Remember when The New York Times' David Carr made an offhand comment about Missouri and Kansas being home to "the dance of the low, sloping foreheads," and everyone got mad at East Coast elitism? It's infuriating to feel like people are judging you based on your zip code rather than your merits, especially when those people are the ones you view as your cultural allies.
That said, this story is a perfect example of why people elsewhere look down on us. Because it's hard to remember the last time a NYC school banned a book because someone complained it taught "principles contrary to the Bible."
In Republic, Missouri, the Republic High School board has unanimously voted to ban Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five and Sarah Ockler's Twenty Boy Summer. The books were named in a public complaint filed last year, along with the Laurie Halse Anderson novel Speak, which managed to stay on school shelves.
If you haven't read Vonnegut's work, I'm not going to explain it to you -- you should immediately stop reading this blog and go find a copy. If you've done that, read it, and the ache in your heart is now at a manageable level, I can tell you that Ockler's book is about a girl whose friend wants to hook her up with her first summer fling, not knowing that she's grieving the death of her first boyfriend. (Speak is about a girl who gets raped by a popular boy at a party, is then ostracized by her friends for coming forward, and takes a vow of silence.)
The complaint was filed by Republic resident Wesley Scroggins, a professor of management at Missouri State, and author of several outraged letters to his daily newspaper on the moral dry rot of our public-school system. Last year, the Riverfront Times reported on Scroggins' deep concerns as a parent about the ideas his children are exposed to. His children, by the way, are home-schooled, and therefore not in danger of a teacher forcing them to read any of these books. Still, thought is like a virus, so what if some teenage Denny's waiter with a public-library card serves a Moon Over My Hammy to a Scroggins child? Next thing you know, the kid's applying to attend the Iowa Writers' Workshop. So it goes.
Scroggins' complaints are these: Speak, the book about the rape, is soft-core pornography. Slaughterhouse-Five "contains so much profane language, it would make a sailor blush with shame." Twenty Boy Summer has "drunken teens [who] also end up on the beach, where they use their condoms to have sex."
Anderson defends Speak in a blog post, noting that for Scroggins to characterize a sexual assault as titillating is at best a gross misread of the book and at worst a disturbing revelation of Scroggins' mental state. Judy Blume, no stranger to bans, has come to Anderson's defense.
The board agreed that Speak was not pornographic. The rape was depicted "tastefully, not graphically," according to Superintendent Vern Minor. Also, a second attempt at rape is stopped at the end, so there's a clear message that sexual assault is wrong.
Minor was harder on Vonnegut. He described Slaughterhouse-Five as a book more suited to college students because of its crude language and adult themes, though charitably added, "I'm not saying it's a bad book."
Regarding Ockler, the argument was stickier. "I just don't think it's a good book," Minor told reporters. "If the book had ended on a different note, I might have thought differently." In other words, sexual content between consenting parties is fine, as long as everyone knows it's dirty and shameful by the last chapter.
Faced with adult themes and sex-positive teens in mourning, the board voted 4-0 to remove Slaughterhouse-Five and Twenty Boy Summer from the school curriculum and library. The meeting was attended only by board members, Scroggins, two school administrators, and a reporter paid to cover the school district by the local daily newspaper.
Students can still read and use the books for classwork, provided they have parental approval. No word yet on whether those parents will have to ask for Scroggins' permission first.
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This is a story about Republic. I'd like to think Springfield's school board isn't stupid and cowardly enough to cave to the demands of someone whose children aren't even enrolled and who thinks rape in literature is softcore porn, but maybe someday I'll be unpleasantly surprised. For the moment, no, they don't have a right to condescend.
This is a story about Republic. I'd like to think Springfield's school board isn't
I don't hold Jesus responsible for any of this -- HE probably thinks Springfield is in Mass.
"Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armour and attacked a hot fudge sundae."- Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
The RAPE is depicted "tastefully, not graphically," spews forth the rag that gets readers to "purschase" itself by charging NOTHING AT ALL!!!
Sorry to bother you all! I'm just slumming tonight!
I'll let you all get back to convincing yourselves you're "hip" or something!!!
when will these moron read state school boards figure out that they cannot legislate ignorance. What are they going to do put up their own version of the "chinese firewall"? absolutely foolish. my kids would immediately go out and get these books if they got banned in our school system.
"The original parent may have been a Bible-thumping nitwit, but it sounds
to me like the school board took their job seriously, and made some
difficult decisions."
No, the school-board behaved like ignorant clowns. If they had been taking their jobs seriously, they would have told Scroggins to go pound sand. If they needed political cover for doing so, they could have simply cited Island Trees v. Pico (1982), which holds that is impermissible to ban books from schools simply because someone doesn't happen to like what they have to say. Instead, they chose to accept Scroggins' complaint and violate the First Amendment.
