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Musings from Onlist
Jun. 12th, 1999 01:29 amIt would be very interesting indeed to see a list of Gregor's favorite books between the ages of twelve and sixteen. Those seem to be the years that adult opinions and tastes get solidified. I've been re-reading from my personal list, and I've noticed that there are passages in my then-favorite books that very exactly express my opinions on some things that I know didn't come from my parents. With Betan knowledge of the formative adult mind, I can bet you very strongly that Cordelia left books that positively but not OVER-positively encouraged favorable attitudes in certain touchy subjects within Gregor's reach. I'll bet she kept tabs on what he was reading, too, and encouraged literary discussion.
By all accounts I believe myself a liberal person with a safe attitude towards censorship: NO. However, recent events such as the school shootings lead me to question that position a bit. I am in the hardly unique position of never having any strong moral guidance from my parents, who abided by something akin to Cordelia's hands-off parenting style during the touchy adolescent years. Since they left me to make up my own opinions about the world, I turned to books. Lots of books. Usually science fiction, because generally they could portray cultural and moral alternatives to the mainstream without the soporific quality common to quite a few philosophical texts, and without too much in the way of blatant propaganda. I smuggled Sweet Valley High romances home in my Science folder in addition to the sf I read openly.
What if I'd been reading hate-literature? What, more likely and less blatantly, if I'd devoured books with a slightly darker, more selfish, "what you want is what matters, all else is just fluff," attitude? I might have developed more of a genuine *liking* for poor tragic Yolande Ingolfsson if I'd read different things and come across her earlier, instead of just a sneaking sympathy until she goes off bugwacked. As it was, I developed a Mercedes Lackey addiction, always with the underlying theme "Things are probably going to turn out very close to all right in the end as long as you're unselfish and work for others' happiness but don't ignore your own as well." But then again, whose sweetness and light do you want your children to be reading? I will not let the children that I babysit read, oh, say, _Mirror Dance_ until they're at least eleven, and then not without me or parents availible to explain and soothe potential nightmares, yet it's still on the "must read" list. (Not that the "must read" list will have any impact other than "oh, you mean she wrote that one *too*! Wow, where can I find it?" after they get first hooked...) Nor will I allow them to read Barney propaganda, except with strict supervision and as either horror or humor, take your pick. Honestly, I'd let them at H.P. Lovecraft unsupervised before Barney. Things Under The Wallpaper can be dealt with after the reading; B*rney cannot.
Certainly it's necessary for formative minds to have some form of adult guidance in selecting reading material. However, I would not be the broad-minded person I am today if my mother had needed to approve every single book that I'd read that made me who I am. Some most interesting Heinleins had the habit of
disappearing. If I'd had some of my friends' parents, my book collection as a whole would be dismissed and disposed of as "satanic" without a thought beyond a glance at covers and titles. Where are the lines between neglect, guidance and censorship?
--Just some food for thought (and, of course, debate).
JL, who plans to professionally write as a hobby, just like A(lfred?) Bester (deceased science fiction writer), whose anthology she picked up just out of love for Walter Koenig (who plays a lovely evil Psi-Cop in Babylon 5 by the name of Bester) and then read for the writing
By all accounts I believe myself a liberal person with a safe attitude towards censorship: NO. However, recent events such as the school shootings lead me to question that position a bit. I am in the hardly unique position of never having any strong moral guidance from my parents, who abided by something akin to Cordelia's hands-off parenting style during the touchy adolescent years. Since they left me to make up my own opinions about the world, I turned to books. Lots of books. Usually science fiction, because generally they could portray cultural and moral alternatives to the mainstream without the soporific quality common to quite a few philosophical texts, and without too much in the way of blatant propaganda. I smuggled Sweet Valley High romances home in my Science folder in addition to the sf I read openly.
What if I'd been reading hate-literature? What, more likely and less blatantly, if I'd devoured books with a slightly darker, more selfish, "what you want is what matters, all else is just fluff," attitude? I might have developed more of a genuine *liking* for poor tragic Yolande Ingolfsson if I'd read different things and come across her earlier, instead of just a sneaking sympathy until she goes off bugwacked. As it was, I developed a Mercedes Lackey addiction, always with the underlying theme "Things are probably going to turn out very close to all right in the end as long as you're unselfish and work for others' happiness but don't ignore your own as well." But then again, whose sweetness and light do you want your children to be reading? I will not let the children that I babysit read, oh, say, _Mirror Dance_ until they're at least eleven, and then not without me or parents availible to explain and soothe potential nightmares, yet it's still on the "must read" list. (Not that the "must read" list will have any impact other than "oh, you mean she wrote that one *too*! Wow, where can I find it?" after they get first hooked...) Nor will I allow them to read Barney propaganda, except with strict supervision and as either horror or humor, take your pick. Honestly, I'd let them at H.P. Lovecraft unsupervised before Barney. Things Under The Wallpaper can be dealt with after the reading; B*rney cannot.
Certainly it's necessary for formative minds to have some form of adult guidance in selecting reading material. However, I would not be the broad-minded person I am today if my mother had needed to approve every single book that I'd read that made me who I am. Some most interesting Heinleins had the habit of
disappearing. If I'd had some of my friends' parents, my book collection as a whole would be dismissed and disposed of as "satanic" without a thought beyond a glance at covers and titles. Where are the lines between neglect, guidance and censorship?
--Just some food for thought (and, of course, debate).
JL, who plans to professionally write as a hobby, just like A(lfred?) Bester (deceased science fiction writer), whose anthology she picked up just out of love for Walter Koenig (who plays a lovely evil Psi-Cop in Babylon 5 by the name of Bester) and then read for the writing
