BOOK BURNING - alive and well in 2008
http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2008/08/29/perfectlynormal-1.jpg
"Maine woman will do jail before returning "dangerous" book
By
Mary Kate Varnau
on September 2, 2008 1:55 PM"
...
"After checking out It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health, Karkos sent a letter to both libraries, informing them that she did not intend to return the book. She claimed that it violated the city’s obscenity ordinance and enclosed a check for $20.95 to cover the cost. Lewiston Library director Rick Speer returned her check, informing her that he would seek help from the police if she refused to bring back the stolen property.
That’s when he received a second letter: “The truth is the contents of the book in question leads to a lot of misery, pain, lack of freedom, and often death.”
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They used to burn books to keep people from being "corrupted" by the contents. These days, they just take them out of the library, permanently, so nobody can access them. (Guess this is done to reduce the "carbon footprint" of book burning!)
AC: I posted a pic - I'm learning. Thanks
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coming from the place where the moms protested shakespeare, I'm not at all surprised by this.
Hasn't Palin taught you anything? Information about sex is bad.
I know how people like that woman thinks. She's trying to go to jail so she can become a cult hero and get a speaking tour.
Hasn't Palin taught you anything? Information about sex is bad.
if our children learn about sex, they'll start having sex! ummmm.... i mean..... if our children learn about sex, our teenage pregnancy rate will rise..... ummmmm.... i mean..... abstinence only education works because thats how god instended it!
*sarcasm*
this book reminds me of a sex ed. video i watched from holland (i think). they talked about birth control, masturbation, oral sex, hand jobs (whatever those are actually called), intercourse, emotions, sexuality, abortion, plan b, how to say no, abstinence, acceptance of other peoples choices... if it had to deal with sex, it was in this video... and it was for 12 year olds. and they have a much lower rate of teen pregnancy and stds.
back to the book, i thought it was funny that in the article, they mentioned that after this whole ordeal MORE people checked out the book from the library.
Unfortunately, these stories are not unusual. If you look hard enough, you could probably find a new one like it every day. I used to work a library and my husband still does. The most common way people showed disapproval of books is defacement. Books about sex, books about Wiccanism or other non-Abrahamic religions, books about homosexuality, books about atheism....usually a patron would find them on the shelves with most of the pages ripped out, or notes written across the pages about sin. I'm sure that there were many more copies that were checked out and never returned like this story.
Librarians that I know and those that I have read about are true heroes defending first amendment rights. One of the libraries I worked out had a very conservative, Mormon woman as our branch manager (head librarian). When patrons complained about books that they believed should be taken off the shelves, she defended the books' right to be there with vigor--every time. I'm sure she herself disagreed with the content of those books and maybe wouldn't let her own children read them, but she understood the importance of having them available to those who may need or want them.
This is a great read for those who are interested in this topic:
http://jaslarue.blogspot.com/2008/07/uncle-bobbys-wedding.html
The American Library Association keeps lists of the most frequently challenged books in libraries. I'm reading the ones I haven't read already one-by-one. They are usually very thought-provoking, excellent books:
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.cfm
I know how people like that woman thinks. She's trying to go to jail so she can become a cult hero and get a speaking tour.
Oh and don't forget her own book deal. She will probably have enough overweening hubris to send that library a signed copy.
I know how people like that woman thinks. She's trying to go to jail so she can become a cult hero and get a speaking tour.
Oh and don't forget her own book deal. She will probably have enough overweening hubris to send that library a signed copy.
Yep, yep and yep! I whole heartedly agree with both of you!
Hasn't Palin taught you anything? Information about sex is bad.
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg312/4sakn01/rofl.jpg
Blog that is relevant to this thread and also to the Sarah Palin thread:
http://librariansagainstpalin.wordpress.com/