Laura Murphy wants people to know that she is no book burner . . . just a book banner. The Fairfax County mother of four has been campaigning to ban the Pulitzer-prize-winning American novel “Beloved” from the school system due to its depictions of bestiality, rape, and murder. She says that her teenage son read the book as a senior in his Advanced Placement English class and was traumatized with nightmares as a result. Now she wants to ban the book for any child to read.
“Beloved” depicts the harrowing life of a mother who killed her child to protect it from a life in bondage. In receiving the Pulitzer prize, the citation says that Toni Morrison wrote “novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, giv[ing] life to an essential aspect of American reality.” That however is a bit too much reality for Murphy. She has campaigned for six months to ban the book and school board members are now reading the book as part of the long appellate process.
The fact that this book is being read by seniors in advanced placement English is a particularly important fact. Murphy’s son is one year from college and being sent into the world as an adult. He wanted to take advanced English which deals with a higher level of reading and reading material. Even if his mom succeeds in banning this book, he will face the same nightmares in college where such books are common.
I respect Murphy’s commitment to her child and her work as a member on school committees. However, her protection of her son from these forms of literature does not serve his interests any more than banning it for others. These books can shock and disturb students. However, they also challenge their preconceptions and expose them to extraordinary writing. Indeed, it is Morrison’s passion and skills as a writer that produces such intense responses.
Murphy insists that “I’m not some crazy book burner.” No, she would be a book banner who (for students and teachers wanting to read this book in school) is like a book burner without the fire.
Source: Washington Post
OS,
Thanks for the expected reply.
I have understood a long time ago that you support the system of injustice that we havei in our 50 states.
Thank Goodness that we have other persons here and in society that see the through the fog of litigation for what an injustice it is truly, beside a source of goodies for the performing seals.
Being a servant of the law is handicapping. And understanding me is quite easy if your lawyer fllter is removed.
Salad! You are just too lazy to analyze and rebut it sentence by sentence. Criticizing the form instead of the substantive content is a well worn method of ignoring the truth of what is said. Humor is another, but doubt you can use that weapon.
Courts are for what they are used for:
——to prosecute “criminals”—-primarily those in victimless crimes and for racial reasons or the fact of being poor.
——to guarantee that the ones with the most money will retain his property, or win his tort.
——to persecute the selected for gain of political bones.
Thank goodness, our discussions concerning our republics processes, gooo or bad; take place outside the courtroom’s constraints.
A tangent, but a pertinent one addressed to you, our drone expert:
Never answered my question (one of several) about the windspan of the Cessna versus the U-2 or the similarity to the loitering drones weaponized in Pakistan.
The drones are weapons of terror, like God’s lightning in hovering storm clouds, they buzz every hour day or night, ready to strike anywhere. A 16 year old sitting drinking coffee in a cafe, or 12 year olds sheparding goats. The same technique is used against us, but the buzz in our case is the media constantly screaming the government message 24/7. No wonder that we are terrorized, but compliant. We have food and the liberty to speak—as long as it provides no effective deterrence to our government in mission. Watchdogs like you ensure that.
Darren Smith,
Good point.
Can we exploit this by starting a movement, to under the guise of “protecting the children” from unsound books , thus create interest in GOOD books.
Surely a site, a copyrighted (by use) name, and a few good names on the board of directorsm will get it going at one place. Then we can see if it will spread. No coordination, no planning, just do your own local thing. Hide well in case of bombings.
There is certainly no lack of authors, books, etc. Spicing things up with little excerpts and review opinions by anon persons will help success.
Guaranteed kickoff headliner! Obama’s self-praising memoir.
Oh my god, how embarrassing for her son! He’s probably 17 or 18, and about to go to college, and now he’s in the news for having nightmares from reading a Toni Morrison novel. Yikes. Poor guy for having to deal with a mother like that.
All of us have had Nightmares growing up. The mind can counter those nightmares.
If the adult age, kid in mentality, brat is named Adam or Jared then automatically ban him from ever owning a firearm. Ban the mother from owning any firearms. The Second Amendment was meant to articulate the right to arm bears and the Founders were dyslectic that day that it was penned. The brat is not a bear and has no right to any arms. The mom needs to be examined and sterized because she obviously has at least one child left behind. Or born of the behind. She might be related to Eddie Cantor’s son Eric Cantor, so she might have some political pull in Virginia.
Jesus banned himself from killing people saving his soul. That is what people need to do.
All this gobbledygook about banning a book to Save the Children(tm) is going to actually encourange more of them to read it.
