Let's Ban Bans

Thought for the day:  Doing a book signing tomorrow at Barnes & Noble. Bring your own book... I haven't written one yet.  [Daniel Tosh]

Until earlier this week, we were visiting Murphy, North Carolina, a smallish town in the Great Smoky Mountains. Talk about an ahhhhhhh experience. Just gorgeous. But we weren't there just to see the sights, and we didn't do any fishing, either... not for fish, anyway.

I was fishing for readers.

At a book signing!!!

I remember the days of sitting at book signings, playing with my pen when no one would come, and still I even then thought I was living the dream, because I had a book out.  [Harlan Coben]

This lovely lady bought TWO books... one for herself, and one for her daughter's birthday. (And she'd already read a friend's copy, so.. woo HOO!... she knew exactly what she was buying!)

Unlike this crusty ol' moonshiner. He grabbed a copy of my book mighty quick-like, but I think his eyesight needed some adjustment. He kept calling the book Hot Batches and Cold Lemonade. Could be he thought it was some kinda (ahem) recipe book?

Bottom line, we had a terrific time. The day of the signing, it poured down rain, so there wasn't exactly a long line of people chomping at the bit to get my John Hancock. But that's okeydoke by me. We met some really nice people, and we spent a few days with good friends. It doesn't get much better than that.

Now that we're home, I can't ignore the fact that this week was Banned Book Week. Since 1982, the American Library Association has used the last week in September to make the public aware of attempts to restrict or remove books from libraries and school curricula.


There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.  [Joseph Brodsky]

By lodging a formal challenge to reading material based on their own personal objections, certain individuals and groups aren't just expressing an opinion; they want to restrict our access to that material. They want to impose their beliefs on the rest of society, and thereby pose a threat to our freedoms of speech and choice. (Da bums.)

Believe it or not, many books now considered classics were banned at one time. Books written by some of our most beloved authors.

Of the nearly 500 challenges lodged this past year, these are the top ten targets:

• Captain Underpants (series) by Dav Pilkey. 
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie. 
• Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher
• Fifty Shades of Grey, by E.L. James
• And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
• The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
• Looking for Alaska, by John Green
• Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz
• The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls
• Beloved, by Toni Morrison

Know what I think? I think we should all make an effort to read at least one book from this list.

And on the subject of burning books: I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength or powerful political connections or their great wealth, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and have refused to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those items.

So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.  [Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country]

                                    Resist ignorance: read a book!

                        Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

[Thanks to the fine folks at icanhascheezburger for granting me permission to use their images.]

Big Brother Busting His Britches?

Thought for the day:  I think the world is run by C students.  [Al McGuire]

Good parents give their children guidelines all the time, and in general, those dos and don't dos are meant to protect our little ones. Don't play with fire. Look both ways before crossing the street. Don't interrupt Mommy when she's reading a book, and for Heaven's sake, leave Dad alone when the football game's in overtime. You get the idea.

But how about our governments? Just how great a job are they doing at looking out for our welfare? And how bright are our world leaders? Ayn Rand said, The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, make them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.


Intriguing thought, eh? I'm not saying I agree with her, but governments around the world certainly have placed a ban on a host of unusual things. Not sure how bright they are, either. You've probably heard of the ol' Banned in Boston stigma, but have you heard of any of these bans:

How about a ban against small boobs? Well, not exactly, but that's how it's playing out. According to the Australian government, there's no place in porn flicks for small breasts. Not saying they're all lecherous  fans of gigantic tatas, (not saying they aren't, either) but the law gives the Australian Classification Board the right to ban any adult film that they believe depicts a woman who may be less than eighteen years of age. Makes sense to put the kibbosh on kiddie porn, but the end result of this ban is that movies are being banned based solely on the size of an actress' cup size. Who cares if the ol' gal has wrinkles? Them thar boobs are too danged small!

Since most game consoles are made in China, it seems a bit bizarre that it's against the law to actually SELL the consoles there. In 2000, the government decided young people were spending entirely too much time playing, when they should be working. Not sure how effective this ban has proven to be at getting the kiddies into more industrious pursuits, though, because plenty of non-console games are still readily available for sale within the country.

Talking about video games, for a while, all video games were taboo in Greece. The ban started at the beginning of 2002, in a well-intentioned attempt to rid the country of gambling machines. Unfortunately, the law was written in such broad terms, it essentially outlawed all video games. However, the ban was declared unconstitutional by the end of that year.




You must obey the law always, not only when they grab you by your special place.  [Vladimir Putin]

Here's another lulu. The Chinese government put a ban on  reincarnation without prior consent. Kinda reminds me of the joke I hung on the lab wall back in the '60s that listed a bunch of bogus workplace rules. One was that you had to give two weeks' notice before dying. (Believe it or not, one of my co-workers thought it was for real, too.) Anyway, this ban is an attempt to establish control over the Tibetan Buddhists, including the Dalai Lama.

I used to think Denmark was a bastion of liberalism. Not so much. Would you believe they have the strictest child-naming guidelines in the world? Parents must either select names from a government-approved list, or seek special permission for an exception. (Guess there's no Ima Hogg there, huh?)







Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant, and a fearful master. [George Washington]

Jasmine is a lovely flower, isn't it? Smells wonderful, too. But this delicate, sweet-smelling flower is banned in China. Following the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia, the Chinese government not only banned the flower from their country, but also any song about the flower, or any use of the word in a text message.

Because the government of Saudi Arabia considers the celebration of Valentine's Day to be a violation of Muslim beliefs, all florists and gift shops must remove everything red or symbolic of romance from their shelves prior to the holiday, and are banned from selling any such items to their would-be customers. But Cupid refuses to be denied. Lovers can buy red roses and other romantic goods through a thriving Valentine's Day black market...  for a mere six times their usual value. 






Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one. [Thomas Paine]

Iran, like many other countries in the Middle East, wants to curb the spread of what they perceive as Western decadence. To that end, many Western haircuts are banned. There is actually a list of government-approved haircuts. To be sure, the one in this picture would be taboo. Ditto, mullets, ponytails, and spikes. 






















Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.  [Ronald Reagan]


So, whatcha think? What's the oddest ban YOU ever heard of? Or better yet, what do you think SHOULD be banned? Salespeople who know absolutely nothing about the product they're trying to sell you? Those annoying robot telephone calls? Calls made for technical assistance that are routed to some other country, where the helper obviously doesn't have a firm grasp of your language? Products that fall apart two days after the warranty expires? Something else? Do tell.

As for me, I'll wear my hair however I darned well please.

              Fear not. Even if Big Brother is getting too big for his britches... he'll  be exposed in the end.

                                         Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other

[The info in this post was gleaned from a 2011 article written by Jill Harness, entitled, 11 Things You Won't Believe Governments Have Banned.]