Virginia high school banned “To Kill a Mockingbird” “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”

originally posted by: Annee

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Annee

I fully supported the Classics

...

This was a Hardy Boys book

Since when did the Hardy Boys get elevated to the same level as Samuel Clemens?

Well, it surprised me too.

It was quite a shock to read those words in a Hardy Boys story.

You ought to try the original Tarzan novel, if you want to be offended. Yipe. Even ol' Georgia me as a kid was sort of taken aback. Johnny Weissmuller it ain't.

originally posted by: jjsr420
I'm gonna leave that auto correct fail for all to see. To kill a MOCKINGBIRD. Not hummingbird lol!!!!

Is "To Kill a Hummingbird" the novel where we deal with the sexual orientation of Dill Harris as he comes of age?

a reply to: Bedlam

Hummingbird, Mockingbird, Finch. . . .

What difference does it make?

This isn't a book banning, is it? I mean, to me it just seems like the High School is removing these books from the curiculum and from their library.

The books will still be available at the public library, book stores, and wherever else. It's not like the police are coming to take them to the bonfire.

a reply to: Greggers

When the issues with bakeries and gay couples wanting cakes, the argument was that the gay couples could always go somewhere else. They weren't being "banned" from getting cakes, they just couldn't get them at specific locations.

When the confederate flag was banned from state grounds, people said it could still be bought elsewhere and flown other places.

Now some books are looking to be banned. Just at specific locations, you can still get them elsewhere.

When we allow selective banning of anything, we are pissing away our own freedoms.

But that's just my opinion. Support banning, book burning if you wish.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: Greggers

When the issues with bakeries and gay couples wanting cakes, the argument was that the gay couples could always go somewhere else. They weren't being "banned" from getting cakes, they just couldn't get them at specific locations.

When the confederate flag was banned from state grounds, people said it could still be bought elsewhere and flown other places.

Now some books are looking to be banned. Just at specific locations, you can still get them elsewhere.

When we allow selective banning of anything, we are pissing away our own freedoms.

But that's just my opinion. Support banning, book burning if you wish.

I don't think the wedding cake and confederate flag issues are related. Or at least, they are different in salient ways. They high school isn't bound by interstate commerce rules, nor is it limiting one's freedom of expression.

We're talking about a single high school, with a finite curriculum, who has made a decision to remove two books from its curriculum and replace it, presumably, with two others.

Are you suggesting that every book EVER adopted into the curriculum should have to stay there forever? It's going to be pretty hard to ever teach anything new.

originally posted by: DBCowboy

A Virginia high school has banned “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” because they use racial slurs.

The move comes after the mother of a biracial student at a Virginia school complained about the use of the n-word in the literature classics.

“I keep hearing, ‘this is a classic, this is a classic,’” said Rothstein-Williams, the white mother. “I understand this is a literature classic but at some point, I feel the children will not or do not truly get the classic part, the literature part – which I’m not disputing this is great literature. But there are so many racial slurs in there and offensive wording that you can’t get past that.”

iotwreport.com...



I fear for history. I fear for literature. For free expression.

History will be whitewashed better than the fence Tom Sawyer worked on. (to understand the reference, read the book)

You cannot censor/ban something just because you find it offensive.

I don't know how clear I can make it.

I would argue that hiding a book away and not reading/discussing it is what leads to not getting the classic part. Part of learning means being exposed to ideas that are uncomfortable now, and that's some of what these books do, and why they're classics.

The mom is concerned, but I think not teaching the books ultimately causes what she's scared of to come to pass.

a reply to: Greggers

The reason for the banning is because the 2 books offended some simpleton.

Are you justifying the moron?

what you want with your kid.

My kid will be reading only the modified versions until he is much older.

My children will read what they want. I allow them to make their own minds not screw them to any philosophy I have. If they have problem with any racism in books or movies they know to seek my help.

By your version of reality maybe we should ban the colour red or maybe even yellow so as not to cause offence.

God help us if your child using a crayon coloured a face in red

originally posted by: Martin75
a reply to: DBCowboy

And they wonder why kids can't deal with reality when they grow up....

Safe spaces, partipation trophies, etc
We aren't teaching them about the world....we are building false narratives.

I've been in college way too long. I hang out with a bunch of 22 year olds, they have no more love for safe spaces than you do. In fact, I'm not sure if the safe space at my school has ever even been used. I occasionally walk by the room out of curiosity, and it's always empty.

You're absolutely right about building false narratives though. They're built in school, they're built in the military, and in your free time the media invents new ones.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: Greggers

The reason for the banning is because the 2 books offended some simpleton.

Are you justifying the moron?

Presuming that the decision was made by the school board, and the school board has the authority to make the decision, and the parents in that community are okay with it, then what difference does it make what we think of it? It's not my kids in that school.

If you're asking if I would make such a decision -- no, I would not.

originally posted by: Pandaram
a reply to: DBCowboy

Free speach ok when u r adult.. as kids, no. Not ok.. dont you have enough school massacres.

