We all know the evils of censorship: not ALLOWING people to read the books of their own choice.
But have you ever owned a book that was so BAD that YOU didn't want to be responsible - in the slightest way - for it to fall into other hands? A book that you'd rather burn or rip to shreds than donate to a charity shop... or even risk somebody else' pulling it out of your rubbish bin?
"If people WANT to buy it, I'm certainly not going to stop them. But I'm not going to FACILITATE their reading such a load of:
crappy plot;
evil values;
godawful writing style;
(other)."
Please give examples and reasons. Be as nasty as you wish.
I'll start off with a non-fiction book: "Duérmete, Niño" ["Go To Sleep Child"] by Eduard Estivill and Sylvia de Bejarby.
This is a cruel piece of shit that assures new parents that the best for their child is to cry themselves to sleep until they get used to the idea that nobody's going to come comfort them. ("You've got to keep firm. If you give in once and pick up your crying child, you set the whole learning process back by weeks.") They reassure parents that it's healthier for children to rock themselves back and forth rhythmically, banging their heads against the wall or the bars of the crib, than to be "spoiled" by being cuddled past their official bedtime. They KNOW that they couldn't convince parents to try this method for their own convenience, so they tell them that it's better FOR THE CHILD!
I first read about this book in Carlos González' EXCELLENT "Bésame Mucho: Cómo Criar Tus Hijos Con Amor" ["Kiss Me!: How to Raise Your Children with Love"], the BEST book on child-rearing that I've ever read. I later found the Estivill/de Bejarby book in a 2nd-hand shop. It was quite cheap, so I bought it... in order to burn it.
Reason for burning: a book of pure EVIL!
I see that somebody has given my friend Wilhelmina a "thumbs down" for her latest comment. Since said "thumbs-downer" didn't actually post a reply (unless they're doing so while I'm composing this), we may only guess whether this "thumbs down"is re: the idea that parents should talk with their children about the books that they're reading (does this come under the heading of "poking your nose in" / "invasion of territory"?) or rather a TLOTR fan taking umbrage at anybody's criticising hat "masterpiece" of storytelling.
Whatever the reason, could you please give me a "thumbs down", too? Because I agree with every single word that she wrote.
Should have added:
And parents who don't read the books that their children are reading - with a very critical eye - are running the same risk.
I'm not really in favour of BANNING The Lord Of The Rings. But I'd take the trouble to debate with my child the values of a book that depicts people/creatures who come from the East and South, are dark-skinned (and who associate with Elephants - or however Tolkien chose to "disguise" this word, it's been decades since I read this filth) as purely EVIL, as invaders who are intent on destroying the values - and lives - of "The Shire" (read the British Isles). Not to mention "Holy Wars" as a solution to a country's problems or the sharp divide between what is "suitable behaviour" for males and what is "suitable behaviour" for females.
The Lord Of The Rings (considering its wide appeal) must be the very favourite book of UKIP, male supremacists... and many of those even further down the road of xenophobia and racism.
@ Kate Baxter ("Didn't the Nazis print 'children's stories' (amongst other propaganda) that depicted Jews, well, in the way you'd expect the Nazis to?")
Not only that, Kate, but they're still doing it, using modern tools:
'Attempting to capitalize on the vast popularity of computer video games - especially among the young - hate groups are manipulating available technology to create violently racist and anti-Semitic versions of popular video games, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) says in a new report.
'With titles such as "Ethnic Cleansing" and "Shoot the Blacks," the manipulated games are proliferating on the Internet, where they can be previewed, purchased or downloaded on the Web sites of some of the nation's most dangerous hate groups. These so-called "White Power" games are advertised as "entertainment" on extremist sites run by neo-Nazis, white supremacists and Holocaust deniers.'
- http://archive.adl.org/presrele/internet_75/4042_72.html#.VewGFX3VJkg
And that's not all. The above would mean that only fascist-leaning game-fans (or the curios) would download the games or play them on-line. But I read in another article that these nasty games are being copied over innocent-looking games and then swapped for others in schoolyards. THIS means that a child receives, in exchange for a game that (s)he's grown bored with, a "wolf in sheep's clothing", a well-made, entertaining game with a very nasty message attached. Thinking that (s)he's getting the latest "Super Marios Brothers" or "Grand Theft Auto" clone, (s)he discovers that it's been overwritten. One example given in the other article was a game that made the child player a guard in a concentration camp. The object was to hunt down and kill Jewish prisoners who were trying to escape.
I'm not a video game fan and have never played this game, but - given the "amusing" violence of many cartoons (see the "satiric" [?] "Itchy & Scratchy" inserts in "The Simpsons" [The trouble with satire is that some people take it at surface value]) - I wouldn't be surprised if it included "amusing" potential for the child-guard to torture prisoners who WEREN'T escaping. "Just for fun."
Meanwhile, parents who didn't put their feet down at run-of-the-mill violent video games are generally out of the room and never notice the brain-washing that's going on.