Harrowing Acts of Courage (not really)

It's apparently Banned Books Week.

I've never gotten my knickers in a twist about banned books. I dunno, I just don't really mind. There're a ton of books out there to read, and you can TRY to ban something, but people'll get it anyway, and probably be more likely to look at it because it was banned. Soooo I don't really see the harm. Other than letting the idiots win. But those idiots aren't going to learn anyway; they'll just see themselves as martyrs up against a morally profligate age if the books remain unbanned, so let them feel that way, don't ban books, and everyone's happy.

That all being said, I have indeed suffered for the cause of banned books. *looks heroic* I went to a Christian high school whose (unofficial) policy was that if anything was controversial, it was banned. I tend to be somewhat contrarian (not you, Alice!), so I was moved to extreme teenage anger anytime something new got banned.

Being a Christian/Pentecostal school, and me being in high school during the time the Harry Potter craze reached fever pitch, those books swiftly became an issue. And without much discussion, our principal banned them. She's a lovely woman, but I obviously disagreed with her. You weren't allowed to bring the books into the school, our library definitely couldn't carry them (although I heard a rumor that our school librarian had secret copies she passed out), and any kind of Harry Potter merchandise was banned.

How did I suffer for this? In the lamest way possible. Because I have a Hogwarts t-shirt that I've owned for probably ten or eleven years. It just has the Hogwarts crest on it, meaning if you hadn't read the books, you couldn't be sullied by it. But someone told my English teacher it had to do with Harry Potter and I got a detention. A DETENTION. Boo. But at least the students of my school would be safe from my controversial shirt.

There were two other delightful school interactions, both with idiot boys. One of them I remember hadn't read the books, and we had this exchange:

"ONE OF THE CHARACTERS DRINKS UNICORN BLOOD."

"YEAH, THE EVIL CHARACTER."

The other one stamped on a copy of one of the books and I jumped on his back. I was a lot more sprightly back then.

Don't ban books. Unless you totally know what's right for everyone else. Then you're good.

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