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August 2001 - June 2017
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To everyone who joined these forums at some point, and got discouraged by the negativity and left after a while (or even got literally scared off): I'm sorry.
I wasn't good enough at encouraging people to be kinder, and removing people who refuse to be kind. Encouraging people is hard, and removing people creates conflict, and I hate conflict... so that's why I wasn't better at it.
I was a very, very sensitive teen. The atmosphere of this forum as it is now, if it had existed in 1996, would probably have upset me far more than it would have helped.
I can handle quite a lot of negativity and even abuse now, but that isn't the point. I want to help people. I want to help the people who need it the most, and I want to help people like the 1996 version of me.
I'm still figuring out the best way to do that, but as it is now, these forums are doing more harm than good, and I can't keep running them.
Thank you to the few people who have tried to understand my point of view so far. I really, really appreciate you guys. You are beautiful people.
Everyone else: If after everything I've said so far, you still don't understand my motivations, I think it's unlikely that you will. We're just too different. Maybe someday in the future it might make sense, but until then, there's no point in arguing about it. I don't have the time or the energy for arguing anymore. I will focus my time and energy on people who support me, and those who need help.
-SoulRiser
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Let's try to compile a HUGE list of books that have been banned, tried to be banned, or restricted in some way. Maybe even have a conversation about banned books in the process. What's the reason for it's banning? Why was this book banned, but not this one?
Let's begin!
Sub's Mental Log! We've had a lot of fun, guys.
Fulltime Member, 2013-2014
RIP GWEDIN
RIP URITIYOGI
RIP NIGHT
RIP HANSGROHE
RIP VON
RIP WES
RIP USERNAME
All four Twilight books have been banned across many schools, because the books had "racy, sexual themes" and "contradicted religious beliefs." Kids aren't allowed to bring any Twilight novels to school either.
My district recently banned Bless Me, Ultima
And as far as I'm aware, that and The Catcher In the Rye are the only books my district has banned.
"When will the world listen to reason? I have a feeling it'll be a long time." --Dexter Holland
"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have. The course of history shows as government grows, liberty decreases. " --Thomas Jefferson
11-13-2013 12:10 PM
Thanks given by:
James Comey
Banished Oldfaf in Exile
Posts: 6,500
Joined: Aug 2013
I wonder if Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks has been banned in any school district. I finished reading the book. Seriously, there's a lot of drug use, sex, alcohol, etc in the story, and it's pretty much all about rebelling against authority.
Listing off a few from memory, 1984, Brave New World, the Bible and the Qur'an, Fahrenheit 451, and Harry Potter have been banned from schools across the country.
I'm actually going to start reading the Catcher in the Rye soon.
Sub's Mental Log! We've had a lot of fun, guys.
Fulltime Member, 2013-2014
RIP GWEDIN
RIP URITIYOGI
RIP NIGHT
RIP HANSGROHE
RIP VON
RIP WES
RIP USERNAME
(This post was last modified: 11-13-2013 01:41 PM by Subb.)
(11-13-2013 05:25 AM)Lord Justice Wrote: All four Twilight books have been banned across many schools, because the books had "racy, sexual themes" and "contradicted religious beliefs." Kids aren't allowed to bring any Twilight novels to school either.
Wow, that's terrible! I can think of much better reasons to ban those books.
I hated the Catcher in the Rye; it's a book that speaks only to sociopaths and elitists. I wish my school had banned it; instead it was required reading. The fictional character I loathe most has to be Holden Caulfield...
Public Service Announcement: First world problems are still problems.
(11-14-2013 07:16 AM)DoA Wrote: I hated the Catcher in the Rye; it's a book that speaks only to sociopaths and elitists. I wish my school had banned it; instead it was required reading. The fictional character I loathe most has to be Holden Caulfield...
That's kind of the point. You're not supposed to like the guy.
Sub's Mental Log! We've had a lot of fun, guys.
Fulltime Member, 2013-2014
RIP GWEDIN
RIP URITIYOGI
RIP NIGHT
RIP HANSGROHE
RIP VON
RIP WES
RIP USERNAME
(This post was last modified: 11-14-2013 08:46 AM by Subb.)
