A public school board in Missouri has banned Kurt Vonnegut's classic novel Slaughterhouse Five because it "teaches ideas that are contrary to the Bible." This action came after a protracted complaint campaign by local university "professor" Wesley Scroggins.
Shortly before 9 p.m. Monday, the school board voted 4-0 -- three members were absent -- to keep Laurie Halse Anderson's "Speak," an award-winning book about date rape, and remove Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five" and Sarah Ockler's "Twenty Boy Summer." Wesley Scroggins, a Republic resident, challenged the use of the books and lesson plans in Republic schools, arguing they teach principles contrary to the Bible. "I congratulate them for doing what's right and removing the two books," said Scroggins, who didn't attend the board meeting. "It's unfortunate they chose to keep the other book."
80 comments
"Speak", an award-winning book about date rape
I haven't read the book, but I'm going to take a guess here and say that the title is a reference to how this sort of thing should not be covered up and silenced, which makes it HILARIOUS that this guy was trying to do precisely that.
The author saw fit to write this passage at the end of her novel regarding the censorship of fiction dealing with sensitive issues;
'But censoring books that deal with difficult, adolescent issues does not protect anybody. Quite the opposite. It leaves kids in the darkness and makes them vulnerable. Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance. Our children cannot afford to have the truth of the world withheld from them.'
I imagine this is totally lost on this Scroggins cretin.
Yeah, we all know that Andy should have just given Melinda's father fifty shekels and married her like a decent rapist. That's what it says to do in the Bible.
I can't believe some parents still won't let their freaking teenagers learn about violence and sex.
Wait til they get to college. English profs love to have fun with sheltered fundy kids.
Sheesh, the Dow recently takes a 513 point plunge and this... THIS?! ... is what they're all worried and frothing about?!
People like this fucking deserve the misery in their lives that their actions or apathy bring.
I'd rather keep the Bible out of the hands of the impressionable.
It teaches them all kinds of evil stuff, like genocide, ripping babies from wombs and dashing them on rocks, having bears rip kids to shreds for making fun of a bald guy.
I could go on but I think the point would be missed by Wesley Scrotum up there.
@Zeus Almighty
The Vatican. Stalin. Various Muslim clerics.
Phew. Narrowly avoided a Godwin there. You've got to be more careful with what you say, friend.
And all the time while you imbecile moronic retards are thumping your chest and screaming "USA - Free Speech #1!"
Goof heavens - what a stupid country - you wouldn't know what free speech was if it jumped up and bit your ass!
image
Yes, I'm Godwinning like hell, but they're really asking for it here.
And what's with the Vonnegut hate recently? Seriously. Slaughterhouse 5 came out, what, over 40 years ago? Kinda late to be hating on it now. Might as well campaign to have Copernicus and Galileo's works banned while you're at it, since they too teach ideas that are contrary to the Bible. You know, like the Earth revolves around the Sun, and shit.
What's with all the Vonnegut hate lately? Now, I have never actually read any of his books, but I must oppose censorship as a matter of principle. This school board is despicable for wanting to prevent children from being exposed to all the differing viewpoints that go against their very narrow and very reactionary (not to mention demonstrably false) view of Christianity.
Now, I may not have read Slaughterhouse Five , but I have read Speak , so I can tell you that anyone who supports banning that book has either never read it, or, much worse and much more likely, is a misogynistic asshole. I'm putting my money on the latter.
@Brendan Rizzo
"Now, I may not have read Slaughterhouse Five, but I have read Speak, so I can tell you that anyone who supports banning that book has either never read it, or, much worse and much more likely, is a misogynistic asshole. I'm putting my money on the latter."
It contradicts the Biblical idea that womenfolk should keep quiet about being raped and get back in the kitchen, dammit.
Damn, your Bible sure is weak then if it can't handle any contrary ideas existing. By contrast, I, as an atheist, am fine with people reading the Bible. Hell, I'd even be okay with it being read in school (as long as it's being read along with the texts of other major religions and isn't being read in science class (where it doesn't belong; double parentheses FTW!) but rather some sort of comparative religion class). Then again, I'm not afraid of the Bible because it's all a bunch of bullshit.
"Congress is full of partisan idiots who can't get anything done."
So?
"America lost its AAA credit rating."
So?
"Kids are reading 'Slaughterhouse Five' and 'Twenty Boy Summer'."
HOLY SH**. BAN THEM! BAN THEM!!!
From the Slaughterhouse-Five Wikipedia entry:
Censorship controversy
Slaughterhouse-Five has been the subject of many attempts at censorship, due to its irreverent tone and purportedly obscene content. In the novels, American soldiers use profanity; his language is irreverent; and the book depicts sex. It was one of the first literary acknowledgments that homosexual men, referred to in the novel as "fairies," were among the victims of the Nazi Holocaust.