When I was in 6th grade, there was a row at our middle school to ban Forever… by Judy Blume. Very few students knew of the book before the proposed ban and during the controversy everyone wanted it. I would say it was probably the most popular book in the library. I don’t remember what become of the proposed ban, but I can say that of the thousands of so called “chick books” published, this is the only one I know anything about.
The love of God is in you.
1, February 9, 2013 at 7:54 am crossposted
See democracynow.org.
On the Brennan hearing for CIA chief. He got fierce opposition in the try to nominate him four years ago. But then he was still too close to his own CIA time there directly assistiing the CIA chief. He’s been 4 years in the White House running his part of the CIA show from there and being deodorarized. The committee is laughable, or maybe something to cry over as a totally ineffectual oversight organ which is stopped at every turn by the Executive stonewalling behind Nat Sec considerations.
Our Senators have no cojones, but then they are not elected by us but by lobbyists, or private folks who want favors, and will pay for trips for the likes of Menendez, Have you forgotten him already? Hope not.
Three persons were interviewed during the halfhour I watched. None friendly to the CIA or Brennan. One was Code Pink founder, one was former CIA analyst, and one a correspondent specializing in this area for The Nation journal.
How can we rate this on a veracity scale, bias scale, etc.?
Id707, I have no idea what that word salad you posted above means. There is a damn good reason for both laws and trials. Evidence is tested and cross examined in a little procedure called a trial. Does the trier of fact ever make a mistake? Oh, hell yes. But show me a better way to test the truth of an accusation. The rules simply provide procedures for testing evidence that is as fair to all sides as humanly possible. That is why hearsay is not admitted. It is why a claim of fact is not admitted unless it passes a vetting procedure, such as identifying the chain of evidence and provenance of the material. Some engineer gets up in a courtroom and says a tire has certain properties, he better have some kind of research to back it up instead of, “It’s so because I have been doing this work a long time and just know it is so.” (Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael
526 US 137, 119 S. Ct. 1167, 143 L. Ed. 2d 238 – Supreme Court, 1999).
If you have come up with a better way of doing things, then write to your nearest congresscritter with a suggestion for amending the Constitution. I am sure they will be willing to introduce a proposed Constitutional amendment based on your suggestions.
Heh!
OS and GeneH,
As old buddies I guess you meet once in a while for the emotional equivalent of mutual masturbation. Now what you guys do is your responsibility, but published here it becomes accessible for my comments.
This elitist attitude (we know and you don’t so shut up and let us control things) has been a prime factor in producing our current mess.
A chain of “evidence” may be necessary in court, but investigations are based on looser grounds: cui bono for example, opportunity, access, etc. And COLLUSION between parties with no known connection.
Conflation is Apples and Pears. Investigation by many competent people outside the injustice system searching for data and linkages is not conflation.
But never mind, minds whose development were arrested by legal studies are poorly inclined to progress to handling the real world. Only perhaps if it can be contained in a legal framework.
To deny the plans of government is weird; as the newspapers in both headlines and in Political sections have been full of the hidden plans that Congress, let alone the people, does NOT have access to as our representatives encharged with oversight.
Snorts of contempt and looks of disdain with lifted chins don’t impress, me or others, but some here are still cowed by the bully game. An old complaint which has become somewhat improved. Courtesy????
No, not a psychiatrist, never. Thats where insanity lies & where the shootings come from: psychiatric drugs. Our evil president knows this but he wants your guns, while your children get drugged up in school & enough chaos provides an excuse for martial law. Nothing left or right about this; I would not give a fig leaf to either party. But we do need to act NOW! Call Citizens Commission On Human Rights 800 869 2247.
The president thinks guns are the problem. Think that , and people with a dead soul will be a problem retaliating to make dead bodies with a weapon that is not alive. It would be a person with a dead soul in them making people dead people. All of this happens because people do not consider the soul not valuing it. Devils do not value their soul.
If he has nightmares and has been traumatized from reading the book then he needs a psychiatrist. And a social worker. Therapy should include bike riding and outdoor activity. No association with books, magazines, and of course not televsion. An institution well away from mother is a must. Forget college. Forget the Marines. Perhaps a job as a sanitation worker at a hospital. Or a machine shop with lots of busy things to do. No manuals. No reading for a year. Low salt diet. No sugar. No newspapers.
Weenie, beanie, bo beanie, nanna naanna fo feenie, WEENIE!
What Mike A. and Malisha said.
OS,
Nice lurking!
