Fahrenheit 451
Submitted by PriceRip on Wed, 08/17/2016 - 3:54pm
I am in the process of moving into my new home on Bradbury Street in Medford, Oregon. The Charter tech installed my WiFi a few minutes ago, so of course I named it "Fahrenheit 451". It is of some interest that this is in the local paper:
Actors and staff of Oregon Shakespeare Festival are objecting to books with racial caricatures on their covers on display in “banned books section” in the front window of Judi Honoré’s Shakespeare Books & Antiques bookstore on East Main Street, a block from the festival.
Sigh! I suppose I will have to be an activist here as well.
Comments
Really?
Banning already banned books because... it offends delicate sensibilities of people who would ban books that offend delicate sensibilities...
Ugh.
Read the article, and seems they already took down the books which were deemed Offensive.
To be clear on my position: Pretending stuff you find offensive DOESN'T exist, and therefore is not worthy of being included in a BANNED book section is about as hypocritical as you can get.
This is the exact same kind of unholy alliance of the sort that saw Catherine McKinnon and Pat Robertson trying to ban speech together in the name of decency.
And I named my Wifi "FBI Surveillance Van"
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Levels of Irony
The fact that this is occurring in Ashland is mind-bending to say the least. The "Actors and staff of Oregon Shakespeare Festival" should know better, but I suppose after a few weeks this too will pass, or maybe not.
the
Shakespeare people can stage The Merchant of Venice, thereby causing the humans to race back and forth between stage and shop and back again—supporting, opposing; opposing, supporting—until they melt into butter, like the tigers in Little Black Sambo.
Make that a production of
Othello and really watch their heads spin (while running back and forth).
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
So many puns, allusions, et cetera. So little time.
The sad truth: I think the irony would be lost upon the organizers. If this had been students, I would have thought, "They have not yet acclimated to the discipline." The fact that the noise is coming from those that should know better, is really annoying.
I had not thought about "acclimating" to academics,
but we must to remain, just make our own cheats. Puns are lost on many over 50 now, unless intertubes-connected. I am >50, >60, so I can speak with some authority.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
It's the Discipline
College isn't (or shouldn't be) about learning facts and procedures. The point of the academy is to allow a student to become a functioning member of a discipline, or several disciplines. Too much of "modern education" misses the mark because too many "teachers" approach the process as a mechanic fixing a car. The lack of understanding by administrators and far too many faculty members is destroying the foundation of educational system.
Right with you, PriceRip!
Discipline is it, and as I said, knowing where the sags are.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
maybe they could compromise,
and, in front of the offending Little Black Sambo and the like, display fun toys that are still banned in such wonderlands as Alabama, Georgia, and Texas.
Is not Little Black Sambo Banned? Melting butter--oh, my.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
It's an old tale from long ago, when
anyone who wasn't pale as a fish's underbelly was called "black". The original tale was set in India, but the author (one of the fish-underbelly people) didn't care about niceties like proper names and just used a grab-bag. She was trying to be "cute" and had no idea that later generations would find her names offensive.
Interestingly, the names are the ONLY problem with it, as otherwise it's a story about a well-loved and very clever little boy who outwits a bunch of man-eating tigers. There have been numerous attempts to get around the "name problem", but perhaps the most successful to date has been "Little Babaji". The names still aren't "authentic" (despite occasional claims to that effect) but have the right "flavor" (cute, vaguely "India-ish"). Funny and clever illustrations, too.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
the ban
was too late. The tigers had already melted.
The tigers were Bad. They wanted to eat Sambo. So Sambo bribed the tigers by giving them his clothes. But then the tigers began bickering with each other as to had the most bitchin' of the Sambo clothes. The tigers chased each other round and round the base of a palm tree until they melted into butter. Then Sambo took the butter home and put it on some pancakes.
We may all agree that Tigers are equivocal.
But what clothing were they fighting about? Nike or Oakley?
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Angus is rolling in his grave...
Not the position of the forward moving company of many years ago I remember, fondly.
Is this your first move to the area; its a favorite place for many reasons, including the fishing?
My son was a toddler and we spent the days in Ashland's fantastic park; living on Oak Street.
Memories also spring to mind of the famous Franklin Street bookstore, the Intimate, in Chapel Hill where Charles Kuralt's brother, Wallace, the owner had an annual, huge window display of previously banned books; a mesmerizing experience for any caring passerby, including young me.
I can still smell the wooden floors of that cavernous space; long-gone to Barnes and Noble or somewhere.
Hell, a community is fortunate to have a local bookstore in these changing times.
All good wishes to enjoying Medford.
Original Portlander
Spent (misspent) the 1950s and 60s in Hermiston then graduated from Eastern Oregon College. All that time my theater friends would travel to Ashland (for obvious reasons) so I knew of it vicariously. I taught university classes in Kearney, NE from 1979 until 2014. All those years we traveled many summers to and through here and my daughter attended SOU for a few years. When an affordable place became available it just seemed right to move here.
Sadly, local bookstores are disappearing everywhere. Even the big name stores are cutting back.
This is why I LOVE Powells...
It sometimes feels like the only bookstore left in the world.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Fantastic country...
the beautiful high mountain lakes, secluded. Would love to return for a visit; doubt many of the local joints, cafes in Medford we made outings from Ashland for are still in business; garlic festivals galore.
Thanks for sharing and great fortune in your new home. In the meantime, I'll get to memorizing a book, or two.
Some liberals missed the point
Right-wingers went nuts first, but liberals are catching up fast.
You know, the bible has lots of stuff that should offend liberals.
[deleted]
[deleted]
Teaching people to read
and then telling them what they can and cannot read....
Preventing people from reading is a way to control and enslave. I'm sure at some point it will be politically expedient to campaign that teaching people to read is just unrealistic, liberal flap trap and that if people want to read they should not expect to be taught for free....
September is Read a Banned Book month. I was at our beloved library the first year we moved here and I was stunned to find a new type of person who was pro-book burning. A teacher. She said that Beverely Cleary was nothing but smut and should not only be banned but BURNED.
This all happened in a burb of Portland, OR. And Cleary still is alive, not burned, and also lives in Oregon.
"Love One Another" ~ George Harrison
Never stated but always expected.
Reading was a way to escape our socioeconomic status. From my mother I learned that books were a treasure to be protected, and freely shared. From my father I learned to think like a scientist. From both I learned the art of the long con. So with a few simple principles, a little luck, and a lot of chutzpah I created the illusion that I could be a functioning member of an academic institution and actually teach physics to university students.
Book burners and those that want to cheat the next generation out of the ability to dream are on my special list of the most vile.
Maybe the bookstore owner can help the director of OSF..
put together an educational display on banned plays. Start here.
I think the protesters might be interested in knowing that one of August Wilson's plays, Fences, which OSF performed in 2009, is included in the long list.
This troubles; i'm up, feeling uneasy.