New Moon Rising
I’m certainly no Stephenie Meyer fan, as long-time readers of this blog would know, but I do think it’s outrageous that record-breaking numbers of people spend more than two seconds trying to keep her books out of the hands of rabid young women lusting after that chaste and metaphor-laden relationship between Edward and Bella. Of course, it’s the religious institutions and motivations that won’t abide competitors for fervency:
Meyer’s stories of vampires and teen romance have been criticized for sexual content; a library association official also thinks that the “Twilight” series reflects general unease about supernatural stories.
“Vampire novels have been a target for years and the `Twilight’ books are so immensely popular that a lot of the concerns people have had about vampires are focused on her books,” says Barbara Jones, director of the association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.
Christian groups for years have protested the themes of wizardry in Rowling’s books, which don’t appear on the current top 10.
I may not always agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to disseminate it to our children by use of public funds.
Seems a bit facetious, but in a sense I agree with that sentiment; at least when it comes to the Internet and a free market of ideas and culture. Besides, there are much more profound threats of censorship looming on the horizon than supercilious mothers demanding the removal of Twilight from public libraries, what with the Copyright industry demanding spyware that can delete suspected infringing materials and border-checks of all digital devices and materials on suspicion of infringement. That would really temper the free market of information and concentrate some serious power in the hands of a very narrow industry.
Maybe the censorial complaints are part of someone’s brilliant plan to get a whole new generation worked up about Twilight, Harry Potter, and the like, so that we can use their fervency to shape opinions into demanding some actual, concrete freedoms against the real threats to our liberty? I can pipe-dream, can’t I?
The New Print 