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Re: Free Speech Challenged Once Again
Posted By: koalamom, on host 4.47.31.12
Date: Tuesday, September 23, 2003, at 22:43:43
In Reply To: Free Speech Challenged Once Again posted by Adam Bomb on Tuesday, September 23, 2003, at 13:02:10:

>
> The writer asks why taxpayers should support a county institution that he claims does not protect and even endangers children. >

> He says the issue is not one of censorship, but one of "community protection, moral judgment, and decency."
>
> I think it's deliberate PC-ness. If parents don't want their children to see certain books, they should at least keep them under supervision instead of going around pulling presumably offensive titles off the shelves.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> AB

Some random thoughts:

--I can understand why parents wouldn't particularly trust the ALA, who championed unfiltered internet access for children.

--Yes, parents should supervise their children. But did your mom walk around behind you reading over your shoulder every book you pulled out of the stacks? Especially when you got to be eleven twelve, and on up? I was a well supervised child, and though my mom didn't do that, I do recall her taking away a couple books she thought were too mature for me. But she would be surprised if she knew what I managed to get my hands on anyway...and that was 30 years ago, when there wasn't as much to worry about.
As a parent, it seems sometimes that the media environment is littered with landmines our children need to avoid. I would hope my library would assist us in that quest, not throw more in our path.

--I pulled a book out of my library's children's section to read. It was a collection of short stories, including one about a suicide and another one about a teenage boy who abused his mother because he knew no one else would take that abuse and still love him. (Ready for your bedtime story, kids?) I took it back to the library and told the librarian I did not think it was appropriate for children. He agreed, and relabeled it from "juvenile" to "young adult" and it was reshelved in a section away from the kids' stacks. I did not ask for it to be banned, nor did he did not accuse me of advocating censorship. It was just a reasonable transaction that left the children "protected" yet also left the book still accessible to adults.

koala"curious to know what titles were being banned"mom

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