PISCATAWAY ?”The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” “Of Mice and Men.” And the entire “Harry Potter” series.Those books are among the most popular ? and arguably among the greatest ? books ever written. But next week they will be celebrated for belonging on another list: the most-challenged books in the country.”Banned Book Week,” an annual event organized by the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom, kicks off Saturday, Sept. 27, and continues through Saturday, Oct. 4. This year’s theme: “Closing Books Shuts Out Ideas.”Among the local libraries participating this year is the Piscataway Township Public Library. Lina Belkewitch, the library’s public-relations specialist, says the week is more about freedom than it is about censorship.”It’s about your freedom to read and freedom not to read it, too,” she said. “It’s your freedom.”In fact, attempts to ban books at local libraries are rarely successful, according to the library association. The books celebrated during “Banned Books Week” are books that most frequently have been the subject of challenges by local residents. A “challenge” occurs when a resident or group of residents attempt to have a book removed from the library’s shelves, generally due to concerns over graphic language, descriptions of violence or racism, or mature themes. When a resident challenges a book, the complaint can lead to a hearing before the library’s board of trustees, or even a court case.But Molly Newling, acting director of the Piscataway library, said she can’t recall a challenge ever getting to the hearing stage at her library. She said generally an explanation of the library’s decision by a librarian will abate complaints.”I can’t recall a time where we’ve had a major challenge,” she said. “Some people have a problem, and we explain it, and we usually fix it.”Piscataway is celebrating the week with a display highlighting books in the library’s collection that are frequently challenged at libraries across the nation.Sharon Rawlins, youth-services consultant for the New Jersey State Library in Trenton, said participation is high among libraries in New Jersey. Some even use yellow caution tape to decorate banned-book displays.
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Whenever I’m looking for a good classic book to read, I always get it from the banned book list. Some of my alltime faves have been banned in some place or other.
Shhh! dont tell Sarah Palin.
http://furtheradventuresofindigored.blogspot.com/2008/09/sarah-palin-and-bogus-book-ban.html
I wonder why the bible is not on the ban book list….
some good news
baptist preacher an candidate for president Chuck Baldwin came out strongly in favor of religious liberty for nonbelievers as well as believers.Baldwin is a conservative christian.
more off topic
why are the corporate leaders responsible for driving their companies into the ground not being held accountable.where were the board of directors,shareholders,regulators.this is obscene.
I’ve read _Huckleberry Finn_ , seen the play Of Mice and Men, and read the Harry Potter series and seen the Harry Potter movies. (I don’t think Daniel,Rupert and Emma look like Harry,Ron, and Hermione but I digress. . . ) I had to read _Huckleberry Finn_ in American Literature in college and I remember the class and the professor freely using the N word. Of course _Huckleberry Finn_ is banned not only for the N word but also because Huck is a little heathen. (I’ve also read Mark Twain’s _Letters From The Earth_ which is deliciously blasphemous). In 1989 I went out and bought _The Satanic Verses_ because a foreign dictator plus some American holy-rollers said I couldn’t. So– hurrah for banned books! I’m glad to read good news from Piscataway. Finally, I’m with kosher dilemma: the Bible should be a banned book.
QF,
Im well aware that palin didnt actually ban any books in AK but isnt it very telling that a public official would even ask how to go about this process?
“After her mayoral election, but before officially taking office, Palin asked the local librarian what would be her reaction if asked to remove books from the library. The librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, said she would resist any book removal. After taking office, Palin again asked Emmons during a city council meeting how one would go about removing or banning a book. Palin says it was a rhetorical question as she was new to the job and was getting requests from constituents to ban books.”
Dear irrelevance column,
I once watched a movie in a local theater that split my gut. It was called “Team America” and during a scene when two puppets were hiding the sausage, I found myself yelling out in glee, “Oh, that’s wrong”. But, then I bought the unedited version in which the two puppets not only pissed on each other but shit on each other as well.
I guess that if the older generation is trying to preserve the innocense of the young they should ban videos of World War II. That’s where people die for real and leave behind greaving families. Are those on the caution list?
NeoWolfe
Mark Twain’s irreverence is a beautiful thing. I’m presently reading Tom Sawyer with my 7 y.o. daughter. I was unsure that she would be ready for it but – wow! – is she loving it. Tom’s mischief in church really gets her giggling even though she has never been to a church service.
Another book which a segment of our society would love to see disappear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP2U0jmZjec
reason
Yes indeed. Fannie and Freddie should be bailed out with many stipulations and return as a government agency. It should have never been privatized! The rest of the troubled investment banks should be left for the buzzards. No bailouts for irresponsible borrowers, lenders or investment banks.
Washington Post reports today:
How much evidence does one need before they conclude that the GOP has turned into a cleptocracy?
Let’s see The Housing Ponzi Scheme has been a years-long slow motion train wreck but BushCo is suddenly crying that the sky is falling and we only have days or we will surely let pass our last best hope to save our beloved investment bankers. LOL. LOL. LMAO. LMFAO !!!! OK, now I’m weeping.
