Library fight riles up city, leads to book-burning demand - CNN.com

AmyGlen · Jul 31, 2009

Chazemataz said:
And finally, the book they're most upset about Baby Be-bop is about a black gay teen who is bashed to the point of near-death and deals with being persecuted in his own town. Perhaps the most ironic thing is that they claim this book is dangerous to read.

I've never read Baby Be-bop but I have read other books in that particular series. In the first book of the series (which Baby Be-bop is a sequel to) the teenage protagonist Weetzie decides that she wants a baby but her live-in boyfriend refuses to have a baby with her. She then decides to have a baby by having a threesome with her gay best friend and his lover. They have a threesome and she gets pregnant and this is seen as a beautiful, wonderful thing by the author. Great message for teenage girls there. Honestly if Baby Be-bop is anything like this book then I don't blame parents for being annoyed by its inclusion in the YA section.

Phylogeny · Aug 1, 2009

Ok, must be me but.....aren't most library books usually accessible to ANYONE regardless of age? I started attending the public library at the age of 8 and was never restricted by the books I checked out. I began checking books out at the 'adult' section when I was around 12-13. (They never shelved the Star Trek books in the YA section!) Just because the librarian places the book in the adult section, doesn't stop children of any age from getting at it so this entire argument about reshelving books is useless.

And what are these 'sexually explicit' books found in the YA section? Are they books on human sexuality? Child abuse? On gays coming out? Do they have rape themes? Do they talk about sex trafficking? Or....are they, you know inappropriate content. 'Cause inappropriate content has explicit sexual content, those other ones most probably are not.

And most kids already have barriers in place to prevent them from reading inappropriate books. They're called parents.

Supernaut · Aug 1, 2009

ACougar said:
This shall not come to pass! I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor. The dark fire will not avail you, the books shall not burn! Go back to the shadow. You shall not pass!

Know that the books suffered greatly at the hands of their host. Who would have thought that books so small could endure so much fire and burning. But they did liberals! They did!

It takes more to save the books than a broken Elvish blade!

ACougar · Aug 2, 2009

A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken; the crownless again shall be king and not even the fires of Mount Doom will keep us from replacing any book burned with 10 more like it.

The stories contained within the pages of books are art, and art is magic... magic can not be destroyed it can only be transmuted. Aleady before the first book is burned a new story pits those who love art and liberty against those who prefer conformity and fear.

RevSJamison said:
Know that the books suffered greatly at the hands of their host. Who would have thought that books so small could endure so much fire and burning. But they did liberals! They did!

It takes more to save the books than a broken Elvish blade!

flicka · Aug 2, 2009

I don't know how it's decided which books go where, if it's done library by library or by a universal coding system.

I do know that if they had one list, then doubled it, they are going out of their way to find things to be offended by which tells me they are more interested in some kind of personal glory than anything else. Who the heck appointed THEM to decide anything? I could make a list, you could make a list, every list would be different KWIM? That's why we have librarians. We don't have to agree with how everything is done, but that doesn't mean it's being done wrong.

Thekla · Aug 2, 2009

Kilgore Trout said:
It's the parents' job to monitor their children's habits; it's the library's job to provide information. No one has the right to dictate what someone can or cannot read. If these parents don't like what their library has to offer, they shouldn't take their kids there -- or, they should start their own library! Demanding that the library take modern classics like Perks of Being a Wallflower and others out of the hands of kids who could benefit from them is insane.

Given your user name, you are indeed required to say something on this issue

ACougar · Aug 2, 2009

I suspect the intent was to create an adult or restricted section where those under a certain age could not enter or access books without parental permission... otherwise, why bother?

Phylogeny said:
Ok, must be me but.....aren't most library books usually accessible to ANYONE regardless of age? I started attending the public library at the age of 8 and was never restricted by the books I checked out. I began checking books out at the 'adult' section when I was around 12-13. (They never shelved the Star Trek books in the YA section!) Just because the librarian places the book in the adult section, doesn't stop children of any age from getting at it so this entire argument about reshelving books is useless.

And what are these 'sexually explicit' books found in the YA section? Are they books on human sexuality? Child abuse? On gays coming out? Do they have rape themes? Do they talk about sex trafficking? Or....are they, you know inappropriate content. 'Cause inappropriate content has explicit sexual content, those other ones most probably are not.

And most kids already have barriers in place to prevent them from reading inappropriate books. They're called parents.

lazor · Aug 2, 2009

neocon said:
not your community and hence NONE of your business.

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me--
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

morningstar2651 · Aug 2, 2009

The funny thing about censorship is that our imaginations tend to be much more twisted than what was actually censored. A practical example is the people that have never read the Harry Potter books but can explain at length how Satanic they are. (In spite of the books being written by a Presbyterian)

nolongerhome · Aug 3, 2009

neocon said:
Hmmmmm, there are few to no christian fundementalists in your country and the satanic verses deals with islam. Kid I think you are making stuff up to rattle the adults.

There are plenty of Christian fundamentalists in Australia. We even export them to the US - Ken Ham - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kind of ironic that you have no idea what you are talking about when you are accusing someone else of making stuff up...

EnemyPartyII · Aug 3, 2009

nolongerhome said:
There are plenty of Christian fundamentalists in Australia. We even import them to the US - Ken Ham - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kind of ironic that you have no idea what you are talking about when you are accusing someone else of making stuff up...

Export... we EXPORTED Ken Ham, and good ridance. We IMPORT Mormons.

nolongerhome · Aug 3, 2009

EnemyPartyII said:
Export... we EXPORTED Ken Ham, and good ridance. We IMPORT Mormons.

Serves me right for posting in between work

Supernaut · Aug 5, 2009

ACougar said:
A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken; the crownless again shall be king and not even the fires of Mount Doom will keep us from replacing any book burned with 10 more like it.

The stories contained within the pages of books are art, and art is magic... magic can not be destroyed it can only be transmuted. Aleady before the first book is burned a new story pits those who love art and liberty against those who prefer conformity and fear.

Gone are the days of books. They shall burn in the fires of industry! They will be burned with the oil, wood, and flame of the orc.

Library fight riles up city, leads to book-burning demand - CNN.com

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