# Happy Banned Books Week!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [September 24, 2003, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443 "2003-09-24T01:12:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/1 "2003-09-24T01:12:43Z")
“The board of directors for the South Texas Independent School District is expected to decide tonight whether to ban two books — Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land — from the high school’s 10th grade English Advanced Placement curriculum.”
Ya see, a couple of parents of students at a freakin’ SCIENCE ACADEMY think Heinlein and Huxley are too freaky for their kids.
The school district is fighting to keep the books in, and I applaud them.
But what the fuck sort of parent places their child in a school like that, and freaks over a little non-erotic discussion of sex in futurist novels? Oh, yeah, the kind that [didn’t even read the books!](http://www.themonitor.com/NewsPub/News/Stories/2003/09/22/10642896312.shtml)
Bah.
---
### Author:  [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/2 "2003-09-24T01:22:35Z")
This cracks me up:
> [@](#):
>
> The books, part of the class’ summer reading list, may lead to “inappropriate sexual arousal of young teens,” parent Julie Wilde wrote in her complaint to the district.
Chrissakes, a stiff breeze leads to inappropriate sexual arousal of young teens. If that’s what she’s worried about she’s in for an uphill battle.
If I may paraphrase Sheriff Brody, she’s gonna need a bigger bubble.
---
### Author:  [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/3 "2003-09-24T01:28:22Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The books, part of the class’ summer reading list, may lead to “inappropriate sexual arousal of young teens,” parent Julie Wilde wrote in her complaint to the district.
:eek:
Does this mean there’s an _appropriate_ way to arouse teens?
---
### Author:  [@Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bren_Cameron_1)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/4 "2003-09-24T02:41:38Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Jack Batty \*
> \*\*This cracks me up:
> Chrissakes, a stiff breeze leads to inappropriate sexual arousal of young teens. If that’s what she’s worried about she’s in for an uphill battle.
>
> If I may paraphrase Sheriff Brody, she’s gonna need a bigger bubble. \*\*
True enough, although the thought strikes me that if any of these kids is whacking off to the sex in Brave New World or Stranger in a Strange Land, they’ve got more problems than banning books can take care of. I mean, sure it’s sex, but neither book strikes me as erotic in any way–and I was an inappropriately aroused young teen when I first read those books. (I could concentrate pretty well as long as I closed the windows and turned off the fans.)
---
### Author:  [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/5 "2003-09-24T08:21:03Z")
Sooner or later you have to accept that a teanager will come across views you disagree with, and need to be taught to consider things, and not automatically believe everything thing read in fiction.
I mean, do they realise _A Brave New World_ isn’t \*pro-\*Dystopia…?
---
### Author:  [@Thaidog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thaidog)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/6 "2003-09-24T10:26:32Z")
My mother’s bible study group was teaching that Harry Potter was a cult book and was evil…
One of the better reasons I don’t attend church anymore.
---
### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/7 "2003-09-24T11:53:33Z")
> [@](#):
>
> “We feel this is inappropriate for the ages of the students at (the) Science Academy or at any South Texas ISD High School,” she continued in her letter, specifically citing Brave New World. “This is pornographic literature and we do not feel it has a place in any school funded by taxpayer dollars.”
She (Julie Wilde, one of the complaining parents) has a vastly different definition of pornography than I do. Generally I don’t condone sending the goatse pic to ANYONE, but I do believe that she would be improved by viewing it. Or at least she’d have a much better idea of what pornography REALLY is.
I wonder what would happen if she read _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ and/or _Job, A Comedy of Justice_? Do you think her tiny little mind would explode?
---
### Author:  [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/8 "2003-09-24T11:56:41Z")
What the article doesn’t mention is that the books are the special “vibrator editions” of said novels.
---
### Author:  [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/9 "2003-09-24T11:57:14Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Thaidog \*
> \*\*My mother’s bible study group was teaching that Harry Potter was a cult book and was evil…
>
> One of the better reasons I don’t attend church anymore. \*\*
The fifth _Harry Potter_ is the book-of-the-month for my church’s Book Club this month. (Really!)
You can come to my church if you want.
---
### Author:  [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/10 "2003-09-24T12:08:18Z")
**Lynn** , you have inspired me. I think I’ll start by sending her the tubgirl image first…
Again, folks-- They want to BAN HEINLEIN AT THE SCIENCE ACADEMY!
It’s just so wrong, on so many levels…
---
### Author:  [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/11 "2003-09-24T12:17:45Z")
Somehow I find the thought of **Thaidog** attending church to be vastly amusing.
