brain...exploding...from...irony...

Interesting timing. Last Friday, the English Club here had a "banned book sale", where they were selling copies of books that were banned somewhere or another.If someone doesn't want you to read it, then you probably should.

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"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one." -- George Bernard Shaw

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If the parents think that a certain book is not appropriate educational material, they should be able to take a stance against this book being introduced as 'compulsory' reading.

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Then you should be happy with the situation. In the article linked in the OP: So the student in question was not required to read a book against the wishes of her parents.

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"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one." -- George Bernard Shaw

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But to complain only about him without leveling he same complaint at the other side when they do the same thing only addresses half the problem.

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I don't know if I agree that this is only "half of the problem." Right now the President and a majority of Congress seem to be beholden to those who agree with Limbaugh.I can't think of any member of Congress who is representing those who agree with "extremist feminists who hate men and hold most men responsible for nearly every evil in society" or who agree with "nuts who, under the guise of environmentalism, are more interested in taking down big, evil corporations".I suppose if "feminazis" and "enviro-whackos" actually had any measure of political power outside of university lit-crit departments, I might agree that they could be considered "half of the problem." But in reality, it appears to me that mentioning these so-called "feminazis" and "enviro-whackos" serves more as a distraction from the true threats to our freedoms and well-being in the government and other institutions that have a large influence on our lives.

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"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one." -- George Bernard Shaw

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James Carville, I'll certainly grant you, is a fairly shrill Democratic political creature.

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And not particularly Left, either, if I recall correctly.

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"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one." -- George Bernard Shaw

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I don't think parents have a duty or even a right to shape their children's outlook....Perhaps thats too much to ask for?

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It probably is. This was the attitude of the Nazis and the Soviet Communists.

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"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one." -- George Bernard Shaw

I see that I did misread what you posted. I still disagree with what you posted, but I don't want to get into an argument about the proper duty of parents vis a vis the training of children; I wanted to argue against what I thought that you said. Sorry about that.

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"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one." -- George Bernard Shaw

This reminds me of a quote; I'm pretty sure it was Jerry Falwell commenting that he had not actually read/seen the book/movie he was protesting (I believe it was The Last Temptation of Christ): "You don't have to smell a sewer to know that it stinks." Heh.

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"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one." -- George Bernard Shaw