{"id":11557,"date":"2012-12-10T12:25:54","date_gmt":"2012-12-10T19:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=11557"},"modified":"2012-12-11T09:40:44","modified_gmt":"2012-12-11T16:40:44","slug":"you-cant-read-that-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=11557","title":{"rendered":"You Can’t Read That!"},"content":{"rendered":"

You Can\u2019t Read That! is a periodic post about censorship and banned books.<\/p>\n

\"can't<\/p>\n

You can’t say that on the internet!<\/a>\u00a0Well then, why don’t we build an internet<\/a>\u00a0where we can say what we please? Until then, we’ll have to rely on Auden’s\u00a0points of light<\/a>, flashing out wherever the Just exchange their messages.<\/p>\n

I think we all understand why states refuse to issue certain personalized license plates, even though it’s a form of censorship. That might be about to change<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Michigan college censors “fuck censorship” posters<\/a>. Call me old-fashioned, but I’m okay with that. I’m not okay with forcing offensive language on people in public places.<\/p>\n

Nobel-winning Chinese author Mo Yan\u00a0defends censorship<\/a>. Now before you refer me to my previous paragraph and accuse me of calling the kettle black, Mo Yan isn’t talking about dirty words on T-shirts … he’s talking about state censorship of political speech. And that’s disappointing.<\/p>\n

If you can’t allow schoolchildren to read a book about gay penguins, you damn well can’t let them see a play about gay penguins<\/a> either!<\/p>\n

One South Carolina librarian takes it upon herself to\u00a0remove a graphic novel from the library<\/a>\u00a0rather than comply with her own rule … you know, the one that says you can’t let children check out books from the “adults only” section.<\/p>\n

Book-banning activist parents are popping up all over: in\u00a0Pennsylvania<\/a>, in\u00a0Washington<\/a>, in\u00a0Colorado<\/a>, in Ohio<\/a>. I smell Christian right rats at work.<\/p>\n

Here’s a related attack on books and learning, this time in North Carolina:<\/p>\n