banned books week.

[humantupperware1]

HumanTupperware here:

Just wanted to chuck in my two cents on the banned books thing......

I was so impressed by the reaction of the members here about this issue. The 
idea that it is our responsibilty to monitor and guide the reading and exposure 
to information of our children is a noble thing. For me, knowledge is power. I 
once tried to give up reading for a while and I lasted three days. My life has 
been enrinched and enlightened by many of the books on the list. 
I was given a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird when I was eleven years old and I 
have read it once a year ever since (I am now 25). Even though eleven was 
young to be reading about such subject matter as racism, rape and the legal 
system in southern America, that book taught me more about the human soul 
that anything else ever. More than religion ever did. 

The Judy Blume books helped me through a difficult adolescence and helped 
me realise that being a teenager is a universal experience, and always a little 
difficult, no matter who you are. Lord of the Flies, though disturbing, tells us 
much about human nature and the primal being that resides in all of us when 
we are stripped down to our essential selves. 

And of course, all of us will agree that Harry Potter has enriched all of our 
lives, and I would venture, helps children maintain thier belief in magic (not 
necessarily witchcraft, but magic) and the power of love, courage, friendship 
and imagination. 

I guess I just wanted to share my love of books and knowledge with you all, 
and to say that I suspect that when a book is challenged or banned, it 
probably strikes at a part of ourselves that many people would rather ignore 
or deny. The very bits that I am most interested in, and believe it would do us 
all a lot of good to examine all aspects of human experience, not just the ones 
that fit into a certain moral framework. I am profoundly distubed by the thought 
that someone I don't know has the power to decide what I can and cannot 
read/watch/listen to. 

Cheers everyone,

HumanTupperware (who apologises for the length...one I started I found it 
difficult to stop....)