Bad me. I lived in an apartment complex for ten years. One building two doors four apts each door. There were 4 buildings in a U-shape. It was a smart setup. My neighbors 3 from different buildings, one from mine (across the hall) had parties on the lawn. … No they did not set up in front of my neighbors window across the hall, nor did they set up in front of the windows of their respective buildings. They set up in font of my window.
Instead of voicing my concern about this infringement of my space, ( though legally theirs too) I ate my displeasure.
……. Until one evening I had heartburn and reflux. (metaphorically) I stormed out the front door and unleashed 3 months of frustration at this perceived affront to my privacy. Anger, F-bombs and nasty statements. I was acting badly, I was over the line, and today I would handle things differently. …Anyways, after I unloaded, they moved in front of the window of one of the other revelers. My status from that day forward was below earthworm.
My long and rambling point is …. there was a grand daughter of my across the hall neighbor there. !!! I had never been aware of a youngster being at these parties. I don’t believe this was at all common. Call me a Putz, because I sure felt like one. My neighbor took no ease at telling me how I ruined her granddaughter with my idiot behavior. She did not want to come visit any more. I felt terrible. Mea Putza.
However… I wonder what influence the Grandmother had in inflating, enhancing, and exacerbating my grotesque behavior in the mind of the granddaughter. I was wrong. But I think the G-ma made it worse.
So ….the Mom in this article could have enhanced her childs fears and confusion,…or explored and concretized them for discussion and understanding. Adult authority and perception ooze into youngsters. A parent that wants to instill fear into a child, has in most cases the means tools and authority to do so. …. Then they can blame someone else.
PS. I was an A-hole that night, but I am far from an all the time A-hole. … I don’t think the G-ma pursued that line of reasoning with her G-daughter. … Yes I am still uncomfortable, but I can’t change that moment, but I do believe I have changed my behavior for the better. ….PS. …but you guys never met my neighbor.
This was years ago and I am other places now on this river of life. …whats that loud rumbling sound that i hear ..
.it seems to be getting louder every year. 🙂
Attacking that book is shooting at that book with a bang. Give peace. When people do the the book will not be banned.
OS, some might say, “One lives to be of amusing service.”
Gene,
I have been quite busy today, but lurking and looking in when I had a moment. I am always amused when non-lawyers try to argue evidence, proximate cause and Constitutional law with lawyers. You know, those guys and gals who actually attended something called……wait for it……it is coming…..law school.
Now back to lurking. I think I will get some popcorn.
Conflation isn’t in the eye of the beholder. It’s when you take two (or more) unrelated things and try to combine them into one. Like a wrongful but explainable police shooting, the Sandy Hook conspiracy theory, and a plan to further the unitary Executive. You might as well be trying to connect peanut butter, the Loch Ness Monster and campaign finance. Conflation is in the (confused) mind of the speaker.
Shooting to solve a problem always ends up with one side making a bigger bang with the apposing side making one that is bigger trying to say the bigger bang solves the problem. When will they stop? When they make a bang big enough to make a neutron star creating a singularity to swallow the planet?
Mespo’s comment on McPherson’s book Battle Cry of Freedom is right on. I have read that book three times. McPherson is a great writer.
The American dream, what an EFFing nightmare.
Read Olof Palme’s story in Wikipedia.
Of course he was assassinated by the CIA.
He was a loose cannon, and based on his record, he would as Sec Gen of the UN. have launched the equivalent of a third world assault to the USA hegemony. Who says the Security Council shall have veto power. Spoils of war is the Council. Time to change he would have said.
Guess I killed this thread. Everybody fled the lecture.
ZZZZZZZzzzzzz!!!
Last point, to those who would correct and say that we have a republic, representatives responsible to the “dems”.
To which I say, if so, let us discard the democracy BS, and then we can concentrate on how well our reps are doing our bidding and not those of their bribe manipulators.
Ruling must be by consensus, ie some supermajority.
I think, quite without proof, that this “war” between the two parties is a set-up. Similar to the “terror threats” and other things meant to heighten tension and worry and a more likely to be open for manipulation population. Let’s start the horse race, ever heard that used tp describe it. Not from me, I just remember the comparison by another here. And in the chase and the posturing and maneuvers not unlike a sulky race, the voters lose sight of what it is all about. Or did we? I think so.
Bushmen never had a hands count decision. It was mauled from under the taboo of open conflict.
Until such time as, the women ,tiring of the men’s talk, decided for them. Taboo was punished by expulsion, which meant and still means today in large parts of Africa, death.
Good night, sweet dreams. 2AM here.