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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 18606
[Art/Music/lit]
Date Posted:
10/2/2007
9:20:44 am EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 7,055
RSS: 16,868
Comments: 11
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Thieves Try Do-It-Yourself Censorship
Author: Dieter Bradbury Source: Blethen Maine Newspapers
Title: THIEVES TRY DO-IT-YOURSELF CENSORSHIP
At the public library in Mount Vernon, someone waltzed off with the "Kama Sutra."
Copies of "What's Happening to my Body?" have vanished from Penquis Valley Middle and High School library in Milo.
Missing from the Lincoln Middle School library in Portland is a copy of "It's Perfectly Normal."
All three books deal with the subject of human sexuality, and all are sharing the spotlight with works on other controversial subjects this week during Banned Books Week.
Sponsored by the American Library Association and other groups, the annual event is designed to raise awareness of efforts to restrict access to books through censorship or other challenges. Libraries across the country will mark the week with special displays, public readings and other activities.
Books on sex, paganism or witchcraft and other potentially sensitive topics have a habit of disappearing from libraries.
Additional Article Link: [Click HERE]
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Community Thoughts: There are 11 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Hitler Must Be So Very Proud... | Oct 5th. at 12:53:08 am EDT
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nasionnaich (Stanchfield, Minnesota) - Email Me
Yes, I did say HITLER must be so very proud. And that is exactly what I meant to say.
Those who steal books from a library -- any library -- for any reason are thieves. Those who do it as a way to limit access to the book they have stolen ("Oh, this book is far too lurid for anyone to see it. I simply must prevent anyone seeing it!") are Nazis -- because Hitler's Nazis went around burning books simply because of their content and/or subject matter.
Remember folks, that Galileo was censored, not because he was wrong, but because the Church did not want the public to know certain things....sort of like today's Hypocrite Christians -- and Hitler, who happened to claim that he was "doing God's work".
Ask one of those Fundie Christians sometime if there is even one mention in their Bible of Jesus instructing his followers to burn, or even censor, any books -- let alone STEAL one.
----nasionnaich
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| Make Them Replace It X2 | Oct 3rd. at 9:56:22 am EDT
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Zianna Elanesse (Lusby, Maryland) - Email Me
The lady who stole the books then sent the checks should have to replace the book with 2 copies. If someone had to pay to have 2 copies purchased to replace the one they removed, they would soon give up any attempts to destroy or steal a book from the library as it would clearly increase the availability of the book at their expense. The fundies don't want people reading because they may learn to think for themselves and not accept the Bible as the answer to every question in life.
Blessed Be.
Zianna
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| Reading- A Maligned Gift. | Oct 2nd. at 9:02:01 pm EDT
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
Books are stolen for a variety of reasons including censorship. One of the reasons I went to the library was so that I could find the books I wanted to keep, then went out to buy them at the bookstore if I could.
Those that steal wanting copies without having to buy them are usually too lazy and too cheap. Those that steal them to prevent others from reading them are akin to Hitler since they are promoting censorship- and those who deliberately damage and deface them are vandals and nearly all of the above do not deserve a library- at all.
Reading, it seems is a much maligned gift, one we can not take for granted. There's too many out there that would prefer one couldn't read at all.
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| When I Was A Kid... | Oct 2nd. at 3:21:17 pm EDT
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Paul the StormWalker (TUCKER!, Georgia) - Email Me
...growing up in Painesville, Ohio, i liked nothing better than reading. When I was in 3rd grade my class was put through an experimental program to help us learn to read faster - it worked for all of us, but I really got into it. I had read everything in the school library that was even remotely interesting, and then found the Morley Library downtown.
It was everything a library should be - built of heavy thick stone and quiet and a little dim in the corners, with pools of silence that seemed to reach out muffle sounds above a whisper. I was in seventh grade and could ride my bike to it, and about once a week I would grab my newspaper bag and go.
The first few times the librarians were a little surprised that I was checking out 8 or 10 books, and even more surprised when I brought them back in a week or ten days and had read them all. After a few months they pointed out that I could go into the Adult section and check out books there, too. It wasn't restricted, just most kids my age didn't read as much or as deep.
After I had found my quota of science-fiction or mysteries or adventure stories, I would explore into the non-fiction sections, and that is where I discovered books that talked about sex and what people did and why. I was too embarrassed to check them out - those librarians were both at least 100 years old, and I just couldn't face them. So I would hide those particular books in the bottom of my bag, and never let them know I had them. A few days or weeks later I would slip them into the "return" box out front of the building, and then I would go in and return the books I had legitimately checked out at the return desk.
I always returned the books - I think that stealing a book from the library and keeping it is one of the few sins that actually merit time in hell.
But I bet a lot of those books are removed by kids who want or need the information and are too embarrassed to check them out. And then, instead of returning them they just toss them.
Books aren't much respected by most kids today. Or most adults, either.
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| Laughable | Oct 2nd. at 1:17:46 pm EDT
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Young Coyote (W. Hempstead, California) - Email Me
So they steal the books, in a (stupid) attempt to keep it out of other people's hands...only to bring more attention to the written work by causing controversy. Yeah, good job with that "censorship" there. I'm sure people will NEVER be able to find those books again. (I'm assuming they've never heard of Amazon.com)
I bet the lady that stole "What's Happening to my Body?" was very offended by the "pornography"...but she couldn't turn away from the pages.
It's amusing to watch people repress their desires to the point of lunacy.
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| I Never Understood... | Oct 2nd. at 12:07:25 pm EDT
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Vema (Riverside, Missouri) - Email Me
...why they don't just put all the books that get walked off with or defaced in a special section at the front where they can be watched over. It could be it's own little "Controversial" Section, and be divided into Fiction, Non-Fiction, Reference, etc. within those shelves.
Of course, since I'm not a librarian, there may be a very good reason why they can't do that. Still, at least that way, if someone wanted to remove the book, they'd have to check it out, which would mean they'd have to pay for not returning it, which would mean they'd be able to replace the book.
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| Librarians | Oct 2nd. at 11:30:18 am EDT
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Fred Lawrence (Kansas City, Kansas) - Email Me
I've found that librarians are some of the biggest supporters of our right to read anything. A few months ago, I put a hold on Christopher Hitchens' book, "God Is Not Great", and the librarian agreed with me when I came out in favor of the First Amendment. And this is in Kansas! Actually, I'm not in the least surprised at her reaction.
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| This Is Nothing New | Oct 2nd. at 10:52:46 am EDT
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stalkingwolf (Bullhead City, Arizona) - Email Me
When we lived in Las Vegas ( 90 - 96) So many
" occult" books were being defaced, destroyed, and stolen that the libraries finally pulled them all from
the public shelves. They made them reference only,
locked them in reference libraries, and they could only be accessed with library personell present at all times. Which meant they could only be viewed at times when the library had enough people on the floor
to dedicate one to " hold your hand" . If the Supervisor on duty was a fundie you had about the same chance
as a snowball in vegas in august of getting access.
As a side note some of the people doing the defacing were ballsy enough to leave their business card in the books, yet nothing was ever done.
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