Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to They used to burn bras.

Oh, talk to me about idealism.
Mary Anne — (archived)

I'm protecting the free speech of people who are attacking me, in print, for including in the library's collection a book about the true story of two male penguins raising a chick in Central Park Zoo. Lucky for me, it's not in the newspapers, only in their newsletters.

It's not enough to have mostly your own way. One has to stamp out the other side.

If I thought like them, the first thing I'd do would be to eliminate the entire Left Behind series, about the slaughter of non-believers during the run-up to Armageddon, from the collection. Yet it's not only still here, but I keep buying the new ones, because they have a right to read what they want. Unlike their opinion of people who want to read things that feature homosexual characters in anything resembling a positive light.

I'll tell you what, though: I've been very careful of their feelings, and very cautious about my purchases of "gay lit" because of the possibility of book challenges. And I know we have gay and lesbian citizens in our service area, because they talk to me. The attacks have caused me to critically reexamine the level of self-censorship I'm practicing in this area. If these clowns are going to give me grief about freaking penguins, I think it's time to correct the imbalance that works in their favor. They can just call me out about books with more substance.

Log in or register to post.

The whole thread (46 posts)