Books You Shouldn't Read

[Parson]

Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous. Absolute fictional drivel presented as non-fiction memoir but completely ghost written by a reagan-era propagandist. Morally reprehensible.

Haven't read it, but a story about the dangers of drug addiction doesn't sound like it would be "morally reprehensible." It has a very solid 4 star rating with about 1400 ratings.

 

[soulsinging]

Haven't read it, but a story about the dangers of drug addiction doesn't sound like it would be "morally reprehensible." It has a very solid 4 star rating with about 1400 ratings.

Not when the entire thing is made up, inaccurate and sensationalized while still being presented to teens as a factual memoir. This approach didn't work in the 70s, 80s or any other time. By comparison, notice how smoking rates plummeted with the "Truth" ad campaign which provided facts instead of histrionic propaganda. Lying to people to "save" or "protect" them does nothing but make liars of decent people without actually protecting the people lied to from anything.

I buried 3 friends before 35, 2 to heroin and 1 to alcohol. Drgus can cause real horror. There's no need to dress it up in some uptight school marm's wildly inaccurate paranoia to get that point across. It just makes them NOT listen when you actually tell the truth because you've already established, in their mind, your willingness to lie and bend the truth to get what you want... which makes you little different from the addict.

I might be a little irrational on this one, but I've seen the dangers of drug use firsthand in ways these after school special folks only fantasize about and seeing it so badly misconstrued and used as a bludgeon for a whole host of other value judgments (of course, the teen girl's life comes unraveled the moment she decides to have sex with someone and being a drug-addicted junky is the logical next step) makes me sick.

 

[olive]

I was going to say anything with any kind of scripture. I see it was posted long before so I am not quoting, but I'd like to repeat that. Anything related to any kind of religious doctrine; Abrahamic religions, Eastern systems which people don't like to define as religions esp. in the Western cultures, new ones...unofficial ones...etc until the age of 18.

So by all means, please let everyone read all of it, but after they grown out of an impressionable age. I wish we could prevent them reading these until the age of 25, but alas... Then let's see how many believers, religious people will remain on the planet, just in 50 years of time span.

Because if we please drop the political correctness, making children 'reading' this stuff, 'teaching' this to them is not done for providing them any 'readings', unless you are raised in a secular, actually an atheist household and given these texts as some piece of general information with some context. (I am not even mentioning schools, public or private, education should have nothing to do with religions or belief systems.)

It's nothing, but indoctrination. It has nothing to do with freedom of religion or belief. Freedom is about choices. This is done so they wouldn't be free to choose a religion or belief, but one. Because that's the basic point of religions. It's done, because it doesn't work in any other way. You can't do that to an adult raised away from any kind of religious tradition.

So yeah these are the first books that comes to my mind that children shouldn't read. They should be shielded from all these. Adults can read/watch everything.

 

[Parson]

I buried 3 friends before 35, 2 to heroin and 1 to alcohol. Drgus can cause real horror. There's no need to dress it up in some uptight school marm's wildly inaccurate paranoia to get that point across. It just makes them NOT listen when you actually tell the truth because you've already established, in their mind, your willingness to lie and bend the truth to get what you want... which makes you little different from the addict.

I might be a little irrational on this one, but I've seen the dangers of drug use firsthand in ways these after school special folks only fantasize about and seeing it so badly misconstrued and used as a bludgeon for a whole host of other value judgments (of course, the teen girl's life comes unraveled the moment she decides to have sex with someone and being a drug-addicted junky is the logical next step) makes me sick.

You are entitled to and should have strong feelings about something which hits as close to home as this does to you. As a Parson I've been involved with families who were struggling with this, and addiction always has more than one victim. I am grateful that you have added some information about the book that makes me move much closer to your point of view.

I was going to say anything with any kind of scripture. I see it was posted long before so I am not quoting, but I'd like to repeat that. Anything related to any kind of religious doctrine; Abrahamic religions, Eastern systems which people don't like to define as religions esp. in the Western cultures, new ones...unofficial ones...etc until the age of 18.

So by all means, please let everyone read all of it, but after they grown out of an impressionable age. I wish we could prevent them reading these until the age of 25, but alas...

One of the rules of this forum is that we don't discuss religion and politics so I will say only this. I'm someone who has dedicated their life to helping people see that in spite of what the world may say to someone, that they must remember that society often lies and that they are a person of value and potential and that there is hope in this world and for this world. So I feel very differently about what children should be exposed to.

I also find interesting your suggestion to censor what children read for fear it might influence them. Just down the road from me there is someone who would say the same thing about children's literature which speaks of LBGQT lifestyle as normal. He believes that it should be banned until they children are adults, at least. To back this up he checked some of these books out of the public library and burned them publicly. This caused quite a stir and was a key issue in that town's mayoral race. Censorship always looks good from a certain point of view. But it is always doubtful if it is really good.

 

[olive]

One of the rules of this forum is that we don't discuss religion and politics so I will say only this. I'm someone who has dedicated their life to helping people see that in spite of what the world may say to someone, that they must remember that society often lies and that they are a person of value and potential and that there is hope in this world and for this world. So I feel very differently about what children should be exposed to.

I also find interesting your suggestion to censor what children read for fear it might influence them. Just down the road from me there is someone who would say the same thing about children's literature which speaks of LBGQT lifestyle as normal. He believes that it should be banned until they children are adults, at least. To back this up he checked some of these books out of the public library and burned them publicly. This caused quite a stir and was a key issue in that town's mayoral race. Censorship always looks good from a certain point of view. But it is always doubtful if it is really good.

There is nothing interesting with it, it is the most common thing on the planet. Both the reality of the usage of these texts and the fact that we constantly censor material when it comes to children, because we should. So my point was not about defending censorship. It was about children. I understand your point very well, more than that I already know it. But don't agree that LGBTQ is even remotely comparable with this subject or even see it as a valid example. (I mean it is something of nature and reality. Something positive.)

But I will avoid the subject, since it is a rule.