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#166 | |
Blueberry!
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The whole thing started because of the person complaining about the books being anti-Bible. Reading this thread, I thought the whole issue centered on that, and that was the beginning and end of the debate. However, that is not at all the reality of the situation.
I highly recommend a reading of the article. Specifically the statements about the procedure and decision on removing the books. It had just about nothing to do with religion (contrary to the suggestion of most of this thread). Quote:
Every society has morals. It looks like there were specific morals applied to these books, and they were removed. Certainly in that regard, morals can either be a catalyst from, or overlap with, religious beliefs. But the fact of the matter is morals exist, and they made a decision based on said morals, not the religious source of those morals. I oppose banning books. But I do not personally see this as book banning. It is either delaying children from reading the books due to "age-appropriateness"; kids can read the books later when they are more mature. Or, if parents individually decide a book is okay, they can allow their kids to read the book now. I find this a perfectly fair solution. And I do not see how this comes anywhere near to "book burning" in any form. -Pie |
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#167 | |
Loves Ellipsis...
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#168 |
Reading is sexy
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#169 | |
Guru
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Because, you know, government officials are always utterly honest and pure of intention. They would NEVER lie to cover up obviously unconstitutional behavior. Right? |
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#170 |
affordable chipmunk
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We have a Christian co-worker here. Basically, he doesn't emit opinions, don't talk to anyone and in general just keeps locked inside himself in his rosy magical land away from the real world we tread...
well, I'm being unfair with Christians. He may be locked in the Bible, but how many of us are locked in alienating games, Famebook, Apple and other ego trips? There's so much choice out there for soul salvation in one form or another that people just hang out with those in their circles. Contrary opinions are just filtered away with a button. "Haters gonna hate" |
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#171 | |
Séduisant
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![]() Edit: The letter of complaint probably ended with "What would YouKnowWho do?". Last edited by SCION; 08-01-2011 at 04:24 PM. |
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#172 |
Loves Ellipsis...
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I have a healthy amount of skepticism but can we all admit that no human is perfect?
If we can do that, we can take these school board members at their word: They wanted not to look at these books in isolation. "In a perfect world" we would have everything open to everyone. But this is not a perfect world and I think that they did a great job with what they had. Last edited by MrsJoseph; 08-01-2011 at 04:23 PM. Reason: spelling *sigh* |
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#173 |
Séduisant
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I take public statements with a grain of salt. Too many reasons to cite from a historical perspective.
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#174 |
Wizard
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I, personally, would like to thank the Republic school board for inspiring me to read Slaughterhouse-Five. I finished it last night, and it was awesome!
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#175 |
Coffee Nut
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It appears that the reasons were well supported on paper (and thanks for including some of the original article text). However, before all traces of skepticism can be erased, the following points should be addressed, hypothetically at least for the sake of completeness:
What was the "task force?" Who chose or appointed the "task force?" Who was eligible and included in the "task force" - parents, students, teachers, librarians, clergy, etc.? ![]() Who determined the definition of "age appropriate," and who applied the definition to a student body of 4,500 students? It appears that the school board made the decision, not the task force, which harkens back to the original point of composition and control. ![]() I can understand, if a majority of parents from a specific class objected to the book being studied as a lesson, it might be excluded from that class. I do not understand having the book(s) in question completely removed from the school library. That's all from this keyboard. I disagree that removing the books from the library is not the same as book burning. If the book is no longer available it makes no difference where it went or how it was disposed. To remove the book from the library, aside from the question of using the book as study material, assumes that not one of the 4,500 students, many of high school age, are "age-appropriate" to the material. That is censorship by the school, the question of being "right or wrong" notwithstanding. Back to my salty old Viet Nam war novel -- which no doubt would be censored by that school board as well, due to its realistically explicit language - language which would have been heard by young soldiers of high school age drafted in the 1960's and killed by the thousands during military service. ![]() |
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#176 |
Loves Ellipsis...
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This starting to be funny, actually.
So, the general consensus is: 1. That the community doesn't have any right to say if a book for school children that they pay for offends them 2. That the school board has no right to re-visit the books that they teach at particular ages and 3. That the school board members - who says that they did not look at more than what they consider age appropriateness - are lying Ok, are we all on the same page? |
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#177 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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![]() So, with it so fresh in your mind... can you post some thoughts on what parts you think might be construed as age inappropriate for 14,15,16,17 year-olds? Possibly some chapter references? I'm genuinely curious and it's been so long since I've read it. Maybe I should just break down and read it again, but I'm still calling "silly" on this decision. There has to be countless books in their library that are more age inappropriate than this one. The language, violence and sexual content claims just don't jive with me. It may look and sound like a perfectly valid review of a book that's probably been on their shelves for 30+ years, but I certainly don't buy it. A unanimous decision? What were the missing members opinions? Why weren't they there to vote on it? Sure smells like "spin" and "damage control" to me. |
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#178 | |
Blueberry!
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The majority of posts I read here assumed that fundamentalist religious beliefs were the issue, period. However, this is against the statements made in the article; it specifically states such beliefs were not at issue in the decision. So you really should not be asking me how I know, but rather all the people posting attacks against fundamentalism. There is no evidence presented that fundamentalist beliefs were at fault; indeed, evidence is that it's entirely the contrary. -Pie |
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#179 | ||
Blueberry!
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I, personally, do not favor removing the books from the library. However, I still do not see it anywhere near the same as destroying the books in a public manner and encouraging others to destroy the books as well. Quote:
And remember, from the article, if the parents said the book was okay, the student could read the book. As stances go, this isn't what I'd call hard-lined by any means! -Pie |
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#180 | |||
Coffee Nut
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I have no quarrel with their perceived "right" or even their legal right to pick and choose their library contents. I'm simply saying that I believe that the literary interests of 4,500 students, of which perhaps 1/3 were high school age, were not being fairly considered by censorship. As I stated above in a previous post, I hope the specific titles were broadly and universally made available to parents in the interests of seeking them at alternate sources. There are 4 copies of Slaughterhouse 5 in my little public library. Perhaps I should picket my library, paid for with my property taxes, to destroy those books because adolescent patrons have potential access to them, because I don't think they are age-appropriate to all patrons ... |
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