Regrettably free association

The Editors's prompting sent us to Unqualified Offerings, where Jim Henley recounts a conversation he and Brett Peters had about the fine products of the Mozilla Organization; in particular, whether the Firefox logo does or does not look like Earth with a Viking beard.

Which of course makes a certain wise-arsed German remark pop into my head. If somebody says to you:

'In der Regel [insert assertion here].'

you may instantly fire back with:

'Ja, und in der Regel haben Wikinger rote Bärte.'

Anglice:

'As a rule, [insert assertion here].'

'Yes, and as a rule Vikings have red beards.'

The non-teutonophones among you will now be asking yourselves, 'Wha'??!!", and rightly so. The phrase loses something in the translation, something essential. But you see, it is a very good thing that this something is lost.

Fear of a pez planet

As a follow-up to the 'challenged books' thing, Lindsay Beyerstein suggests we all note which of the books that we have read have been numbered among the world's most harmful by something calling itself 'Human Events Online'. Same drill as yesterday, then; my results are below the fold. I've done a bit better than on the last list, but not as well as I might like. (Special Bonus Embarrassing Revelation: no, I haven't read The Descent yet.)

Now one has to admit: some of the books listed are by any sane definition harmful. But the respective lists of every sane person would not necessarily overlap 100%, and no sane person could possibly have all these books on her list.

Still and all, one can see that some of the HEO judges' choices make perfect sense from their own perspective. Adorno and Mill, for example. If you are Phyllis Schlafly, what could be more horrifying than that people be equipped to recognise your personality? If you are Phylllis Schlafly, what could be more horrifying than that people enjoy liberty?

The bold have I read:

1. The Communist Manifesto, Marx, K. and F. Engels
2. Mein Kampf, Hitler, A.
3. Quotations from Chairman Mao, Mao Z.
4. The Kinsey Report, Kinsey, A.
5. Democracy and Education, Dewey, J.
6. Das Kapital, Marx, K.
7. The Feminine Mystique, Friedan, B.
8. The Course of Positive Philosophy, Comte, A.
9. Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche, F.
10. General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, Maynard Keynes, J.
11. The Population Bomb, Ehrlich, P.
12. What Is to Be Done, Lenin, V.I.
13. Authoritarian Personality, Adorno, Th.
14. On Liberty, Mill, J.S.
15. Beyond Freedom and Dignity, Skinner , B.F.
16. Reflections on Violence, Sorel, G.
17. The Promise of American Life, Croly, H.
18. The Origin of Species, Darwin, Ch.
19. Madness and Civilization, Foucault, M.
20. Soviet Communism: A New Civilization, Webb, S. & B.
21. Coming of Age in Samoa, Mead, M.
22. Unsafe at Any Speed, Nader, R.
23. Second Sex, Beauvoir, S. de
24. Prison Notebooks, Gramsci, A.
25. Silent Spring, Carson, R.
26. Wretched of the Earth, Fanon, F.
27. Introduction to Psychoanalysis, Freud, S.
28. The Greening of America, Reich, Ch.
29. The Limits to Growth, Club of Rome
30. Descent of Man, Darwin, Ch.

Index librorum lacessitorum

PZ Myers links to Majikthises's 'meme', derived from the American Library Association's 'most challenged books' list. Copy the list to your site, highlighting those you've read. My list below the fold; not at all an impressive score, I'm afraid.

A challenged book, it seems, is one that various people have tried (whether or not successfully) to have banned from libraries. Though the 'challengers' are often as not the usual shower of ignorant obscurantist fundamentalist reactionary whackjobs, there is no shortage of challenges from more 'progressive' circles.

To be honest, I have not even heard of a great many of the books on the list. But I do recognise a fair few titles as popular 'youth' literature in America. And there's the key to the whole thing, of course. I've no doubt there are those who would seek to have, say, Marx or Nietzsche or Henry Miller or Michel Houellebecq or whomever banned from the local shelves. There just aren't enough of them to register on the ALA's list. And that is probably because it is only the exceptional pimpled pubescent who is interested in Nietzsche. (Or for that matter Miller -- if only they knew!)

But those solitary censors multiply quickly into a mob when The Children are imperilled. I can understand that, actually. One can pretty easily guess why concerned parents or meddling reverends or what have you would seek the banning of some of those books. (Some of the others are a complete mystery, though.) The particular values and beliefs this desire reveals might in some cases be worthy of contempt, but the desire to shield your kids from things you think inappropriate to their age is in itself far from contemptible. There are some things (even some things on that list) that I wouldn't want my own children to read before they attain a certain level of maturity. (And I don't want them reading number 73 at all, at least not if those things work.) What is contemptible, though, is trying to protect The Children by insisting that books you find scary be made unavailable. Raise your children as you think best, but don't force your standards on other people (and their children). Contemptible, as I said, and lazy into the bargain: monitor your children yourself, don't demand the state do it for you.

And anybody who would try to ban Babette Cole is much worse than merely contemptible: they are absolute philistines. Don't know the offending Cole opus, but The Smelly Book, The Hairy Book and Dr. Dog are all big hits with the smaller Tiltons (and not only with them).

If I've read it, it's in boldface type:

1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
8. Forever by Judy Blume
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
10. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
14. The Giver by Lois Lowry
15. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
19. Sex by Madonna
20. Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
27. The Witches by Roald Dahl
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
29. Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
30. The Goats by Brock Cole
31. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
32. Blubber by Judy Blume
33. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
34. Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
35. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
36. Final Exit by Derek Humphry
37. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
38. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
40. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
42. Beloved by Toni Morrison
43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
44. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
45. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
46. Deenie by Judy Blume
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
48. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
49. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
50. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
54. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
55. Cujo by Stephen King
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
58. Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
60. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
61. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
62. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
63. Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
64. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
65. Fade by Robert Cormier
66. Guess What? by Mem Fox
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
68. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
71. Native Son by Richard Wright
72. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
73. Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
74. Jack by A.M. Homes
75. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
76. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle [in Thaddäus Troll's Swabian translation, Wo kommet denn di kloine Kender her?]
77. Carrie by Stephen King
78. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
79. On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
80. Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
81. Family Secrets by Norma Klein
82. Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
86. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
87. Private Parts by Howard Stern
88. Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
89. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
90. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
91. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
92. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
93. Sex Education by Jenny Davis
94. The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
95. Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
97. View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
98. The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
99. The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
100. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier