# Are some parents really that DENSE! Stupid ass book banning Parents! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 14, 2005, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-parents-really-that-dense-stupid-ass-book-banning-parents/321677 "2005-09-14T22:27:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-parents-really-that-dense-stupid-ass-book-banning-parents/321677/101 "2005-09-16T19:05:08Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > …and demonstrate how to rig toilet seats to spray ketchup when someone sits on one. Oooh, do tell! ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-parents-really-that-dense-stupid-ass-book-banning-parents/321677/102 "2005-09-16T19:12:57Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > Oooh, do tell! No kidding! Where others see “modeling bad behavior” it would seem that I see "teaching valuable life skills). ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-parents-really-that-dense-stupid-ass-book-banning-parents/321677/103 "2005-09-16T19:15:41Z")
Quick answer: It’s called a “squishy,” and was introduced in _The Adventures of Captain Underpants vs. the Bionic Booger-Boy,_ or something along those lines. 1. Get two ketchup squeeze packs. 2. Find an unattended toilet. 3. Lower the seat. 4. Bend the ketchup packs in half, and place them under the seat’s forward cushions so the bend is facing outward. 5. When victim sits on the seat, the packs will erupt, spraying ketchup on the victim’s legs. Hilarity ensues. And to be fair, this wasn’t just a gratuitous prank that the author inserted – a variation of the trick was later used (in the _next_ book, mind you) to defeat a pair of rampaging giant bionic boogers from space… ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-parents-really-that-dense-stupid-ass-book-banning-parents/321677/104 "2005-09-16T19:17:23Z")
> [@](#): > > I am curious about the quotes on the posters offered on that site. Is the text reproduced elsewhere that is more easily read? Here? [http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwkit/adultposter/adultposter.htm](http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwkit/adultposter/adultposter.htm) That’s about as good as it gets, I’m afraid; I can email the quotes to you if you like, though. (I didn’t do the website so I can’t just add the quotes. It’s a good idea though.) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-parents-really-that-dense-stupid-ass-book-banning-parents/321677/105 "2005-09-16T19:25:52Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > That is the dumbest possible reason for deciding which books to read. No, the dumbest possible reason for deciding which books to read is “They’re on the best-seller list!” followed by “I heard there’s a dirty word on page 114, tee-hee,” and “they read it on Oprah’s book club.” Sorry, Oprah. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-parents-really-that-dense-stupid-ass-book-banning-parents/321677/106 "2005-09-16T19:31:17Z")
Also, it does my irony-lovin’ self good to see that _The Handmaid’s Tale_ made that list of challenged books. Lemme guess who objected to that one… ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-parents-really-that-dense-stupid-ass-book-banning-parents/321677/107 "2005-09-16T19:32:21Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > No, the dumbest possible reason for deciding which books to read is “They’re on the best-seller list!” _snip_ So very, very true. _bows head to Marley23_ ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-parents-really-that-dense-stupid-ass-book-banning-parents/321677/108 "2005-09-16T19:36:35Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > No, the dumbest possible reason for deciding which books to read is “They’re on the best-seller list!” followed by “I heard there’s a dirty word on page 114, tee-hee,” and “they read it on Oprah’s book club.” > > Sorry, Oprah. 😉 Yep, I’ll second the Oprah Schtick. I hate to see a book go to Oprah. I read **The Contenders** just because the auther told Oprah to stuff it - when she picked his book to be on her list. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-parents-really-that-dense-stupid-ass-book-banning-parents/321677/109 "2005-09-16T19:39:30Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > Here’s a list from a [Christian Science Monitor](http://csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/durableRedirect.pl?/durable/1998/05/19/p55s2.htm) article from 1998: > > Further updates as developments warrant. I notice a lot of those have ‘conflicted with values of community’ as the reason for being banned/challenged. So anytime a character in a book does something that is not the same way everyone else in the book does it, it’s suddnely a bad book? So Aticus Finch on ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ is a horrible person because he _dared_ to defend a black person, in a town where they were all seen as vile trash? (Please tell me that’s what the book is about…I haven’t read it in nine years.) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-parents-really-that-dense-stupid-ass-book-banning-parents/321677/110 "2005-09-16T20:15:40Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > I notice a lot of those have ‘conflicted with values of community’ as the reason for being banned/challenged. So anytime a character in a book does something that is not the same way everyone else in the book does it, it’s suddnely a bad book? So Aticus Finch on ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ is a horrible person because he _dared_ to defend a black person, in a town where they were all seen as vile trash? The obvious assumption is that racists want the book banned, but I think it’s equally possible that some people are horrified that racism is depicted in the book, so they don’t want Sonny and Daughter exposed to the awful people who think that way. Even though bigotry is so thoroughly repudiated by the book. There are many kinds of idiot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-parents-really-that-dense-stupid-ass-book-banning-parents/321677.md?page=5)