Over on Yahoo News today, an article described an uproar by a small but vocal (aren’t they all?) group of West Virginia parents over their local high school’s use of two novels by Pat Conroy (“Prince of Tides,” “Beach Music”) for their violent and sexual content:
Parents Ken and Leona Tyree found certain scenes in [“Prince”] “obscene and offensive.” [Mrs Tyree] said she was unable to finish the book. [Her] son has since left [his] Advanced Placement literature class [which was using the novel].
Another parent, Karen Frazier, complained about violence in “Beach Music,” and told school board members last month she wants guidelines for books used in public schools.
“If a teacher was on a computer and sending this filth to underage students, they’d probably be arrested,” Frazier [told the school board].
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Ho-kay…skewering this kind of “reasoning” is like fishing with dynamite so I’ll be brief.
Got to your local library (I’m talking to you, Tyree and Frazier clans) and find a text called “Ken’s Guide To The Bible” by Ken Smith. Read it. Then tell me how Smith’s biblical citations on rape, child murder, incest, genocide, misogyny, and a zombie plague (I kid you not; Matthew 27: 52-53) compare with the tone of Conroy’s work.
Afterwards, I’ll expect to read another story of you all at your next school board meeting calling for God’s inspired word to be banned for its unsavory content as well.
Why do these ultra-conservative types make my job so damned easy? Give me a challenge, for Chrissakes!
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