# This kid is a hero. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 1, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499 "2009-09-01T15:52:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/41 "2009-09-02T21:09:41Z")
No, [this kid](http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-09-02-miss-athlete-hero_N.htm) is a hero. > [@](#): > > At 6:53 a.m. Tuesday, a 14-year-old girl boarded the bus and walked better than halfway toward the back. She reached into a flower-print bag and pulled out a chrome-plated .380-caliber semi-automatic handgun and began shouting and threatening the other students. > > Then Eulls, 18, did what made him highly recruited as a defensive end — he tackled her. Vaughan said the students both went down, and a second later, Eulls’ right hand shot back into view holding the weapon. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/42 "2009-09-02T21:22:08Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > The Canterbury Tales? When I was in High School Fr. Debosier read _The Miller’s Tale_ or was it _The Reeve’s Tale_? The milder of the two, about Nicholas and the “Second Noahe’s Floode.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/43 "2009-09-02T21:50:00Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > No, [this kid](http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-09-02-miss-athlete-hero_N.htm) is a hero. No. [This](http://chromatoast.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/hero-sandwich.jpg) is a hero. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/44 "2009-09-02T22:04:54Z")
Nothing by J.G. Ballard, Samuel Delany or Steve Keshner? Bullshit she’s a “hero.” And the Koran is not a work of “literary quality.” It is a religious text. I have (tried) to read it; it is just as boring as the Bible, which is to say, extremely boring. I think that one was thrown in there just to piss off Christians. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/45 "2009-09-02T22:13:45Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > After years of listening to fundie bantering, you guys are still surprised at some of the bannings? Allow me to teach you, Grasshopper. 😛 > > **Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy** : Contains aliens. Aliens don’t exist because God only created one planet capable of sustaining Man. Furthermore, aliens are incapable of receiving God’s love because they haven’t heard the Good News. Denies the existence of a geocentric universe. It also contains a rock-solid argument proving the non-existence of god. > [@](#): > > **Animal Farm** : Talking animals? I remember a talking beast in the bible. I think it was a stoat. No, I tell a lie. Now that I think about it, it was a snake. Yes, a snake. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/46 "2009-09-02T23:15:45Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > No, [this kid](http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-09-02-miss-athlete-hero_N.htm) is a hero. > [@](#): > > “He made the statement to one of my deputies that if she was going to shoot anyone, he would rather she shoot him,” Vaughan said. “Watching him do that and him doing such a heroic act and not even caring about his own safety, that’s something you don’t see every day.” He has my vote for hero of the day/week/month/year. ---
**Author:** ![Sanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sanders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sanders)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/47 "2009-09-03T01:09:52Z")
Pretending this were real, why would _The Divine Comedy_ be banned? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/48 "2009-09-03T02:09:50Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > And the Koran is not a work of “literary quality.” It is a religious text. NO, but it’s apparently banned, so it qualifies for this guy’s lending library. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/49 "2009-09-03T02:21:05Z")
> [@Sanders](#): > > Pretending this were real, why would _The Divine Comedy_ be banned? I don’t recall it’s being banned when I worked at the Library and was up on such things, but I would think the Catholic and Baptist mythology don’t play well together. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/50 "2009-09-04T19:07:06Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > One would have hoped that the student would see in this the same urge that drove the school to do what it did. Libraries have to be choosy, to be sure, but I prefer my librarians to base their decisions on usage patterns and borrowing statistics, not value-laden judgments of “pollution.” Yeah, because in sharing with his friends the banned books he’d read, he’s forfeited any right to an opinion and abdicatded his will to “usage patterns and borrowing statistics.” Do you chide the school dealer for not carrying milk and lotto tickets? ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/51 "2009-09-04T19:53:49Z")
> [@whole\_bean](#): > > Yeah, because in sharing with his friends the banned books he’d read, he’s forfeited any right to an opinion and abdicatded his will to “usage patterns and borrowing statistics.” Do you chide the school dealer for not carrying milk and lotto tickets? When she does so because she objects to other people trying to stifle ideas, she certainly ought to have the largeness of spirit to let people read what they want. Do you honestly think her purpose in starting her own library is to be a mere enlightened despot? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/52 "2009-09-04T20:00:37Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > When she does so because she objects to other people trying to stifle ideas, she certainly ought to have the largeness of spirit to let people read what they want. Do you honestly think her purpose in starting her own library is to be a mere enlightened despot? Despot? The kid in question isn’t the only source of books. If you’re providing the books out of your own funds or collection, why go out of your way to buy Twilight because other kids want to read it? If they want to get it so much, they can find it on their own and start their own lending libraries. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/53 "2009-09-04T20:15:56Z")
