Texas prisons ban books by Langston Hughes and Bob Dole - but 'Mein Kampf' is OK
14 replies, posted
[B]Texas prisons ban books by Langston Hughes and Bob Dole - but 'Mein Kampf' is OK[/B]
Via [url=http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-texas-prisons-books-20160927-snap-story.html]Los Angeles Times[/url]
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[quote]If you're one of the more than 140,000 people doing time in a Texas state prison, you're not allowed to read books by Bob Dole, Harriet Beecher Stowe or Sojourner Truth. But you're more than welcome to dig into Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" or David Duke's "My Awakening."
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has banned 15,000 books from the correctional facilities it operates, most recently Dan Slater's new "Wolf Boys: Two American Teenagers and Mexico’s Most Dangerous Drug Cartel," the Guardian reports.
The news comes in the middle of Banned Books Week, the annual event celebrating literature that's been targeted by censors.
Deborah Caldwell-Stone of the American Library Assn., a Banned Books Week sponsor, blasted Texas’ decision to ban "Wolf Boys," about two Texas teenagers who go to work for the Zetas, an infamous Mexican drug cartel, and are caught and sentenced. The book is nonfiction: Both teenagers are housed in Texas prisons.
"It's truly tragic," Caldwell-Stone said. "There is probably a new story every day like this."[/quote]
This part right here:
[quote]Books containing the "N-word" are often targeted by prison censors, Slater writes. This has led to the banning of books by Langston Hughes, Noam Chomsky, Philip Roth, Richard Wright and Salman Rushdie.[/quote]
You've got to be fucking kidding me...
banning books is just as bad as burning them lol
I'm guessing "To Kill A Mockingbird" is forbidden too, since it also has the word "nigger" in it. I'm guessing that since "Mein Kampf" doesn't have any cuss words that may hurt the poor prisoner's sensibilities, that book is a-okay. Wow.
It never occurred to me that certain books could be forbidden in prisons, specially for the reasons mentioned in the article... this is beyond ridiculous.
There goes my chance of reading "Malleus Maleficarum" in prison, if I ever end up in an American prison. :v:
The concept of having banned books in prisons and schools fascinates me. We used to have a problem with that but that's basically gone now. The problem is more-so what books are available in the library.
Then again, we are talking about American prisoners, and their lives are basically over when they go into prison, so I'm not surprised.
[QUOTE=Pretiacruento;51125828]I'm guessing "To Kill A Mockingbird" is forbidden too, since it also has the word "nigger" in it. I'm guessing that since "Mein Kampf" doesn't have any cuss words that may hurt the poor prisoner's sensibilities, that book is a-okay. Wow.
It never occurred to me that certain books could be forbidden in prisons, specially for the reasons mentioned in the article... this is beyond ridiculous.
There goes my chance of reading "Malleus Maleficarum" in prison, if I ever end up in an American prison. :v:[/QUOTE]
Guess it's okay to hate ethnicities with a fiery passion, as long as you're not using insults & swear words.
Oh doublethink, how I love you...
I have a copy of mein kampf...
it's currently being used to raise my monitor up on my desk :v:
[QUOTE=MrBunneh;51126084]I have a copy of mein kampf...
it's currently being used to raise my monitor up on my desk :v:[/QUOTE]
I guess if you lose it then you wont be kampfy looking at your monitor.
[QUOTE=MrBunneh;51126084]I have a copy of mein kampf...
it's currently being used to raise my monitor up on my desk :v:[/QUOTE]
is it at a kampfterable level?
books should never be banned, but bad hitler puns should certainly be
[QUOTE=StrawberryClock;51126300]books should never be banned, but bad hitler puns should certainly be[/QUOTE]
I agree but I'd be uneasy about a white nationalist/islamist radical getting their hands on the anarchist cookbook/whatever the more modern version is of "bombs and terrorism for dummies"
[QUOTE=FinalHunter;51126576]Who cares, they're in prison. They have plenty of other books to read, it isn't supposed to be a good time. It's not like they're trying to ban books to the general public.
And no you can't spin that as "hurr final doesn't care about prisoners rights"[/QUOTE]
[I]well[/I] prisons are supposed to rehabilitate, not punish them. that is the point of the justice system overall. to make them acceptable members of society
what the article is talking about is how retarded it is to ban books with the n-word in it but not ban Mein Kampf
ya wouldnt want prisoners to do anything intellectual in their spare time
[QUOTE=FinalHunter;51126576]Who cares, they're in prison. They have plenty of other books to read, it isn't supposed to be a good time. It's not like they're trying to ban books to the general public.
And no you can't spin that as "hurr final doesn't care about prisoners rights"[/QUOTE]
yeah you don't really need to spin it that way when it's that by default
[QUOTE=FinalHunter;51126576]Who cares, they're in prison. They have plenty of other books to read, it isn't supposed to be a good time. It's not like they're trying to ban books to the general public.
And no you can't spin that as "hurr final doesn't care about prisoners rights"[/QUOTE]
That's not really a spin, that's pretty much what you're saying. Prison is a deliberate abridgment of certain rights, not a carte blanche repeal of all human rights and creature comforts. While banning books on stuff like improvised weapons seems reasonable, I see no valid reason to ban political works. If an inmate wants to read some Langston Hughes, denying him that is just an attempt to make him unhappy. There's no greater purpose being served.
In any case, 'who cares, they're in prison' is never a good mindset if you want people in prison to become functional members of society again.
[QUOTE=StrawberryClock;51126300]books should never be banned, but bad hitler puns should certainly be[/QUOTE]
It's that, or cringy dad jokes.
Pick yer poison.
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