Friday, February 19, 2010

Books and Kooks

I'm glad to hear that the Fond du Lac School District's Reconsideration Committee has rejected an attempt to remove a book from the middle school libraries. One parent complained about the content of of Sonya Sones' "One Of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies" (Sounds like a real uplifting story doesn't it?) and wanted it banned from the library.

As a staunch defender of the First Amendment, I'm always turned off by the effort to "ban" anything related to freedom of expression or thought. And so too apparently is Ms. Sones, who wrote to the district herself in defense of her book. "If Ms. Wentworth thinks the book is inappropriate for her own child, then by all means she should not allow her child to read it. But it would be unfair and inappropriate for her to try to force her own personal beliefs on every family with children attending Theisen Middle School, or any other school in the district."
As Clare Booth Luce so eloquently put it, 'Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but unlike charity, it should end there.'"

I should also point out that Fondy schools have a system in place whereby parents can block their child's access to any piece in the library they deem "objectionable". Those same parents should also know that their TV's have settings that will block shows of a questionable or mature nature if they don't want their kids watching such fare. I find it ironic in a society where kids are running around and annoying everyone in a restaurant or a store--we have so many parents who want to tell others how to raise their kids.

On a totally different matter.........

I hope no one tries to portray the guy who flew a plane into the IRS building in Austin, Texas as a member of the Tea Party Movement or as some "right winger who just got fed up with Government." Newly-elected Massachussetts Senator Scott Brown goes on Fox News yesterday afternoon and compares the suicide attack to the "frustration that people are feeling about how government operates". Senator Brown may have broken the record for shortest time in public office before making a stupid comment--previously held by several members of the Obama administration.

Joe Stack was a sick man with obviously no regard for human life. He in no way represents the "frustration" of most Americans with the way the government is operating--and his actions are in no way defensible. Like the Unabomer before him, he is nothing more than a domestic terrorist who can only blame others for problems he created for himself--and he in no way should be a hero to anyone.

9 comments:

  1. Had the roles been reversed, all of the conservatives in this country would have been up in arms, that some liberal who was fed up with something crashed his plane into a building. They would have said this was mainstream left wing politics and that we should all be running for our lives.

    But no, Jonny decides to quickly come to the defense of his beloved GOP, to make sure everyone knows this was just the act of some lunatic instead of the typical republican.

    It's funny how the right sees things.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "I hope no one tries to portray the guy who flew a plane into the IRS building in Austin, Texas as a member of the Tea Party Movement or as some "right winger who just got fed up with Government."

    Nonetheless, it is easy to imagine that the pathological fervor with which bloviational demagogues like Mssrs. Limbaugh and Beck stoke the flames of anti-progressivism could exacerbate the mental illness of certain tortured souls. Healthy folks can listen to such mindless drivel and do nothing illegal or immoral, but the few sick minds out there can be pushed over the edge. It's the same situation as "do violent media cause kids to be violent?" Fot 99% of normal kids, no. For one's teetering on the brink, yes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with Speed Carter, for most of us we see it as it is....for some for what ever reason they lash out. And unlike what Anonymous had to say, it had nothing to do with what "side" you are on in politics. This man was a sick person who commited a terrible crime. I feel sorry for his family because they are the ones who will suffer over this. Not him, he took the easy out of his problems.

    ReplyDelete
  4. >>And unlike what Anonymous had to say, it had nothing to do with what "side" you are on in politics.<<

    I don't think he meant that your "side" had anything to do with actually committing such an act. I think he meant that how *we* PERCIEVE such acts is dictated by our "side". I think he was commenting on how people will try to "make hay" politically out of these things, to score points for their "side".

    I sure would hope "my side" doesn't try to paint this as "typical" of "right-wing wing-nuts", to say anything much stronger than what I said.

    ReplyDelete
  5. "WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN??????"

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am the author of One Of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies. I’m sorry that Ms. Wentworth finds my book too sexual in nature. If Ms. Wentworth thinks the book is inappropriate for her own child, then by all means she should not allow her child to read it. But it would be unfair and inappropriate for her to try to force her own personal beliefs on every other family with children attending Theisen Middle School, or any other school in the district.

    As the 2010 United States Ambassador of Children’s Books, Katherine Patterson, once said, "All of us can think of a book that we hope none of our children or any other children have taken off the shelf. But if I have the right to remove that book from the shelf - that work I abhor - then you also have exactly the same right and so does everyone else. And then we have no books left on the shelf for any of us."

    I would like the woman who commented "Think of the children!" to know that when I was writing the book, I DID think of the children - which is why my book makes it very clear that entering into a sexual relationship casually is a very bad idea. The narrator of the book, in fact, never goes further than second base, although she is being pressured to do so. My book shows young readers that they should not allow themselves to be pressured into doing anything that they don't want to be doing!

    Fortunately Ms. Wentworth did not succeed in forcing the removal of my book from the school library. If she had, a very bad example would have been set for the students!

    Thank you for your time,
    Sonya Sones

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ms. Sones, I am sorry;
    I thought everyone would get the joke. "Mrs. Lovejoy" is a character (the minister's wife) on The Simpsons animated TV show, who repeatedly uttered that line in some episode. The show's point was to lampoon such censoristic know-it-all busy-bodies, and that was my point in quoting it. The mon in Fond du Lac seemed all too similar to the cartoon Mrs. Lovejoy to me.

    By the way, I'm not in the right demographic to read your work, but that is one GREAT title!!! When my daughter was in middle school, she had an inordinate fondness for tearjerker novels that I referred to as "dead teenager" books.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sorry Jet! I should have caught the reference...I guess I've been a bit on the defensive the last couple of days!

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Amiable fill someone in on and this post helped me alot in my college assignement. Say thank you you as your information.

    ReplyDelete