In the USA it is frequently banned from literature classes, removed from school libraries, and struck from literary curricula;[8] however, it is still taught in some schools. The U.S. Supreme Court considered the First Amendment implications of the removal of the book, among others, from public school libraries in the case of Island Trees School District v. Pico, [457 U.S. 853 (1982)], and concluded that "local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books and seek by their removal to 'prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion.'" Slaughterhouse-Five is the sixty-seventh entry to the American Library Association's list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-1999.
The Supreme Court already ruled that your move is fucking illegal, Scroggins!
(BTW, anyone else picturing Herr Scroggins as an Ebenezer Scrooge-like gnome/troll?)
Having read SPEAK, I'm finding it hard to figure out why it should be censored. How does it contradict the Bible? She gets date raped at a party by one of the most popular boys at school then becomes a social pariah since she reported it, everyone thinking she made it up. Other than the not-stoning her part you'd think all those bible thumpers would be lining up to say this is how you handle rape the RIGHT WAY. By making the VICTIM the one at fault.....people are assholes.
'Schlachthöf-funf.' Schlachthöf meant slaughterhouse. Funf was good old five.
But not good enough for Missouri, I suppose!
I haven't read either of these books, but my youngest was assigned a book called "The Giver" in middle school. It was one of the darkest things I'd ever encountered, and was immediately taken away from her and marched straight back to the teacher who assigned it. I shared my thoughts about it with several other parents and we formed a committee to move it out of the school curriculum. I will have to look into Slaughterhouse Five and Speak. I have read some Vonnegut long ago in college and don't recall anything that was that offensive.
@ His4Life:
Well, The Giver was written with a young adult audience in mind. I'm pretty sure that Slaugherhouse Five was written for an adult audience. I haven't read Slaugherhouse Five myself (although I probably ought to). The only Vonnegut novel I've read is {i]Cat's Cradle, which I didn't really like all that much, but I think I can see why others would. Given what I know about Vonnegut, I'm certain that Slaughterhouse Five is much darker than The Giver .
Actually, I'm rather surprised that anyone would object to The Giver . I know that it's kind of dark, but that's kind of a defining feature of most dystopian novels. I didn't know that novels were objectionable just because they were dark. And there are certainly much darker books out there. Compare it to something like 1984 .
Predictable. A topic regarding illegal censorship and what does His4Life do? Comment about how she intentionally played censor on the basis of her own singular experiences.
Christian fundamentalism never changes. Oppressive thuggery all around, from day 1.
@ His4Life
You must be from Missouri, too. A group of parents tried to ban The Giver in Independence a few years ago. I can't remember if they won or not, but it made the book more popular than ever in our area.
Also, I believe in most school districts, parents who object to a child's reading assignment are permitted to request an alternate book to read. It doesn't even sound like Scroggins had a kid at that school, so that just puts him even more out of line.
And banning books from classrooms or school libraries does nothing to stop kids from reading it. They can still purchase the books, or check them out from public libraries. School boards and small town governments can wield their little power all they want, but once a kid steps outside their jurisdiction, all bets are off.
If anything, banning it will only fuel their interest. I know when I was in school, it worked every time for us. Even in the strictest fundie homes kids will find a way to satisfy their curiosity.
Finally, did anyone else get a Footloose flashback after reading this?
This is blatantly illegal. This will be overturned immediately.
Wesley, it sounds like you don't have much confidence in your own religion, if you're afraid of people hearing different views.
I've never heard of the book "Speak," but now I'm tempted to read it.
Oh great, the anti-American bigot and Wacko4Life have already been here.
They don't seem to like Kurt Vonnegut. Well, I have a Kurt Vonnegut quote for them. It is "Sir, why don't you take a flying fuck at a rolling donut? Why don't you take a flying fuck at the mooooon?" From Slapstick.
@His4Life:
I read the The Giver in middle school. I remember loving it and reading more of Lois Lowry's books, like Gathering Blue. Maybe you should let your children explore literature a little, it'll help them later in life.
You're a public school, so who cares if Slaughterhouse Five "contradicts the Bible". Half of the classes you teach in public school are going to contradict the Bible. Besides, establishment clause. Ever heard of it?
Remember, kids, banning books is bad. Unless it's something like Twilight, because Internet feminists know what's best for you and don't trust you to be able to tell fiction from reality.
@ #1319521:
I know that there are plenty of feminists (and people in general) that don't like Twilight -- but I'm not aware of any feminists that have tried to ban it.
