Those of you who follow me on Twitter (@rbwood) may have noticed I've added a badge to my picture. It says simply: Speak Loudly.
I'm warning you now, I'm about to rant and rave here.
You were warned.
Laurie Halse Anderson has written a book called SPEAK. It's a first person novel told from the perspective of High School freshman Melinda Sordino. The novel is set during the course of her school year. Melinda is having difficulties speaking.
It is a very emotional, hard to put down, hard not to cry novel. We find out why she is considered an outcast and why, in her words, "It's like I have some kind of spastic laryngitis."
The book is at times brutally honest, and you eventually find out why Melinda cannot seem to speak.
So why the twitter banner? And why the impending rant?
Because some right-wing nut job wants to ban the book.
Ban. The. Book.
The "Speak Loudly" Twitter banner and the subsequent #speakloudly hash-tag are in protest of even the thought of banning a book--a WRONG and abhorrent action as suggested by an ass-hat jack wagon.
The link above (click on Laurie's name) takes you to her description what's happening with the situation. As a writer, I can't imagine what she's going through with this nonsense.
As an American who cherishes the "Freedom of Speech" amendment (and there is a REASON it's the FIRST amendment), I'm disgusted at the thought of banning any sort of writing.
In an age where our rights are slowly being whittled away by the powers that be, a line must be drawn in the sand.
We must fight for our freedoms and our rights as writers, as citizens, as a family.
We must SPEAK LOUDLY against those who work against the light.
3 comments:
"an ass-hat jack wagon"
Can I borrow that?
I 100% agree. I couldn't even finish the disgustingly narrow-minded tripe that man wrote in defense of censorship. It's despicable.
If you're so opposed to taking information into your brain that some ass-hat jack wagon has told you is bad, by all means, stay away from it. But you don't get to decide for everyone else.
Ugh.
I love the guy's agenda....because you know everyone is a Christian (said very sarcastically)! Well...I'm not and while that might upset some and think of me as an immoral horrible person, I am not. I really dislike when people push their views on everyone else and ignore the fact that we are all individuals. It is disturbing that he considers rape scenes pornographic. Hello, then what about the book "The Lovely bones" with rape AND Murder? I read that and it was certainly not pornographic and certainly shouldn't be banned. He sounds like an asshole trying to prove he is more than that and he is targeting this author to use as his soapbox. Anyways, thanks for bringing this up. I got my twibbon and will be reposting her article to my FB and my blog.
I agree. No books should be banned. What's wrong with folks provoked into thinking?
I'm sick of them wittling away at our rights and making people fight against their own self interests. Balance the budget through tort reform? LOL So, to reduce spending we have to give up more rights?
Post a Comment