# Possible activist censor at my library! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 26, 2004, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-activist-censor-at-my-library/247180 "2004-05-26T14:39:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-activist-censor-at-my-library/247180/41 "2004-05-27T01:41:13Z")
> [@liirogue](#): > > Except I wasn’t _little_ little. And it was for fairly innocent books, like **Charlie and the Chocolate Factory**. Hell, I’m still not emotionally ready for that book! ---
**Author:** ![hardygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@hardygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hardygrrl)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-activist-censor-at-my-library/247180/42 "2004-05-27T02:45:07Z")
> [@Cheese Monster](#): > > When I worked at Waldenbooks, this fellow came in, bought every copy of LaVey’s Satanic Bible we had - several, I don’t know why - and tore them up right in front of us. Let me figure this out. He hated Satanists and didn’t want their message spread, but didn’t have a problem with buying their book, which _gives them money?_ :smack: Bright man - did he have a Post It reminding him how to breathe? ---
**Author:** ![MelCthefirst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MelCthefirst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MelCthefirst)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-activist-censor-at-my-library/247180/43 "2004-05-27T03:00:49Z")
Sounds like your library needs a Mr Bookman from the Sienfeld episode. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-activist-censor-at-my-library/247180/44 "2004-05-27T03:19:09Z")
> [@liirogue](#): > > Except I wasn’t _little_ little. And it was for fairly innocent books, like **Charlie and the Chocolate Factory**. Maybe she just thought it was out of your age group for reading ability? My mom got questioned when I wanted to check out _Black Beauty_ at age seven. She said something along the lines of “Oh, no. He can read it, and understand it.” I just commented because I think it’s perfectly fine for parents to censor a child’s reading to a certain point. (age of child, intensity of book, adultness of book, and so on) Oh, and if you think _Charlie_ is innocent, you really need to read it again! ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-activist-censor-at-my-library/247180/45 "2004-05-27T03:39:48Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > It happens with role-playing game books, too. I don’t think I’ve seen an actual AD&D rulebook on the library shelf in my entire life (33 years). They’re in the card catalog (now the computer database), but they just don’t exist on the shelves. > > The sad thing is that I can’t figure out whether it’s fundie loons deciding to save the children from eternal damnation or the damn kids who are too cheap to actually buy the books. It’s both, I think. I’ve heard people in bookstores say that they’re leaving, they just found out that this bookstore carries THAT KIND of books (D&D, RPGs, whatever). But then, I live in Fort Worth. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-activist-censor-at-my-library/247180/46 "2004-05-27T06:14:41Z")
**Jayjay** , it may well be both, but FWIW in my library anime magazines were always returned cut to ribbons, if at all, because the kids were clipping out all the pictures. (We kept them behind the desk and took driver’s licenses for them.) I dunno, maybe kinda the same thing. People can be amazingly selfish–and cheap. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-activist-censor-at-my-library/247180/47 "2004-05-27T07:28:24Z")
> [@Lynn Bodoni](#): > > It’s both, I think. I’ve heard people in bookstores say that they’re leaving, they just found out that this bookstore carries THAT KIND of books (D&D, RPGs, whatever). But then, I live in Fort Worth. Mrs Bdgr works at a borders books in Fort Worth…she has all sorts of storys about people… ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-activist-censor-at-my-library/247180/48 "2004-05-27T17:52:03Z")
> [@liirogue](#): > > When I was little, a librarian even discussed one of my choices with my mother, stating it might not be appropriate. When I was little (about 11 or so), a librarian refused to let me check out three books because they weren’t from the children’s section of the library. I had to get my mom to check them out for me. The books? They were a relatively unknown trilogy by an English author, called _The Lord of the Rings_. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-activist-censor-at-my-library/247180/49 "2004-05-27T17:59:28Z")
> [@hardygrrl](#): > > Let me figure this out. He hated Satanists and didn’t want their message spread, but didn’t have a problem with buying their book, which _gives them money?_ :smack: > > Bright man - did he have a Post It reminding him how to breathe? He probably bought French wine and poured it down the drain last year. :wally [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-activist-censor-at-my-library/247180.md?page=2)