---
### Author:  [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/12 "2003-09-24T12:19:04Z")
Doesn’t anyone else think “ban” is the wrong word here, and is being used because of its inflammatory nature? These parents want to remove the books from the curriculum. Is any removal of a book from the curriculum an act of “banning”? What if, say, _A Tale Of Two Cities_ were on the curriculum, and it were replaced with _Oliver Twist_ because the latter was found to be better at teaching SAT vocabulary and critical thinking? Would they be “banning” _A Tale Of Two Cities_? The article makes no mention of students being forbidden from reading the books on their own, nor of the books being removed from libraries.
In any event, _Brave New World_ is great, but _Stranger In a Strange Land_ sucks so bad it deserves to be banned. Most. Overrated novel. Ever.
---
### Author:  [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/13 "2003-09-24T12:25:04Z")
Ah, today’s paper is out:
“In the end, the school board voted unanimously to keep Brave New World and Stranger in a Strange Land”
Wow.
The article I’m about to link to is fairly grim, however…[“I don’t think it’s reasonable to know before a child reads the book that they are not ready for that book,”](http://www.themonitor.com/NewsPub/News/Stories/2003/09/23/10643787012.shtml)
> [@](#):
>
> “The books are vulgar. They are educationally unsuitable. And they should be removed,” Darlene Medrano said.
Huxley.
Heinlein.
Science Adademy.
Apeshit Mom.
(sings) One of these things is not like the other…
---
### Author:  [@Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bren_Cameron_1)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/14 "2003-09-24T13:07:05Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Sophomore Heather Outland said she found the books to be pornographic and offensive.
> “I don’t feel that I should be carrying them around, much less be forced to read them,” Outland said. “I believe in the freedom to read. But I also believe in the freedom not to read. I don’t want to be forced to read these books if they go against my values and the values of the community.
This looks like pretty clear evidence that Heather isn’t intellectually ready for the Science Academy. Maybe it would be kindest to free her from confronting all those nasty ideas.
Does she realize how many people are laughing at her?
---
### Author:  [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/15 "2003-09-24T13:50:28Z")
I don’t know. I read Stranger in a Strange Land and, you know what? I think it may NOT be an appropriate book to assign to high school students.
Brave New World, on the other hand, is just silly.
---
### Author:  [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/16 "2003-09-24T14:01:47Z")
I can just imagine the crushing dissapointment of these students. Nothing makes you want to do something more than if your parents tell you it is full of filthy dirty pornography. I foresee a lot of outraged skimming while they look for the naughty parts.
---
### Author:  [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/17 "2003-09-24T14:17:34Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Sophomore Heather Outland said she found the books to be pornographic and offensive.
> “I don’t feel that I should be carrying them around, much less be forced to read them,” Outland said. “I believe in the freedom to read. But I also believe in the freedom not to read. I don’t want to be forced to read these books if they go against my values and the values of the community.
Is anyone else suspecting that maybe she thought she’d hit on a way of getting out of her assigned reading?
---
### Author:  [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/18 "2003-09-24T14:27:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I don’t know. I read Stranger in a Strange Land and, you know what? I think it may NOT be an appropriate book to assign to high school students.
>
> Brave New World, on the other hand, is just silly
I’m not sure what the difference is; both books contain some (incredibly mild by 2003 standards) sexual content, none of which is even remotely erotic.
As **Lynn** said, this silly Wilde bint doesn’t have the first clue of what pornographic literature really is. Now if the high school AP English class were reading **Justine** by the Marquis de Sade, **The Story of O** by Pauline Reage, or **Fanny Hill** by John Cleland, then she might have a reasonable basis of complaint. As it is, she sounds like yet another illiterate fundie mooing about the scary world outside the cozy confines of her church.
---
### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/19 "2003-09-24T14:39:36Z")
**Bren** , you left off the best part of that paragraph–the Orwellian conclusion:
> [@](#):
>
> This is not censorship, this is not banning. This is freedom.
---
### Author:  [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443/20 "2003-09-24T14:48:03Z")
I like this kids argument in support of keeping the books in the curriculum:
> [@](#):
>
> Ben Salinas, a junior at the Academy who had been praised for his calculator-creating skills earlier in the meeting, said the books should be read in their entirety, and not as a collection of sometimes-offensive paragraphs.
>
> “Is it right to censor our future generations? Can you as parents and teachers suggest that students should not be accurately taught about the society that you have created for them?” he asked, his voice rising with the passion of his argument.
>
> Based on the objections to the two books, he proposed a list created with the help of his fellow students of more than 30 other books that should be banned, including many of Shakespeare’s works.
>
> “Romeo and Juliet. It’s sexually explicit, with a double suicide where the main characters kill themselves,” he said while many of his supporters in the audience tittered.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-banned-books-week/203443.md?page=2)