No, it’s not that telling. Apparently the local church in small town wasillica didn’t want a book about gay pastors in their library. Governor saw the concern of the people and enquired how something could be done about it and what the political cost would be. It turned out to be too much trouble for nothing and an infringement of freedom so she ended up not doing it.
OT…
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122212856075765367.html#printMode
So…”What do I know”…this is the kind of guy you support…?
Another Off-Topic:
Xtian busted for child abuse, but he was only following the bible:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,426522,00.html
Even more off topic:
Revered Christian Artifact Turns Out to Be Fake.
“The Chi-Rho Amulet, which bears an early Christian symbol incorporating the first two letters of Christ’s name in Greek, was found in a 4th-century Roman grave near the Somerset town of Shepton Mallet in 1990.
Tests carried out by Dr. Matthew Ponting from the University of Liverpool revealed that the silver used to make the cross is of 19th-century origin.
The test, using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), examined impurities in the metal.
It also established that silver used to make the cross and the pierced disc that bears the Chi-Rho inscription comes from two sources.”
Don’t these people have any sense of skepticism? I do enjoy however how they are not going to change the names in the town that are based off of a fake holy object though. Good stuff.
Comment from: Asemodeus
Don’t these people have any sense of skepticism?
Do you…?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1248079.stm
http://www.worthynews.com/news-features/national-geographic-missing-link.html
“Piltdown’ bird fake explained”
Oh noes! Science actually works and shows when something is a fake!
Call the presses!
Always makes me laugh hard when creationists morons use science to discredit science.
It’s the sort of hilarity you would expect from people who can’t stop lying so hard.
Science is a fairly reliable mechanism for keeping people honest in their claims about the nature of things. It is necessary to have such a process because people routinely fool themselves without it. Rarely, the correction is necessary because of intentional fraud.
To hold the self correcting nature of the scientific method against science reveals either abysmal ignorance, malicious falsehood or a combination of the two.
So because this one fossil was a fake then all transitional fossils must be faked, right? Archaeopteryx is a lie too, right? as are Sinosauropteryx prima, Ornithomimosaurs, oviraptorosaurs such as Caudipteryx, therizinosaurs like Beipiaosaurus, troodontids such as Sinovenator and Byronosaurus, the dromaeosaurs Microraptor and Sinornithosaurus,
Protarchaeopteryx, Alvarezsaurids, Yixianosaurus and Avimimus. All lies placed in the ground by Satan to test our faith, right? Jesus fucking Christ phreedum, the stupidity emanating from you is so concentrated that it burns.
I know that in your insufferable ignorant smugness you think that scientific knowledge is elitist but here is an article about some of the recent doscoveries from China that clearly indicate the evolution of birds from dinosaurs. This link is from Fox News so just maybe you will read it without thinking it has a liberal media bias:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,281833,00.html
Seems the faked fossil was more of a commercial fraud that fooled the media, than a scientific one.
Sort of like all those relics and shrouds and healing miracles that the Church has accepted down through the centuries. And no, the Saint’s ‘blood’ isn’t going to be scientifically tested any time soon. Too much of a commercial success, I guess.
McCain suspending his campaign to work on the economy is like Phreeky suspending his posts to work on science. Both would be more hindrance than help.
The more I read about Ayers, the more I think that there might be some hope for Obama. If he wins, hopefully he’ll be smart enough to put Ayers in the cabinet for the D of Education. Then, we won’t see as many children being left behind.
Maybe I’ll write him in for pres.
William Ayers should be wearing a suit all right – an ORANGE jumpsuit!
Ayers is nothing more than an unrepentant, America-hating communist. Pure and simple.
So is Bush. What’s your point?
$700B bailout? Hmmn, who’s gonna bail me out if I lose my job, car, house, ponies, dog, cats, and chickens?
She hears crickets chirping.
Cry4Turtles
Why, you will live on the dividends the American people rake in through their investments in our investment banking industry. /sarcasm off
We are going to by low and sell lower!
Cry4Turtles
Why you will live on the dividends the American people will rake in through their newly purchased shares in the investment banking industry. /sarcasm off
We are going to buy low and sell worthless!
A pre-post. Hum. How’d dat happen?
Banned literature all have one thing in common, ideas by free thinkers trying to open the eyes of, at least, the literate populace of alternate ideas that may conflict with the ideas of group in power.
Harry Potter is no different from Star Wars. Persons born with talents as witches or warlocks go to special schools in Harry Potter. People with special sensory cognition of “the force” go to special schools in Star Wars.
It’s an offshoot of science fiction, like “friday the thirteenth”, or any other supernatural horror flick.
We don’t go to the movies, nor do we read books to learn more about reality. We read stories to be entertained by being carried away to a fantasy world in which anything could happen. “Lord of the Ring” is a perfect example. Imaginary world where the equivelant of the devil nearly wins dominion over the world. On the backs of two of the humblest and least formidable creatures rests the fate of the world and win. A good story, but irrelevant to any debate about what is real. Banning any book, regardless if it is white supremecist bullshit cannot happen.