(11-14-2013 07:16 AM)DoA Wrote: I hated the Catcher in the Rye; it's a book that speaks only to sociopaths and elitists. I wish my school had banned it; instead it was required reading. The fictional character I loathe most has to be Holden Caulfield...
That's kind of the point. You're not supposed to like the guy.
My English teacher was reading it all wrong, then.
But seriously; why make the character unlikable if you're going to follow him around the whole novel?
Public Service Announcement: First world problems are still problems.
(11-14-2013 07:16 AM)DoA Wrote: I hated the Catcher in the Rye; it's a book that speaks only to sociopaths and elitists. I wish my school had banned it; instead it was required reading. The fictional character I loathe most has to be Holden Caulfield...
That's kind of the point. You're not supposed to like the guy.
My English teacher was reading it all wrong, then.
But seriously; why make the character unlikable if you're going to follow him around the whole novel?
To prove a point.
Hello, traveler.
This is an ancient account I have not used in a long time. My views have changed much in the intervening months and years.
Nonetheless, I refuse to clean it up. Pretending that I've held my current views since the beginning of time is what we in the industry call a lie. Asking people to do so contributes to moralistic self-loathing. "See, those people have nothing damning! I do! I'm truly vile!"
Because you can never be a good person with a single blemish on the moral record, I thought that simply entertaining some thoughts made me irredeemable. Though I don't care for his writing style, William Faulkner presents a good counterexample. He went from being a typical Southern racist to supporting the civil rights movement. These days we'd yell at him for that, probably.
People are allowed to change their views.
Nevertheless, this period of my life has informed some of how I am today. In good ways and bad ways. To purge it would be to do a disservice to history. Perhaps it will not make anyone sympathetic, but it may help someone understand.
If, after reading all this, you still decide to use the post above as evidence that I am evil today, ask yourself if you have never disagreed with the moral code you now follow. In all likelihood you did, at some point. If some questions are verboten, and the answer is "how dare you ask that," don't expect your ideological opponents to ever change their minds.
11-14-2013 09:18 AM
Thanks given by:
LadyKira
Stardust Crusader
Posts: 429
Joined: Feb 2013
RIP URY AND GWEDIN
"The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches a lesson."-Tom Bodett
"I've been making a list of the things they don't teach you at school. They don't teach you how to love somebody. They don't teach you how to be famous. They don't teach you how to be rich or how to be poor. They don't teach you how to walk away from someone you don't love any longer. They don't teach you how to know what's going on in someone else's mind. They don't teach you what to say to someone who's dying. They don't teach you anything worth knowing."-Neil Gaimen
I wonder if Lies My Teacher Told Me and possibly A People's History of the United States are banned as well. Lies more likely because it may directly conflict with the curriculum and what the teacher says.
Actually, my history teacher has a copy of LMTTM and the curriculum is more or less accurate to it so far.
Hello, traveler.
This is an ancient account I have not used in a long time. My views have changed much in the intervening months and years.
Nonetheless, I refuse to clean it up. Pretending that I've held my current views since the beginning of time is what we in the industry call a lie. Asking people to do so contributes to moralistic self-loathing. "See, those people have nothing damning! I do! I'm truly vile!"
Because you can never be a good person with a single blemish on the moral record, I thought that simply entertaining some thoughts made me irredeemable. Though I don't care for his writing style, William Faulkner presents a good counterexample. He went from being a typical Southern racist to supporting the civil rights movement. These days we'd yell at him for that, probably.
People are allowed to change their views.
Nevertheless, this period of my life has informed some of how I am today. In good ways and bad ways. To purge it would be to do a disservice to history. Perhaps it will not make anyone sympathetic, but it may help someone understand.
If, after reading all this, you still decide to use the post above as evidence that I am evil today, ask yourself if you have never disagreed with the moral code you now follow. In all likelihood you did, at some point. If some questions are verboten, and the answer is "how dare you ask that," don't expect your ideological opponents to ever change their minds.
11-14-2013 09:28 PM
Thanks given by:
James Comey
Banished Oldfaf in Exile
Posts: 6,500
Joined: Aug 2013
America tried to morally and actually ban the reading of The Communist Manifesto, which I am reading right now (I'm in 6th grade).