How can a book be “banned” when you can get it at any Barnes & Noble or on Amazon? At most, a school can choose not to keep a book on its library shelves (which they’re perfectly within their rights to do) and to purge it from their Required Reading list (which they’re ALSO perfectly within their rights to do). How much “heroism” is really involved? is their a single kid ANYWHERE who couldn’t get a copy of “Catcher in the Rye” except through some kind of Underground Railroad? ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/54 "2009-09-04T20:47:02Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Despot? The kid in question isn’t the only source of books. If you’re providing the books out of your own funds or collection, why go out of your way to buy Twilight because other kids want to read it? If they want to get it so much, they can find it on their own and start their own lending libraries. No, and neither is the school library. This fact notwithstanding, we clearly are troubled when people (particularly “the authorities,” of whose number this student, I freely admit, is not) presume to tell others what ideas they may have access to. And while I commend her resistance to an overbearing school administration, I would be even more delighted if she did not show the germ of the very same “for your own good” despotic ambitions of her principals and school librarians. Today’s students are tomorrow’s educators; let’s hope between now and then (and I am hopeful of this) that she will realize that being educated is more than a matter of completing a reading list. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/55 "2009-09-04T21:12:41Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > No, and neither is the school library. This fact notwithstanding, we clearly are troubled when people (particularly “the authorities,” of whose number this student, I freely admit, is not) presume to tell others what ideas they may have access to. And while I commend her resistance to an overbearing school administration, I would be even more delighted if she did not show the germ of the very same “for your own good” despotic ambitions of her principals and school librarians. Okay but admittedly, the student is acting out of a locker (do we know if the student is male or female, btw? I couldn’t tell from the link). Obviously space and funds are limited–it’s one person providing it. If she said, “I don’t have enough space for all the books and I just decided to go with the books that have the most librarian approval/literary kudos,” would that be okay? I mean, obviously she’s not stocking everything. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/56 "2009-09-04T21:18:15Z")
I’m skeptical of this story. It sounds like what you’d get if the movie _Footloose_ had been written by nerds. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/57 "2009-09-04T21:21:05Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > No, and neither is the school library. This fact notwithstanding, we clearly are troubled when people (particularly “the authorities,” of whose number this student, I freely admit, is not) presume to tell others what ideas they may have access to. And while I commend her resistance to an overbearing school administration, I would be even more delighted if she did not show the germ of the very same “for your own good” despotic ambitions of her principals and school librarians. > > Today’s students are tomorrow’s educators; let’s hope between now and then (and I am hopeful of this) that she will realize that being educated is more than a matter of completing a reading list. Someone should sue her and her locker library for the woefully incomplete book selection. After all, she’s not letting her fellow students read what they want . . . well, okay, maybe that’s a strong conclusiuon, but she’s telling her fellow student what they should have access to by . . . by . . uh, by . . . oh forget it. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/58 "2009-09-04T21:24:44Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Okay but admittedly, the student is acting out of a locker (do we know if the student is male or female, btw? I couldn’t tell from the link). Obviously space and funds are limited–it’s one person providing it. If she said, “I don’t have enough space for all the books and I just decided to go with the books that have the most librarian approval/literary kudos,” would that be okay? I mean, obviously she’s not stocking everything. don’t forget, by lending out banned titles whilst making throw-away jokes about YA lit, she’s not letting people read what they want ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/59 "2009-09-04T21:59:30Z")
> [@whole\_bean](#): > > Someone should sue her and her locker library for the woefully incomplete book selection. After all, she’s not letting her fellow students read what they want . . . well, okay, maybe that’s a strong conclusiuon, but she’s telling her fellow student what they should have access to by . . . by . . uh, by . . . oh forget it. Oh, don’t strain your brain, **whole bean.** And thanks for sharing. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499/60 "2009-09-04T22:09:38Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > Oh, don’t strain your brain, **whole bean.** And thanks for sharing. Good burn, Kimmie. “Thanks for sharing.” I gotta write that down. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-kid-is-a-hero/508499.md?page=4)