Bonfire Planned, Bring Your Own Kindling
And she’s off on a rant again….
In Monday evening when I was vaguely skimming the paper, seeing what had happened during my four-day absence from anything not exhibit-related (I still giggle when placing em and an exhibit in the same sentence – bear with me for a bit longer, okay?), I came upon this article which tells the story of the Toronto Public School Board looking into a complaint about To Kill a Mockingbird
WTF???
If a book, as described in the article, “chronicles racial injustice in the American deep south” during a specific era, why on earth would you ban it because of the N-word? Is the n-word in this book not a vital component of chronicling racial injustice? If you’re trying to teach adolescents about racism and its historical evolution, why would you even think of omitting literature – nevermind something that’s considered a classic – that actually makes the experience of racism visceral and real that way only a great story can?
by Margaret Atwood, complained about by yet another dimwit because of “sexuality, language and criticism of religion” and I would say WTF again, except perhaps I should attempt to achieve a higher level of intellectual discourse.
If it's any help, my level of intellectual discourse on this particular topic, with your examples, is exactly the same! And this is a school…??? FFS!!! BOTH books you mention are highly valuable, well-written texts that can be used (apart from just being great reads) to study any number of social issues that are as relevant now as they were when the books were written.
Sometimes I wonder really, how far we've come…
Yeah, I don't think I have any desire to waste an electron of my intelligence on such a stupid idea. Apparently American stupidity is contagious. Sorry.
Kirsten