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Are Some 'Banned' Books More Equal Than Others?

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Posted By: Hazymac, 1/19/2024 9:19:08 AM

When I was in middle school, someone gave me a copy of "The Catcher in the Rye," which, depending on the national mood, has found itself on the banned list of various schools. The adventures of Holden Caulfield were interesting and entertaining. But more often than not, I found myself convulsed with laughter over Holden's observations about the world and the way in which he expressed them. I have often used the phrase "as sensitive as a toilet seat" to describe many people I have met. Moreover, Holden's problems resonated with me. Many young people, and for that matter many adults, can relate to Holden's inability to conform to the

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Reply 1 - Posted by: Hazymac 1/19/2024 9:29:35 AM (No. 1639673)
My favorite quotation from Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye was what Holden Caulfield said about his roommate Ward Stradlater: "All morons hate it when you call them a moron." At the very end of the book Holden intimated that he was in a mental hospital, perhaps, like Darl at the conclusion of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. These characters saw too much, and that was too much for them. They saw the absurdity and didn't laugh. That was lies madness. The modern world is mega-absurd, where a nonentity like Brandon can be in putative charge of everything important. It seems we're not in God's favor. I wonder why that is. /sarc
6 people like this.

Reply 2 - Posted by: Sorosisbehindit 1/19/2024 9:30:43 AM (No. 1639675)
Banning good books is on one end of the spectrum. Promoting bad books is on the other. Schools have successfully done both, to assist in shaping the thoughts of future adults.
8 people like this.

Reply 3 - Posted by: Hazymac 1/19/2024 9:31:04 AM (No. 1639676)
correction ... "That way lies madness."
7 people like this.

Reply 4 - Posted by: Lawsy0 1/19/2024 11:12:41 AM (No. 1639794)
Fahrenheit 451; banned in my high school; fifty years later it was required reading. Go figure. It made an excellent movie, too. Maybe someone should ban Pilgrim's Progress!
4 people like this.

Reply 5 - Posted by: formerNYer 1/19/2024 11:20:45 AM (No. 1639806)
No books should be banned from HS libraries except pure pornography, and no books should be promoted either except required reading (the classics).
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Reply 6 - Posted by: Rather Read 1/19/2024 12:29:13 PM (No. 1639882)
I read lots of the classics in high school, but I didn't particularly like them. Then I read them as an adult. Oh my - so good!!!! Sometimes it takes maturity to appreciate good writing. As for banned books.....honestly it's usually the progressives who do it.
6 people like this.

Reply 7 - Posted by: franq 1/19/2024 1:08:36 PM (No. 1639910)
Same here, #6. Being on the so-called "college track", I had plenty of English Lit, American Lit, and short story classes in HS. Didn't see Catcher until my sophomore (and last) year of college. I laughed to tears at many places. One memorable scene was the weepy woman watching a play, while ignoring her child who badly needed the bathroom... Read Great Expectations in HS, hated it, read it on Kindle several years ago and loved it. Slogged through Tale of Two Cities, and while not as enjoyable, was not a waste of time. Reading Ulysses now (first time). Seems to be devolving into disjointed streams of words. Books definitely expand the mind.
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Reply 8 - Posted by: rememberwhen 1/19/2024 1:09:56 PM (No. 1639912)
Current standards for book availability: Semi-pornographic advocacy for homosexuality/transsexuality--A resounding yes Leftist propaganda--Absolutely essential Truth--Not so much
2 people like this.

Reply 9 - Posted by: MissMann 1/19/2024 1:49:12 PM (No. 1639959)
Can't we all just agree to keep porn out of children's hands?
1 person likes this.

Reply 10 - Posted by: Muguy 1/19/2024 8:50:39 PM (No. 1640231)
"Animal Farm" quote: George Orwell — 'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.'
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