Mississippi Librarians Hate America

Julian Sanchez | January 10, 2005

The book, that is. The bestselling history-textbook satire from the makers of The Daily Show is now verboten in libraries in two Mississippi counties. Library officials cite a nude pictorial spread featuring the Supreme Court.

Comments

|1.10.05 @ 2:39PM|#

I'm still wondering how America can gain European generally more enlightened attitudes towards sex and nudity without all the collectivist social policy.

|1.10.05 @ 2:44PM|#

This is similar to my works in that anyone who reads it is sure to be an asshole for at least a month afterward.

|1.10.05 @ 2:47PM|#

"I've been a librarian for 40 years and this is the only book I've objected to so strongly that I wouldn't allow it to circulate," said Robert Willits, thumbing through one of the library's many copies of Madonna's Sex.

I wonder what the next first book to be objected to so strongly etc. etc. will be.

|1.10.05 @ 2:47PM|#

Rand-or several years, in my case.

|1.10.05 @ 2:48PM|#

Wait a second...they have books in Mississippi?

Who on earth reads them?

gaius marius|1.10.05 @ 2:50PM|#

speculative question:

is some goofy non-nudity the issue here?

or is it simple indignant outrage at the comic contempt the book has for the Very Serious, Holy and Important United States of America and Its Noble Purpose Upon This Earth -- a symptom of the blindly zealous ultranationalism that lew rockewell rightly pointed out to be sweeping that ideological division of the population that people most easily identify with "red states"?

|1.10.05 @ 2:55PM|#

quite possibly.


or it could be the horror of naked senior citizens.


one heck of a toss-up, really...

|1.10.05 @ 2:56PM|#

Am I missing something?

Unless the libraries are going to stock every book published, they have to "ban" many books by simply not buying them. Even though the libraries are organs of the state, they have not banned anything by refusing to stock the book. By that logic, when the library sells of their old copies of Danielle Steels novels their banning those books as well.

Besides, there will be less room for the coloring books if they buy thems expensive hard back books. (Yes, that's an anti-Mississippi joke, lame as it is.)

Tha being said, it's a pretty silly and extremely minor controversy.

|1.10.05 @ 2:58PM|#

I can't believe I made the their they're mistake and left an f off off.

Crap!

|1.10.05 @ 3:13PM|#

I'll admit it--when I flipped to the page in question I was shocked.

Not really "this is morally disgusting" shocked, but more like "holy shit there are naked septegenarians and they got Scalia hung like an acorn" shocked.

|1.10.05 @ 3:35PM|#

Did I just see capital letters in Gaius' post?!

I'm rather with Fabius, how exactly does a library ban a book? I think they've all banned my books.

|1.10.05 @ 3:41PM|#

When it is commanded, "All Rise!", obviously the Jurists are exempt.

gaius marius|1.10.05 @ 3:57PM|#

Did I just see capital letters in Gaius' post?!

i save them up, mr wellfellow, for points of emphasis. :)

MCJ|1.10.05 @ 4:00PM|#

I've seen exhibit one: while the book is hysterical, I could stand no more than a fleeting glance at the pages in question. On the other hand, maybe there are people who are interested in that kind of "research." No reason to ban it, though. Perhaps they're afraid kids will be traumatized by the sight of C.J. Rehnquist "tackle out."

|1.10.05 @ 4:28PM|#

Unless the libraries are going to stock every book published, they have to "ban" many books by simply not buying them

But the librarian being quoted didn't say "we won't be buying a copy" he said "won't ALLOW it to circulate [emphasis mine]". To me, that's a genyooine ban.

Not that I really care that much. The arguments that you might as well do away with public libraries seem more interesting to me than getting into nit-picking about what they are and aren't going to stock. My local library probably wouldn't circulate my DVD copies of Crack House Whores On Spring Break either even if I did donate them.

|1.10.05 @ 4:39PM|#

libraries are for commies.

|1.10.05 @ 5:15PM|#

Mississippi libraries are for media hungry idealogues and toilet paper reserves.

|1.10.05 @ 5:42PM|#

What if somebody donated a copy with the two offending pages glued together?

(If I were a guy, I'd add a joke here about which sticky substance I'd use to glue the two pages of naked people together, but since I'm a female I'll leave this discussion within the bounds of good taste. Very ladylike of me, don'cha think?)

|1.10.05 @ 7:06PM|#

If you're Stevo Darkly, apparently you'd have an issue only sticking TWO of the pages together instead of the whole damn book (probably stuck to several other books, upon whose titles I won't speculate).

|1.10.05 @ 9:55PM|#

So much drive ... so little highway.

|1.10.05 @ 9:55PM|#

We should be thankful most people in Mississippi are libertarians--not librarians.

|1.10.05 @ 10:41PM|#

They have libraries in Miss??

dagny|1.11.05 @ 12:10PM|#

Unless the libraries are going to stock every book published, they have to "ban" many books by simply not buying them

Yes and no. Libraries have "collection development policies" and if they follow those consistently, it's fair, but singling out a book because someone in the library is offended isn't. It's also often policy to purchase books that are bestsellers, or books which have many outstanding holds within the system. I know the former applies to America and I suspect tha latter does as well.

elisha cuthbert pictures|2.7.05 @ 9:32PM|#

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