Sarah's comments (member since Jun 24, 2007)

Sarah's comments from the Banned Books group.

the school issue is considered differently because usually the kids are minors, and their free speech is not the same as the free speech of adults, and safety- states have the authority to make rules for safety and health, for example. And there are some studies that suggest that advertising does cause kids to be more willing to try it-lots coming out of the tobacco industy, for example- Joe Camel being very recognizable to very young kids.
Bong Hits 4 Jesus was 18, and he was across the street, so he wasn't on school property. The Supreme Court, which has been very busy this week (!!) used only the argument that the kids at the school could see a message encouraging drug use, so the Principal was acting to protect the safety and health of the group, as she is responsible for doing.
But I agree with you, this is a very slippery slope. I heard Colin Powell say on Larry King last night that there have to be limits on what we can say publically- and his wife added that a degree of civility is called for in public discourse- they were talking about Imus and his unfortunate mouth. And I agree that civility in public discourse is a good idea, but when he said limits on what we can say publically, my heart nearly seized up.
Out where I've been living, on the Navajo Reservation, information is still printed up on flyers and posters and stuck with a pin to the wall of the Trading Post, or the grocery story bulliten board. Everybody stops and reads these, though most people don't have computers- I thought it was interesting in this case that this kid was putting his message out there in this fashion, in this old-fashioned sort of way, like an extremely short flash fiction story. Or the first few words of one, anyway. It makes me think there are lots of innovative ways to get fiction and poetry out there to people who don't usually read. But- I'm wandering off-topic!

This is Bong Hits 4 Jesus? Schools have always restricted free speech that promoted something illegal, such as drug or alcohol use. I would support that restriction, having worked with adolescents and being the mother of a teenager. They do not need any additional encouragement to use illegal drugs.
But if the kid had held up a banner that said Blow Jobs for Jesus, then he would have gotten the same response from the Principal,(and maybe his mother) and he would have won his Supreme Court battle. Interesting case- he has learned a great deal about how civil law in this country works, probably more that he got in high school. Wonder where he's going to college. Is this a young ACLU Lawyer in the making? We can only hope so- we need all of them we can get.

I didn't explain my point very clearly, did I? Forgive me! What I meant was this: I have noticed that publishers guidelines reflect social mores. An example- my novel Border Roads, which will be published on July 2 by Loose ID- I originally had a character who was a 15 yr old prostitute, HIV Pos. The editor, and then the publisher, had guidelines, though, that characters under 18 could not have sex. So I had to increase this characters age in the manuscript to 18 in order for the book to get published. I think we all wish that there were no 15 year old prostitutes with HIV.
My point was that I believe, and will say so even in the absence of empirical proof, that tolerance for diversity is disapearing in our culture, and with it, we will see subtle forms of censorship- I don't expect to have my ass hauled down to the KGB dungeons for writing a mystery with a gay sleuth, but I do expect subtle social pressures to have that sleuth be nice and wear a condom, for instance.

I think censorship will move out of the school library system and onto Internet publishing. Censorship is being accomplished with money in the adult literary world- the small presses and the indie bookstores are closing, and editors are the first line censors- the strongest and strangest ideas are considered in relationship to how they will affect the money.