Pixiepalace

Yay! New Doll stuff! Ok, first I have nine new stamps from Fractured Fairytales. The doll is a representation of Adialana from Sabrina’s shop at Eden Enchanted. There are also three new entries to the Inhabitants of Neverland contest from Eva. The contest is now closed!

I decided the last post didn’t fullfill our daily quota of “book things that piss Katie off”. This should just about cover it.

A conservative website called Human Events Online just came out with a list of “the most harmful books of the 19th and 20th centuries”. Some of the books on this list make sense. The Communist Manifesto, for example. I have no problem with this book, but given some of the events it inspired I can understand why it would be on this list. Some of the books on this list make no sense at all. The Feminine Mystique, for example. How is this book harmful? Because it convinced some women who hadn’t already figured it out that the world wouldn’t fall apart if they weren’t well-behaved little housewives? How does that rate alongside Mein Kampf? I totally don’t understand. This list seems like it’s just intended to supply a list of books that should be burned or banned, especially given that they listed the other books considered besides just the top ten and their scores for how “harmful” they were considered. I also find the list of “experts” they chose somewhat less than balanced. Of the fifteen experts, one is female. And she is one of the few names on the list without “Dr.” or “Prof.” before it.

Anyway, the list irritated me a great deal. If you want, you can read the list here.

I hate hearing about book banning. A lot of people have been unfortunate enough to have to hear my very long, very angry rants about the subject. I’m very sorry to all of those people, but it’s a really important subject to discuss and to be aware of. It’s a totally stupid thing that we do in the united states every day, something like 547 times last year - give or take. That’s more than one book a day. That’s insane. Why is it that we have no real problem banning books, but if you talk about banning guns you risk bringing hell and high water down on your head? When was the last time you saw a book shoot someone? I realize that books can be dangerous, but seriously, how dangerous could a book about a little boy and a man floating down the river on a raft really be? How about a book about a kid who goes to school to study magic? Or maybe the danger really lies in books of poetry about silly things by such horrible people as Shel Silverstein. Seriously, why do people do this? Do we think so little of our children (usually high school students) that we can’t trust them to think for themselves about issues that could prove very important to them in college and life? It’s disgusting and it pisses me off like few other things even begin to.

Anyway, there is currently a fight going on in Pennsylvania over a book called The Buffalo Tree by Adam Rapp. It’s a book set in a juvenile detention center and told from the point of view of a kid there. It’s intended for teenagers. Obviously this should be a light and fluffy read, right? Well, apparently it involves a fair about of non-so-acceptable language and some discussion of things like a boy becoming sexually aroused. It was being taught in one of the English classes at the high school where it is now banned. The banning is being contested and reconsidered this evening. Hopefully they will come to their senses and remove the ban. You can read the New York Times article about it here.

If you see instances of books being banned, please let me know.