"Thou shalt not be an asshole"
-The one commandment of atheism.
SubCulture said "If you call xcriteria a shithead, he will write a ten page essay on why he is not a shithead, link you to a tedtalk on bullying and the tvtropes page on insults. After reading and watching all that you would evaluate your life and decide to never call anyone a shithead ever again."
11-20-2013 11:30 AM
Thanks given by:
brainiac3397
Machiavellian Amoeba
Posts: 9,823
Joined: Feb 2013
My public library has both the communist manifesto and mein kampf(3 copies might I add). My area is pretty liberal about books. I dont know about the states bans, but as far as my experience has been, the only place with a "ban" was my high school and it was somewhat informally enforced. Teachers werent allowed to introduce certain materials(Romeo and Juliet wasnt allowed because of its sexual themes) but students themselves could get away with reading such books, though supportive teachers would suggest keeping them out of sight and admins would take and tell parents why the book was bad and warn the student.
I think there might've been some books regarding sex in my school in the library, IDR.
At least they weren't that patronizing.
Also there was this Catcher in the Rye-style book which was based in modern Ireland instead, I forget what it was called... argh I enjoyed it too. I wonder if you could help me find it.
TBH most of the required reading is infinitely worse than the things that are banned.
their pee should hv been shot out like a ki blast breaking the rocks
oh and also No one has any rights. We're free, rights create invisible restrictions. But we live in a society where the majority accepts rights to be true.
05-08-2017 07:53 AM
Thanks given by:
Depression101
Freedom Fighter
Posts: 317
Joined: Mar 2017
This year, in school, we read The Pearl by John Steinbeck, where an infant gets his brains blown out with a rifle. And in Grapes of Wrath there is this scene, at the end, where a girl feeds some starving guy with breast milk, if I remember right.
And sorry, Hans, I don't know the book. I hardly even read anything to do with Ireland. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is the only thing I really read written by an Irish man, to do with Ireland.
"Then it was straight to the 40 ouncers/ slapping teachers and jacking off in front of my counselors." As the World Turns - Eminem.
"A man is a success if gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between does whatever he does what he wants to do." - Bob Dylan.
"A good artist should be isolated. If he isn't isolated, something is wrong." - Orson Welles.
"That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange eons, even death may die." - H.P. Lovecraft.
"I became insane, with long intervals of painful sanity." Edgar Allan Poe.
Purity is to Believe only that which deserves it. Wisdom is to follow only the Opinion which makes the best use of evidence. Excellence is to be mindful of all these things in Living. Follow me on Twitter!
05-13-2017 08:20 AM
Thanks given by:
James Comey
Banished Oldfaf in Exile
Posts: 6,500
Joined: Aug 2013
Purity is to Believe only that which deserves it. Wisdom is to follow only the Opinion which makes the best use of evidence. Excellence is to be mindful of all these things in Living. Follow me on Twitter!
(This post was last modified: 05-15-2017 08:47 AM by the Analogist.)
05-15-2017 08:46 AM
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The man
Resistance Leader
Posts: 360
Joined: Feb 2017
(05-14-2017 06:13 AM)Hansgrohe Wrote: Someone should bring John Taylor Gatto books to school.
Better yet, how about that one guy you keep talking about... Engel?
their pee should hv been shot out like a ki blast breaking the rocks
oh and also No one has any rights. We're free, rights create invisible restrictions. But we live in a society where the majority accepts rights to be true.
05-15-2017 10:20 AM
Thanks given by:
James Comey
Banished Oldfaf in Exile
Posts: 6,500
Joined: Aug 2013
I forget which page number lists the purposes of school. if you find a copy its like somewhere in the middle as i recall
Purity is to Believe only that which deserves it. Wisdom is to follow only the Opinion which makes the best use of evidence. Excellence is to be mindful of all these things in Living. Follow me on Twitter!
05-22-2017 12:19 PM
Thanks given by:
James Comey
Banished Oldfaf in Exile
Posts: 6,500
Joined: Aug 2013