I marvel at how he managed to achieve an earned Ph.D. without tainting his mind with those subversive items called "books".
Reach Scroggins via his work email here:
http://search.missouristate.ed...%2Fpeople%2F%3Fmail%3DWesScroggins%2540MissouriState.edu
and the school board here:
http://www.republicschools.org...
and call them an " * "
In the 'Footloose' movie the book of Kurt Vonnegut is also mentioned to be forbidden is school
Maybe, they feel that the United States fire bombing of Dresden was embarrassing to our government. I think war crimes like that don't quite jibe with the mindless propaganda that our children are forced to memorize. The hydrogen bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are very hard to explain, but the fire bombing of Dresden was like 2000 9/11 attacks. Complete mass murder and not the worst of our WW2 war crimes.
Listen, Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time. Poh-Tuh-Tweet!!
Schlachtofen funf !!
As an old New York boy and transplant to the Midwest, I am aggravated by something I noticed shortly after moving here. The people from this part of the world have a noticeable inferiority complex. Don't let the people on the coasts sell you on their superiority. Midwesterners have a lot going for them. While I can understand why the people back home don't want Missouri values imposed the Big Apple, I am confused why they think imposing New York values on us is okay.
I'm from Missouri and there are many thickened skulls and protruding brows all around me. Their religion is poisonous to life in general. REPENT!!!!
His kids are home schooled! That speaks volumes. He sounds like the kind of guy who complains about the menus at restaurants he doesn't go to. His unfortunate kids are going to be ill-equipped to deal with exposure to ideas other than their own.
"The original parent may have been a Bible-thumping nitwit, but it sounds to me like the school board took their job seriously, and made some difficult decisions. You and I may not totally agree with those decisions, but I can't see characterizing this as the act of some hillbilly uber-Christians."
Hillbilly uberChristians? No, I would never call them that. Hillbilly idiots who don't actually understand how to read the bible in the first place? Definitely.
Hang on a second here. The parent who complained appears to be the only one who invoked the Bible. I see nothing in the school board's decision that mentions the Bible. They disagreed with the parent on one book, banned one because of profanity (for a high school library, I can kinda understand), and the other because of themes of adult sexuality. I may be fine with letting my high-schooler read a book along those lines, but I can completely understand why a public school board, which is beholden to all sorts of parents, might reasonably shy away from that.
The original parent may have been a Bible-thumping nitwit, but it sounds to me like the school board took their job seriously, and made some difficult decisions. You and I may not totally agree with those decisions, but I can't see characterizing this as the act of some hillbilly uber-Christians.
David is in Florence, Italy (Firenze), in a museum which also houses rare musical instruments, including about a dozen by Stradivarius. The Louvre does have "Winged Victory", the Nike of Samothrace, though, and it can be considered quite naughty, what with the skin tight robe and the headless woman, with wings no less. Of course, if you go across the street from the Louvre (more or less), you can see "Luncheon on the Grass" where a naked woman is having lunch with two fully dressed men - ah, the scandal.
On top of everything concerned, I think this is really just one of the minor issues. I mean, like, ZOMG THEY USE CONDOMS! instead of - hm, maybe safe sex is the thing to teach people?
Only in Missouri? Let me introduce you to the states of Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina. They've got just about as many right-wing god-botherers who would love to ensconce their whackadoo interpretations of fairy tales in law, but often content themselves with ruining education for everyone.
Wesley Scroggins? With such a dickensian name, no wonder. Let us imagine him crooked over a candle, with bad teeth and primitove demeanor, cackling half-madly.
Because we have to deal with how your state votes? So it's incredibly important that your state properly educate your children so as not to function as an anchor on the betterment of the nation?
Is no one concerned with the inherent misogyny here? "Oh, books about women being raped are fine, but books about women having reasonably pleasurable sexual experiences? Those HAVE to go!"
This article definitely destroys any preconceived notion I'd ever had about people from Missouri being a bunch of inbred mouth-breathers.
He stated that is was the nearest decent-sized newspaper, not that is was a decent newspaper in and of itself.
The Taliban would wholeheartedly approve! :-) All right wing authoritarians hate the rest of us because we're free. Say "NO!" to all those who would limit our freedom to think. Say "NO!" to all who would ban all literature that doesn't conform to their childish dogmas. From banning books to burning them, to murdering those who read them (as we recently saw in the Norway shootings). Enough is enough. -Rafael Espericueta
The Taliban would wholeheartedly approve! :-) All right wing authoritarians hate the rest of us because we're free. Say "NO!" to all those who would limit our freedom to think. Say "NO!" to all who would ban all literature that doesn't conform to their childish dogmas. From banning books to burning them, to murdering those who read them (as we recently saw in the Norway shootings). Enough is enough.