Anything short of a free press, and free expression of opinion is the first step toward a government equivelant to brainwashing, and having gone through one from a fundamentalist christian church, I am really avoiding an attempt at another one.
NeoWolfe
NeoWolfe,
I think I understand now. Having freed yourself from fundamentalism, you are somewhat intoxicated by being able to think freely. Some of your more grandiloquent posts could be the consequence of that experience.
And, it could explain why I, and someone else, thought you might be young.
Obeah,
Every time I read one of your posts, I think I have a clearer picture of who you are as well. But, I think it might be a mistake to think you see who I am.
But, here’s one more brushstoke in the picture you are painting of me in your mind. My childhood was all the hell you can imagine being raised in a fundamentalist Christian family. But, I embrace that history, because I learned not to lie, and I learned not to steal, and I learned not to judge a man by the color of his skin. Things I hold dear to this day that no one can take away from me.
But, the tough part is when I lost contact with my grandparents, my parents, my ex and my children because I rejected their religion. To my children I was portrayed as the “evil slave”, a monster trying to suck them all into destruction.
If I could change any of it, I wouldn’t, because thats when I saw Jehovah for what he was. I am a good man, but yet if I don’t subscribe and approve of his genocides, I don’t deserve to be among the saved. That’s okay with me. If he was real I would flip the bird at the sky and invite him to suck my wooden falic symbol.
It could be worse, I could be one of those people who don’t really understand who they are worshipping.
NeoWolfe
As I do not comment as frequently as you I would guess that your picture of me is incomplete. But then, nebulous or not, it don’t matter much. We are all the sum of the text, but we all add differently. You know who I am here. It is natural to go by best evidence. When something comes along to change the picture, it gets changed.
Even the Ignoramus would seem like a different person if encountered at the dinner table. Non of the acrimony between you and What would get quite so personal, unless it is your habit to be as lofty in person.
I don’t know who you are but you are who you are where you are, but here, you are a different are. AArrgh
Obeah,
You made this statement:
“Non of the acrimony between you and What would get quite so personal, unless it is your habit to be as lofty in person.”
By lofty, I assume you mean “arrogant”. Perhaps that is an accurate assessment. I try to be honest and not pull any punches when I look in the mirror, and I have no illusions that I am better than the rest of the world. But one thing I do know is that it is undeniable that sometimes I lash out when cooler heads should prevail. This is likely due to ADHD with comorbid oppositional defiant disorder. I do try to keep a lid on it, but like you said, maybe we become different people on the keyboard.
As far as recent clashes with What, I am mystified. I have read his posts in the past that were really good clear points. But, for example, when I was making a point about cutting edge science too often presenting theory as accepted fact, he stated that I did not understand what the theory was proposing, and did so in a way that I felt was demeaning. It pissed me off, because I am not a person inclined to offer an opinion on a subject with which I am unfamiliar.
Anyway, to you and all the other contributors here, if at times my comments have been inappropriate, I apologize. Where ever you go, you have to take yourself along.
NeoWolfe
NeoWolfe,
I do not mean arrogant. I mean elevated or grandiloquent. You may not intend to sound as you do. It may be that you are the complete opposite.
My recollection of your earlier posts was your tone of excitement, which I now interpret as being, pardon the expression, born again, coincidental with finding this blog. Gad-Zooks!, your name even suggests that you have a lofty opinion of yourself. Again, I may be wide of the mark.
And now, you throw in ADHD which only confirms my opinions. No one needs permision to express themselves in whatever manner they like. It is so very easy to be misunderstood on a blog. When confronted with epithets it is best to first clarify; if that doesn’t work, use the pottiest mouth available to you.
Obeah,
You said:
When confronted with epithets it is best to first clarify; if that doesn’t work, use the pottiest mouth available to you”
That was hilarious!!! Will the real potty mouth please stand up. Oh, wait, that’s me.
NeoWolfe
On the subject of book banning, I always recall a comment by the late, great Kurt Vonnegut that I read years ago.
I don’t have a cite but the remark was that he was always of two minds about efforts (and there have been many) to censor his works. On one hand he hated all such activity. On the other he loved the extra royalties generated by all the free publicity.
That’s a paraphrase, but I’m reasonably sure I have the gist of it.
wow people still try to ban books. that was like some 1980 footlose type stuff. that shoulf really be illegal. thats like the people in korea that cant watch certan tv channels and have limited internet access. when you let people censor books the story usually plays out like this.
the over protective christian radical patents say ” oh your book is courpting the youth” then they go out and kill some poor teacher (socrates) for teaching his kids how to think and ask questions. then the kids start rebelling aginst the magical book that tells the story of how a boy and his friends fight evil and possably save the world with the power of love. wait am i talking about harry potter or the bible?
what i am getting at is they are the same thing if you are going to ban the harry potter then ban the bible too because they are the same save some minor diffrences.
oh yeah hi everyone im Meow Moew and im new to the blog thing …. so yeah nice to meet u all