Banned Books

I should probably write more about Banned Book Week every year, considering that my life is sort of tied up in books and ideas and the free expression thereof. I don't really have good comprehension of people whose confidence in their world view is so shaky that they have to ban books that show alternatives. I guess, in spite of everything, my ego's pretty healthy.

(Note: I realize that I quite often sound unforgiving here, but I really do try to understand. I have in the past, and I think what's coming through now is that I'm really, really tired to meeting the same old arguments and the same old lies, as though no one had ever demolished them. The only appropriate response at this point is ridicule. My patience with people is legendary, but there are limits.)

That said, this one tickled my fancy:

Brave New World was removed from classroom in Miller, MO (1980), because it made promiscuous sex “look like fun.”

Considering that the main reason people have sex to begin with is because it's fun, I just found that too hilarious. I'm not going to guess at motivations in cases like this, but in this one particularly I get the distinct feeling that someone was going through Brave New World looking for something "dirty."

Here's the ALA's list of the Top 100 Banned or Challenged Novels of the 20th Century.

It's sobering.