--- Ignorant puritanical morons abound.

--- Ignorant puritanical morons abound. In Colorado this time. Scroll down to the bottom for the original story.

“The Cat Who Killed Lilian Jackson Braun: A Parody” and
“Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture,” will
remain on the shelves of libraries run by the Weld Library District.
But members of the board still are considering an objection to a book
that has explicit depictions of sexual development during puberty. That
book, “It’s Perfectly Normal: A Book About Changing Bodies, Growing
Up, Sex and Sexual Health,” is by Robie H. Harris and talks about
sexual orientation, birth control, sexual abuse and cartoon panels show
biological functions such as egg fertilization. The objection was
raised by Evans resident Jeannie McAllister, a 33-year-old mother of
four. She said she usually screens her kids’ library books but she
missed this book in a stack her children brought home. Later she was
horrified to see the book her 8- and 5-year-olds had been flipping
through contained illustrations of nude people, including a couple
having sex. “I would call it mildly pornographic,” she said.
Oh, so Ms. McAllister drops the ball and suddenly it’s the
library’s responsibility? She admitted she missed the book in the
stack her children had picked up, so now the book should be banned. And
that’s what we’re talking about here---banning a book---a book that
might actually be helpful for other parents who might have a heck of a
time explaining the birds and the bees to their kids because this woman
dropped the ball. It couldn’t possibly be her fault that her children were exposed to illustrations of sexual intercourse: it’s the library’s
fault for having it on the shelf in the first place. There are two
separate issues with this type of book banning. The first would
obviously be the banning itself. It’s just wrong to ban any type of
book. Mein Kampf
is on book shelves worldwide. It was written by one of the few people
in this world who could actually be described as “evil” in a
literal sense, Adolph Hitler. It’s important that this book be on the
shelves, even though it’s an impressive example of hate speech,
because it shows us what a nutjob the man was; it shows us what not
to look for in a leader because we all know how successful Nazi Germany
was at their attempt at world domination. Just blindly banning a book
because one person finds it offensive robs the rest of us of the chance
to use our own judgment. The action effectively says, Take my word for it. You don’t need to read it. I deem it offensive, so you will too.
Well, no, maybe I won’t. I have my own intellect on which to rely and
my own sense of judgment to depend upon: I don’t need yours because
maybe, just maybe, we have differing concepts of what is and is not
valuable to know in this lifetime. The second issue with this book
banning is the subject matter of the book. As Michele
noted (hat tip), is that these kids will probably grow up with a warped
notion of sex. If cartoons depicting all sorts of natural biological
processes are deemed “mildly pornographic,” by these children’s
mother it makes you wonder what, precisely, would this woman
judge as hard core porn? Perhaps a video that the rest of the world
would describe as soft core? What is she teaching her children about
sex? Because, after all, she opened the door: if she’s going to tell
me what’s all right to teach children about sex, then she should have
to tell us what she’s taught her children about it. Which, you
guessed it, means she’s not only opened the door of criticism, but
that of her bedroom as well. She doesn’t have a leg to stand on in
this regard. She has to open the door now, so we know what is and isn’t all right by her standards and can arrange the library to her specifications..
Do you think she’s ever had an orgasm? It’s a valid question: if
she views sex as something that’s dirty, well, she may never have
received any pleasure from it and doesn’t think anyone else has,
either. Are her views about sex based in religion? Well, which religion
and what does it preach? Where do her kids think they came from? The
stork? I can understand wanting to shield young children from this type
of material while working under the assumption that kids should be kids
for as long as possible, but that’s really beside the point. She’s
not asking for the book to be moved to a spot behind the counter, where
access could be restricted; she’s asking for it to be banned
completely from the public library. She’s asking us to take her
word that this book is “mildly pornographic,” and let it be the
final word on the subject.
So, Jeannie, let’s hear it---and all of it, too. If we’re to take
your word for what is and is not pornographic, you’d better start
spilling the beans so we can understand why you have the position on
sex that you do. I want to know if you were ever abused, how you lost
your virginity and when, if you’ve ever tried out positions from the Kama Sutra
with your husband---or anyone else, for that matter. How were your
children conceived? Were you on birth control at the time? Any ooops babies in your clan? How well is your husband "situated"? Does he satisfy you? Or is he a wham, bam, thank you ma’am type of guy? {Ed. Yeah, this would be the part I deleted. My mother should only be forced to endure so much. Sorry Mom}

You can probably guess what Ms. McAllister’s reaction to those kind of questions would be. It’s none of your business. Well, I’m sorry to tell you, ma’am, it is my business if you want to dictate what kind of access I, or anyone else, should have to a book on sex.

Methinks she’d run the hell away from this debate quite quickly if someone were to pose this argument to her.

--- Ok, we have fun links from the husband today. He’s been a busy little surfer.

First off, ever wondered what the air velocity of an unladen swallow would be? Go here.

And if you don’t get that reference, just skip over it---it won’t make any sense to you.

Second, instead of silly Germans, today we have Russian dolts!
That’s a lot of vodka.

--- And that’s all for today, folks. It’s nice outside, so I’m going for a walk.

Posted by Kathy at November 1, 2003 03:45 PM | TrackBack