Prepare for a tirade.
This photo is by Nathan Papes, of the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader. It shows a crowd of parents and other community-minded citizens applauding.
Applauding the banishment of the book "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian." in the Stockton, Mo., high school.
You can read about the book more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Absolutely_True_Diary_of_a_Part-Time_Indian
And the efforts to ban it, which unfortunately were successful.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-12-01-bookbans01_ST_N.htm
I read about it...and the idea of banning it from a high school — such as what was done in Missouri — is complete, utter bullshit.
The teen birth rate for females between the ages of 15 and 19 is 45.7 out of 1,000 females in the state of Missouri...higher than the average of 42.5 in the United States.
http://www.statehealthfacts.org/profileind.jsp?ind=37&cat=2&rgn=27
Missouri led the nation in meth lab incidents through August 2010...
http://www.mshp.dps.mo.gov/MSHPWeb/DevelopersPages/DDCC/methLabDisclaimer.html
According to the State of Missouri's Center for Family Policy and Research, as of 2007 approximately 51,000 children used illicit drugs, an increase of almost 9,000 from the previous year.
Given these stats, it looks like folks in the Show-Me state have more important things to concern themselves with, instead of a book that deals with racism and poverty.
Oh, maybe they got in an uproar because the book had the word "gay" in it...
What I see in this photo is nothing but a gaggle of — my opinion, mind you — conservative, "Christian" do-gooders that want to shield their children from reality.
The reality of just how fucked-up our world has become.
They'll ban a book, but what are they doing to prevent teen births? Or teen drug use?
I'd bet money that the parents of children at Stockton High School don't mind if the kiddos turn the boob tube to "16 and Pregnant" or "Jersey Shore," while Pops is beating off to Oriental women in "Hustler" and Momma is using the big green machine on herself...
I'd bet money quite a many high-school football star's alcohol use is swept under the rug for the sake of victories in Stockton...
In other words, they are hypocrites. We all are, without doubt. I won't dispute that even I am...
Yet it sickens me to thing that this rabble in the audience — whom I'd also bet money have never read so much as Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" — have the nerve to question a book that has won multiple awards as such...
2009 Peter Pan Award, Sweden
2009 Odyssey Award for audio version, produced by Recorded Books, LLC
2008 Washington Book Award - the Scandiuzzi Children's Book Award for middle grades and young adults
2008 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards for Excellence in Children’s Literature in Fiction
2008 Capitol Choices Noteworthy Books for Children
2008 Book Sense Book of the Year Children's Literature Honor Book
2008 Pacific Northwest Book Award
2008 American Indian Library Association American Indian Youth Literature Award
2007 National Book Award for Young People's Literature
2007 Los Angles Times Book Prize Finalist
Publishers Weekly 2007 Best Books of the Year - Children's Fiction
The New York Times Notable Children's Books of 2007
Los Angeles Times Favorite Children's Books of 2007
National Parenting Publication Gold Winner 2007
Barnes & Noble 2007 Best for Teens
School Library Journal Best Books of 2007
Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Books of 2007 (pdf file)
Horn Book Fanfare Best Books of 2007
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon Winner
Kansas City Star's Top 100 Books of the Year
Need I say more?
I will. It's backwards-thinking shitheaps like these that will end up voting Sarah Palin — that of "Obviously we gotta stand with our North Korean allies" fame — into the presidency and will turn our country into a "Christian" replica of Afghanistan and Iran...banning "dirty" books, cramming Hey-sus down our throats and turning us into something we all should dread.
A theocracy.
Say goodbye to democracy if we stand by and let this continue. Say hello to the good ol' down-home traditions of hiding reality, fucking your cousin and waging war against anyone who isn't a WASP.
Wait a second.
We already do that here in America, don't we?
-Spragoo
