Jun 15, 2009

In today's little tidbit of absolutely appalling news, or, people don't get that Shelf Monkey wasn't meant to be taken seriously.....

This may be the most disgusting thing I've heard all week, but then again, it's only Monday, and I'm sure another all-out assault on common sense by Glenn Beck/Sarah Palin/Sean Hannity/take-your-pick-they're-all-the-same is just around the corner.

From The Guardian:
In a scene which appears to have been lifted straight out of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, a group of Christians in Wisconsin has launched a legal claim demanding the right to publicly burn a copy of a book for teenagers which they deem to be "explicitly vulgar, racial [sic], and anti-Christian".

The offending book is Francesca Lia Block's Baby Be-Bop, a young adult novel in which a boy, struggling with his homosexuality, is beaten up by a homophobic gang. The complaint, which according to the American Library Association also demands $120,000 (£72,000) in compensatory damages for being exposed to the book in a display at West Bend Community Memorial Library, was lodged by four men from the Christian Civil Liberties Union.
...
The legal challenge follows a lengthy campaign by some West Bend residents to restrict access to teenage books they deemed sexually explicit from library shelves, which was eventually thrown out at the start of June."
I can't even begin to describe how disgusted I am at this.

Thanks to Bookninja for the info.

4 comments:

Remi said...

I've mulled this over and I cannot leave a comment about this without resorting to a string of expletives punctuated by candid observations on the branchless nature of these people's family trees.

Forget burning books. Let's burn the idiots and keep the books for those who know how to use them.

James Redekop said...

The complaint [...] also demands $120,000 (£72,000) in compensatory damages for being exposed to the book in a display at West Bend Community Memorial Library

Anybody else, on reading "exposed to the book", picture these guys as crossing their arms in front of their faces and screaming, "Ahhhh! It burns, it burns!"?

Of course, I have a similar reaction to these idiots.

James Redekop said...

Oh, and speaking of burning books: Happy Bloomsday!

Nick said...

Sometimes I hate this side of the border. No kidding.

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