The title of this post is called Banned Books and I.
Because it's about, well, banned books and, er, me.
And what do I believe?
Unless it's ordering the killing of everybody on the planet*...
NO BOOK SHOULD BE BANNED.
This week is Banned Books Week, and frankly, some of the idiots in American astound me. This post shall be divided into the following three sections.
1) Teenagers don't know what's going on in the world!
2) ____ is trying to promote _____.
3) _______ is bad!
1) Oh no! My virgin eyes! There's a book with PREMARITAL KISSING.
I think I just died a bit.
Seriously, people. We know what's going on in the world. Teenagers - and in a lot of cases, preteens - actually know what the hell is going on!
We know there are drugs.
We know there is sex.
We know there is alcohol.
Are we going to run out and do it?
Sure, some teenagers are. It's in the way they were raised. They're the rebels, the people who were going to end up doing it anyway, even if they hadn't read about it.
As for us, not knowing about it isn't going to change that it is out there. Actually, not knowing puts us at more risk. We don't see the risks that are involved, or the consequences, if we don't know it's out there. How do you expect us to learn if we can't discover this knowledge for ourselves? I, for one, know plenty of teenagers don't take what their parents say seriously.
Banning a book like Ellen Hopkin's Crank because it's about drugs is fucking ridiculous. (Wait. Was that a curse? We should ban this blog.) It's showing us how messed up our life will get if we do drugs! (To see more about Ellen and banning, please read this awesomely epic blog post of hers.)
We know it's out there. Trying to shield it from us will just fail.
And then when we're shoved into the outside world, it will be waiting to get us.
Just like carrot draining vampire rabbits.
(Also see: Bunnicula.)
2) What!? Laurie Halse Anderson MUST be promoting anorexia because she wrote about it! Oh, the HORROR! She wants stick people!
Hahahaha, um, no.
Just because somebody writes about something doesn't mean they promote it. I'm pretty sure the whole point of Wintergirls is to show the awful effects anorexia has. It's showing why you *shouldn't* try to starve your body into stick figure sized submission.
Ellen Hopkins - oh, look, she's back! - wrote Crank (which is my Ellen Hopkins book of choice today) to try to stop people from doing drugs. It's based on a true story, and it's a story she never wants to happen again. She knows it will; she knows she might not be able to stop it.
But one kid reading her book and seeing the consequences could be a damn well good way to help.
Now, oh book banners, you wouldn't know this. You look at her book and go...
EGAD! Drugs!? Mild cursing!? Possible SEXUAL EXPLICIT CONTENT!? She's the reason so many teenagers are cursing and doing drugs and, lo and behold, having SEX.
Um. Epic fail to the book banners, for you have not read the book. You have simply biased it based on topic.
Fail, book banners.
Fail.
Of course, The Book Muncher phrased this much more eloquently than I did, using Castration Celebration as her example. [[link]]
3)SUNSHINE!? FLOWERS!? SHAKESPEARE!? These are horrible, horrible things and need to be banned this INSTANT!
Of course, that's using Eyes Like Stars, a book which I doubt has been banned. But that's the ludicrously of it.
People are judging based on what they dislike.
Homophobic? Well, we must get those books out of the library and burned straight away, because it's bad! Because love of any sort except man and woman is FORBIDDEN! Do you hear me! FORBIDDEN! -echoes-
Um. Not happening anytime soon. As long as there are people, there will be gay people. It's just love. Get over it.
Drinking? IT'S HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE! Oh, one teeny sip of champagne and the teenage population is doomed, doomed, doomed!
Yes, I'm against drinking. But it's a large part of our culture now, so guess what? Get the hell over yourself and *move on*. You want to stop your kid from drinking? Make sure there's not anything to drink around.
FUCK. Oh no. I cursed! I CURSED! I'M DOOOOOOOMED.
You sense my sarcasm, I hope. Yes, curses aren't the best of things. They're vulgar and unnecessary. Do we use them anyway? Hell yeah. Because sometimes, it adds emphasis where emphasis is needed, and not all of us are eloquent enough to use a different term.
People, there is no reason to ban books simply because you don't like them, or you're paranoid and think your teenager will do what the books do. We ain't in Rome. We're not going to do as the characters do.**
Grow up. You're more immature than we are.
Peace, love, books for all.
~Nicole
*I have to state this because their probably are leftover Nazi books roaming the planet somewhere, along with the idiots who go, "Let's kill the gays!" "Let's kill the Jews!" "Let's kill the blondes!" "Let's kill the people who have slightly larger left nostrils!"
**Crazy Twilight fangirls who want their necks bitten by Robert Pattinson are the exception to this rule.
PS: Banned Books reminded me of this...