Free speech prevents massacres. It leads to perspective and understanding between people. If you want to talk about massacres, I would say the ending of TKAM is more massacre inspiring than the n word, but that's not what people are upset over.

Another point:

To me, it boils down to why the school board selected that book to begin with. For a moment, let's forget which book we're talking about and WHY it's being removed. Make the book a generic ANYBOOK being removed for any reason.

If I'm on the school board, and some concerned parents come to me expressing a concern over a particular book (hell, let's say it's a book where genetically modified foods poison the world) I think the proper thing for the school board to do is not to dismiss the parents out of hand, but to ask:

1) Why are we teaching this book?
2) Is it possible to teach the same thing with a different book, as good as, or even better, than with the original book.

At the end of the day, we're trying to teach our kids things. Public schools are also interested in satisfying the demands of the parents in that neighborhood.

originally posted by: Pandaram
If is it offending, it should go.. this is not 1960 when racism is ok in America. Kids are stupid and use this words like its normal to use. Just like in the stupid book.

Isnt it isis flaqs are offencive to some btw?

So when are we going to ban rap albums and videos that contain this exact same slur?

originally posted by: everyone

originally posted by: Pandaram
If is it offending, it should go.. this is not 1960 when racism is ok in America. Kids are stupid and use this words like its normal to use. Just like in the stupid book.

Isnt it isis flaqs are offencive to some btw?

So when are we going to ban rap albums and videos that contain this exact same slur?

If you're offended, then don't listen to the albums.



But suggesting "not reading" to offended dimwits is probably a micro-aggression or something.

originally posted by: Bedlam

originally posted by: Annee

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Annee

I fully supported the Classics

...

This was a Hardy Boys book

Since when did the Hardy Boys get elevated to the same level as Samuel Clemens?

Well, it surprised me too.

It was quite a shock to read those words in a Hardy Boys story.

You ought to try the original Tarzan novel, if you want to be offended. Yipe. Even ol' Georgia me as a kid was sort of taken aback. Johnny Weissmuller it ain't.

Sounds interesting.

Back from the birthday party. Had time to think about this.

There are millions of books out there. Classics? Why are these 2 books classics?

I'm a progressive that chooses to move in a forward direction. I don't think I have a nostalgic bone in my body.

Do I want the education system forcing my child to read literature with racial slurs, and outdated belief systems? The answer is NO!!!!!!!!!!!!

And let's cut the Extremism Hitler Bull Pucky - - - these books are not banned or burned. They're readily available in the library, on the internet, etc.

a reply to: DBCowboy

The reason for the banning is because the 2 books offended some simpleton.

Are you justifying the moron?

The parent, Marie Rothstein-Williams, made an emotional plea at a school board meeting Nov. 15, saying the works had disturbed her teenage son, a biracial student at Nandua High School on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

“I’m not disputing this is great literature,” Rothstein-Williams said. “But there is so much racial slurs in there and offensive wording that you can’t get past that, and right now we are a nation divided as it is.”

She doesn't sound like a moron. She sounds like a concerned mother that means well. This doesn't make her right or wrong

They could have just said: Go away you moron and don't bother us

They could have said we're sorry but this is a standard part of our curriculum. If you want, your son can be excused from the assignment

I don't know why they've decided to humor her. I imagine it's hard these days, what with all of us being on each others last nerve and all - polarized to the point of no return. A little diplomacy and public relations can go a long way in a community I think

When our government starts telling us which news sources or publishers are legitimate and which are not, or which can operate or not - then we can worry

Hopefully this story turns out to be a non issue

originally posted by: DBCowboy

originally posted by: Annee

originally posted by: xuenchen

originally posted by: Annee

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: Pandaram

Censorship is a denial of freedom of expression.

And Freedom of Expression does have limits.

Stalin thought so too.

You still can't yell "Fire" in a crowded theater.

Hmmm, a book can't yell "fire" either.

It has to be actually, voluntarily read.

The poster is grasping at straws to simply save face. To suggest/imply/infer that Mark Twain or Harper Lee were racists is to show a strong naïveté. As a humorist and satirist, Sameul Clemens did more to expose and rebuke racism than any of his generation than Abe Lincoln. That's history. It's undeniable. This white mother is just a fire starter and needs attention - yes, I recognize the leap of a conclusion I made...but I believe it is obvious. Just as obvious as the antagonism the poster is attempting; Twain and Harper Lee penned seminal works of literature that helped expose the nastiness of racism and their target audience was their genius - children who could be raised with an awareness that wasn't afforded the previous generations. End of rant.

a reply to: BeefNoMeat

Nicely put!

originally posted by: Annee
There are millions of books out there. Classics? Why are these 2 books classics?

Because they're great literature. There's a difference between, say, "The Sun Also Rises" and "The Moon Pool", even though they were written less than ten years apart. One is great literature and one is pulp. It's not just the age of the novel.

Ironically, both books are powerful arguments against racism. I find it amusing that they're banning them because they have 'offensive language'.