Wow, To Kill a Mockingbird made the list of
most challenged books as recently as 2011. Hasn’t it already been established
as one of the most integral pieces of children’s literature in history? They should
just ban Go Set a Watchmen for being disappointing
crap. Though in all fairness, I wouldn’t really know if it’s bad. I haven’t
read it, but I never waste an opportunity to jump on a bandwagon of pessimism. I
can see Looking for Alaska and The Perks of Being a Wallflower both made
the cut in 2013. It must have been a popular year for teen angst. Though they
both seemingly pale in comparison to the absolute apex of offensiveness, a book
series that topped both the 2013 and 2012 list, and is slowly corrupting today’s
youth with its crass humor and scantily clad title character, Captain Underpants. I mean, really? Apparently
the series was challenged not just for its juvenile absurdity, but because it has
an “anti-authoritarian tone”. Oh yeah, because when I was 7 I always had
trouble differentiating between Attack of
the Talking Toilets, and The
Anarchist Cookbook.
If you
couldn’t tell already, I’m not a big fan of censorship. This mostly stems from
the fact that I believe what people are traditionally taught to find offensive
in America is incorrect. We tend to get more upset about things like drug use, sexuality,
and swearing then we do by violence, which makes less than no sense from a
logical standpoint. Censorship seems to stem from a knee-jerk reaction people
have to something they are conditioned to find unpleasant, which isn’t a good
enough reason to suppress what citizens are exposed to. Restriction should be argued,
reasoned, and be given the time to come to an intelligent census, before they should
be made.
I’m ashamed to admit that my
bookshelf is a bit limited at the moment. In fact, it isn’t so much a
bookshelf, as it is a book-shoebox I have at the bottom of my closet. And not
even a big one, it’s from shoes I bought at Payless when I was 10. So yeah, my
point is there isn’t a lot of room designated for literature in my life. Most of
the books I own are graphic novels actually. I have my copies of V for Vendetta and Watchmen, which I call exhibit A and B for why movies based on Alan
Moore books suck. I also own my favorite comic book, Maus, which might be the best story I’ve ever heard/seen/read
involving the holocaust. Aside from that, the only novels I think I own are 2001: A Space Odyssey and 1984, which both have “Property of West
Albany High School” stamped on the inside of their covers. I really should
return these at one point. Those late fees have got to be absurd by now. Anyway,
I think if someone were to see my book collection, aside from assuming I have a
pathological fear of words, they would think I’m a fan of comics and Sci-fi. This
is true, but at the same time I don’t think it’s the best representation of my
interests. I just don’t buy books very often, because if I were going to read a
book, God forbid, I would probably just check one out from the library. I heard
books are free to rent there. It’s a pretty good deal.
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