21 Comments

In high school, "Catcher in the Rye" was, if not banned, at least suspect. Of course a purloined copy or two quickly made the rounds in both the senior and junior classes. For some reason, nobody seemed too bent out of shape. So, the way to get kids to read? Ban books! Kids'll find 'em!

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I am appalled and dismayed by the movement to ban books in America a la Nazi Germany. As a retired school teacher, the thought that I would be prosecuted for teaching certain books because they dealt with race, LBGTQ or feminism is unthinkable.

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I donated. We should organize a march to support this cause. STRIKE UP THE BANNED!

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I worked in a bookstore about ten years ago when the banned books thing got started. We all wore t-shirts saying we were with banned books with a list of titles on the back of the shirt. People banning books are beyond ridiculous. Kids should read any books that move them.

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Pecksniffs!

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I don't think I've seen that description since reading Martin Chuzzlewit. Good old Dickens!

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Guess I missed that. Didn’t have a clue what a pecksniff is, or was. Can’t recall Chuzzlewit, either, but I like the mental images both words produce.

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Bo - At age 87, my tired old brain has accumulated a lot of stuff - and forgotten much of it (Now, where did I leave my cane?) "Pecksniffian", as a descriptor of duplicitous behavior, was just too good to slip away.

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Robert,

I guess the seven years age difference accounts for my ignorance on that term. It was before my time!đŸ¤ª

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I would think that it's time to "ban" the bible. Unfortunately, it was the first thing printed by Gutenberg after he invented the printing press. We've been trying to catch up with the true story of how it all came to be, ever since. Too bad though, I think that "evolution" has peaked and we're sliding backwards. So be it! Don't forget to vote for a semblance of sanity on November 5!

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I worked at Book People here in Austin when Salman Rushdies Satanic Verses was throwing people into a tizzy. We got bomb threats! I love to read! No one should ever be able to tell you what to read or watch! I would die for my right to read. You see I understand what it means to be an American, and why our Founding Fathers left England! It seems there is a wave of folks that feel more aligned with the King.

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does anyone remember Peyton Place? I think that was banned in my high school, so nobody read it, except for those two pages

george

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A copy of Peyton Place circulated in my very small high school. I remember it being passed around in 'study hall' (remember those?). There were many slips of paper in it, marking what we thought were the 'good places.'

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ban Fascists not books. or, burn Fascists not books. If we had 1% the guts the Ukrainians have, there would not be a trumpputinist traitor left in the US.

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My fervent prayer in the face of the Trump Cult: Deare God, please open their minds to the truths of our life supporting planet and that Creation and Evolution of life on Earth is a chunk of time in Eternity. All that we really have is the present moment, which is always the center of eternity. This upcoming U.S.Presidential Election is a choice between the left wing and the right wing of the same bird, but the outcome will determine which direction the eagle flies. Water For Life! Please let people vote for true values over pecuniary profits. In the name of the father,the son, the mother, the daughter and the Wholey Spirit, Aso

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When I was in high school, a million years ago(1970's), we were assigned The Catcher In The Rye in my second year English class. Of course, I went to a Jesuit high school. The J's were known for challenging authority-one of my teachers had gone to jail in California for protesting in support of Cesar Chavez and migrant workers-so this was really not a surprise. They were an enlightened bunch, and not put off by much. I had teachers-priests-who if you said "Bullshit" to something they were teaching, you would not get sent to the Headmaster's office, but made to defend your comment.

Here in the enlightened realm of Empress Sarah's Arkansas, we have Jason Rapert, God's own senator, now head of the board that reviews books for removal. He wanted to get a bunch removed from the libraries in the state, not just school libraries, but all of them, public too. The board he leads rejected his list of bans-he was out voted, the only member to vote for his slate of titles-and he's now pouting about it. The Central Arkansas Library Society wins one. They've been actively fighting the philistines, drawing the ire of the regime, but, as was noted about Elizabeth Warren, they persist.

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Know who the book banners are...They are afraid of ideas which they deem threatening.

The nazis did the same thing.If you value freedom of thought and ideas ,you'll know how to vote in this election.

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I've posted this information before, but I'll do it again. The Seattle Public Library followed the lead of the Brooklyn Public Library and established free and open access to its collection of e-books to counter the bans on books in any form in many libraries and schools across the U.S. It's available online and only requires a sign-up; many young people use it. I donate to support it. Other libraries may follow the lead of these libraries, but in the meantime, pass the word along to young people who want and need to read such books -- no matter where they live. If you have the means to donate, please do so; if you don't, that's o.k., too, pass the word along. Thanks.

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Hope they did not ban 1984 Make 1984 fiction again. but where do we get the list of 10,000 books.

Globalist agenda, UN, WEF, WHO Who controls the world governments? i want to know who is running our government.

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As someone who is covered by several of the verboten letters LGBTQ, I realize all too well the danger. But I still am amused by the frenzied reactions. We must be soooo powerful and enchanting that we can turn heteros and cisgenders into homos and trans by our mere presence. Either that or hetero and cis are soooo weak and uninviting that any alternative must seem better.

And BTW, I have a Kitsap Co. (WA) Libraries sticker that says: "Fight Evil. Read Books." Yep.

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Thank you, Mr. Hightower! Duly noted and marked the website. adgray

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