I'm not gay, but I do have friends of both genders who are gay or bisexual. More imporantly, I'm fucking perceptive enough to realize that when shit is allowed to happen to one minority group, it can very easily happen to any of us, as we're all part of multiple groups whether we realize it or not (individual religions, age groups, political factions, etc.).

The best way to protect your own rights is to protect everyone's.

[James]

You know, I could debate you all day long, saying how retarded you are for thinking that we think books about faggotry should be banned from schools for the material itself, or how about you probably really are an ass pirate. But I think I'll just tell you to shut the hell up. Queer.