There's a difference between not liking something and trying to censor it.
Vonnegut was a humanist and a genius of the first order. Wes, you are sad product of an incomplete education.
Oh and Wes, Don't ever read 'Palm Sunday'; your head will explode.
I didn't say I was for banning the Vonnegut book. I just said I hadn't read it, so can't really comment on the content. I think we have a responsibility to be discerning in what we give our kids to read. Adults, on the other hand, should be free to explore whatever type of literature they deem appropriate. So, I am not in favor of "censorship" in the broad sense, but in a classroom setting, we as parents have a right to know what our kids are reading and what the subject matter is. I looked up Slaughterhouse Five (which hasn't been taught in any of my kids' classes) and it did not sound that bad, although it probably isn't something I'd let my younger kids read. The summary I read didn't comment on the homosexual aspect. I'll have to look into that.
@ His4Life --
If you object to The Giver , you'll object to the majority of novels written in the past century and a half that aren't horrid crap. Really, with your "standards", anything with any literary value would require ID to read -- and since everyone would, upon reaching age 18, only have read elementary-school-appropriate tripe, you're basically demanding the elimination of functional literacy and the death of American literature.
I guess these right-wing christians are still completely ignorant of the Streisand effect. Students would otherwise probably think nothing of these books, but now that they're banned, they'll be much more interested in reading them.
Way to fail again, christards.
@His4Life --
I'm seventeen, and I've been a voracious reader for as long as I could read. I'm not familiar with any Vonnegut, but I have read The Giver. Yes, it's dark.
But that's what made it good. That's what made it literature. It didn't flinch away from the dark side of what we can be. It's the story of a boy coming to terms with what he is as opposed to what society had groomed him to be, and every kid is going to face that, at least on a smaller scale. I read it when I was twelve, and honestly, I'm no worse for it. I don't think children -- especially not privileged American children like myself -- should be coddled about how cruel we can be. Besides, most of the really bad stuff about the dystopia in The Giver is implied; I didn't notice it at first.
But, in the end, I guess what I'm really trying to say is best expressed with a quote from the film version of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, where Sam compares his and Frodo's situation to old, great stories:
"It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why."
Thank you for your time.
"...they teach principles contrary to the Bible."
Then they must be good books, with high moral principles and with humanity's welfare and the future well-being of mankind uppermost, as opposed to the thoroughly scurrilous Black Book of Death.
I'm just going to say this: NOT EVERYTHING REVOLVES AROUND YOUR PRECIOUS HOLY TOME OF NONSENSE.
Find a more relevant excuse to keep your kids out of reality, if you must.
I read Slaughterhouse Five when I was 16. I couldn't quite follow the plot (undiagnosed ADHD ftfl), but it used the F-word. Plus, there was a part where aliens kept two humans in a zoo.
I also got assigned Mother Night/Sirens of Titan and loved them silly. Vonnegut rocks, and I hope this ban encourages kids to check out his work. d(^_^)z
You know, the Missouri school district who wanred to remove books from their libraries, among them one about rape:
these failures as human beings also don't believe, without bothering to even examine them or call the police, special ed rape victims apologize in person to their agressor before expulsing them, readmitting them without enhanced protection the following school year before being raped a second time by the same boy and, then, expulsing them a second time even when the boy actually pleaded guilty before arguing they "neglected to use reasonable means to protect [themselves]."(see here , here , here and the filing to a federal court here ).
Scumbags.
And this happened because ONE PERSON didn't want this book in the curriculum? Because it was contrary to your damn bronze-age book?
Welcome back to the dark ages...what's next, the crusades? Banning science books? Engineering books? Medical books? We're fucking doomed as a species...
And yet some still wonder "What's the harm in religion?"
I'll bet the school teaches that it's wrong to:
-stone kids for disobedience
-kill everyone in towns if they worship gods other than yours
-kill women on their wedding night if they're not virgins
-kill kids for making fun of bald-headed guys
-kill homosexuals
The bible says all of those (not to mention lots of other atrocities) are permitted; now which book do you want to ban again?
@[url=http://fstdt.com/QuoteComment.aspx?QID=83042&Page=4#1611248]1611248[/url]
And this happened because ONE PERSON didn't want this book in the curriculum? Because it was contrary to your damn bronze-age book?
And this person didn't have any child in this school.
@[url=http://fstdt.com/QuoteComment.aspx?QID=83042&Page=4#1611250]1611250[/url]
I'll bet the school teaches that it's wrong to:
-stone kids for disobedience
No but they think it is right to pressurise a psychologically fragile spedial ed student having been raped to recant her story and, then, make her hand-deliver an apology letter to her rapist before expulsing her.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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