Maybe Scroggins should read his Bible objectively making full use of his God-given reason. If he would do this he would find the Bible is full of disgusting, genocidal, fear based superstitions and myths. The Old Testament/Hebrew Bible at Numbers 31:15-18 has Moses instructing the Israeli army "to kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man
by lying with him. But all the women
children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for
yourselves." These are very sick and ungodly teachings. The Bible is full of nonsense like this. As Thomas Paine wrote in The Age of Reason, The Complete Edition, "Is it because ye are sunk in the cruelty of superstition, or feel no interest in the honor of your Creator, that ye listen to the horrid tales of the Bible, or hear them with callous indifference?"Progress! Bob Johnsonwww.deism.com
The most disturbing part of this whole thing is that someone actually described a rape as being depicted "tastefully".
As a huge Vonnegut fan I would like to thank the republic school board for introducing a whole new generation of youngsters to the many profound works of Kurt Vonnegut. Without them banning his book slaughterhouse five most of these kids would never have heard of Kurt Vonnegut. Ting-a-ling.
When you eventually get beyond the myths of religion, and can imagine that 'being remembered fondly, lovingly, by those who have loved you is what heaven and the future is all about the I think our future looks bright!
When influence and power are based on fear, ignorance and superstitions; then man, damn we are in a terrible mess. You can look at the teabaggers as the future in this regard.
Peace be with you all.
Dan
"....Springfield is where the nearest decent-sized newspaper is located"
WRONG. Here's where your geography lesson begins. The Springfield News-Leader should be called the 'Springfield CHRISTIAN News Paper, as they ALWAYS print letters from bible-thumpers and war mongers, but if you write a letter to the editor questioning why are we still killing Muslims and why so many 'Christians' back this bloodshed, they won't print your letter, as I've found out several times.
BTW, I live in Douglas County, about 38 miles East of Springfield, so I know a little about the pro-war attitudes and the phony Bible-Thumpers that are everywhere in this beautiful countryside.
If they just said that it was the equal of a rated "R" movie and was too adult for school kids, I can understand. But they have to leave religion out of the debate. Religion, Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Buddhism, etc has no place in our schools, exept for in Social Studies.
"drunken teens [who] also end up on the beach, where they use their
condoms to have sex.".
That's the problem, right there. These teens should have been drunk on the WORD of the LORD. Then they'd know better than to use condoms while having sex, since every good Christian knows that's doing it wrong. The MORAL thing to do is have sex without condoms in Missouri. It ensures a steady supply of next-generation stupidity while also providing more fodder for anti-birth-control lawmaking and anti-choice billboards.
Between you and me, those backwards, redneck, Bible-thumping babies-to-be aren't even attractive enough for the graphic anti-choice protest signs. You can just TELL they hired models, or perhaps used steak.
[insert randomly-chosen Bible verse here to prove that I obviously know what I'm talking about and am closed to further reasoning.]
This is a good argument for the case that people who are claim religious authority should be constituionally banned form holding government office.
The school should immediately gather up all available copies of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and burn them.
Irony completed.
Also, watch out for heroic tales that glorify roving gangs of young
hooligans stealing, killing, and ingesting mind-altering substances.
Then again, the public schools probably no longer teach the Odyssey.
Andrew: 1. you forgot the use of condoms as ballons or use them for whippets :)
2. I agree with this statement whole-heartedly.... and further, if they are not your children then keep your nose out of their business... let parents be parents.. we have way too many busy-body know-it-alls that think they know what is best for others when odds are they are more deviant than the ones they want to monitor/control.
The taliban use just EXACTLY the same justification for all their repression 'It's not approved by the holy book/ It is againt the teachings of the Holy Book" (Insert the name of your preferred religious text). The Taliban also claim they hold the 'Moral Authority' to impose censorship on others. Does anyone else see similarities here?
There is no difference between the reliigious fanatacism of these people, and that of the Taliban.
Well, no, because Divine Justice (TM) is rained down upon them! And that is apparently okay...
what a loser.
Dr. Wesley Scroggins
Associate Professor,
Management
PhD from New Mexico State University (2003)
Office location: Glass 334
Phone Number: 417-836-5505
Email: WesScroggins@MissouriState.edu
I think it's awesome that they banned Vonnegut. Now at least a handful of these shaggy haired mopes will put down their gadgets and go read a book to go see what all the fuss is about!
My dad died when i was 15, and my mother has been disabled my whole life. I was in a really rough spot in my teens. Kurt Vonnegut was what sustained me in those years. I couldn't be the person i am today without his books.
Slaughterhouse-Five is typically labeled as being vulgar for a single instance of the word "motherfucker" btw. Haha.
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