Some thoughts on book-banning and Political Correctness (NSFW!)

   I read an article online showing 49 school districts tried to or banned certain books that were "offensive."
   One of the books was "The Diary of Anne Frank," an eyewitness account of the Holocaust from one who did not survive it.
   What the fuck?
   To be fair, some books should be age-restricted, based upon EXCESSIVE sexual content, drug usage, etc. (i.e. you don't give a 7 year old a copy of American Me.)
   But what is REALLY going on with some of these schools?
   Political Correctness.
   "Political Correctness" is the modern version of the Soviet term "Political Concern." Aleksandr Solzhenytsin first wrote of it in his epic "The Gulag Archipelago." In Stalin's day, if you didn't say the right thing, kiss the right ass, the "Black Marias" (cars used by KGB) would come by and you'd get "a tenner" under Article 58 of the Soviet Penal Code. Ten years of hard labor, then ten years of "internal exile" (meaning when you got out of the gulags, you didn't go home, you went elsewhere for 10 years).
   If you don't say the right thing today, you are crucified by the "objective" media, labeled unspeakable things by people who are "offended" by what you say and hounded mercilessly. Heaven help you if you shoot one of the "concerned citizens" when they come knocking on your door to hand you a petition declaring you a slimeball.
   Solzhenytsin ran afoul of Article 58the first time for criticising Stalin in a letter to a friend. He ran afoul of it the second time for writing the first volume of The Gulag Archipelago. Only his fame in the West prevented him from getting shot.
   Like then, writing can get you into as much trouble today as speaking your mind.
   When I was growing up, "SCHOOL" was a place to educate and challenge young minds. I mean "educate" as in teaching what a student NEEDED to become a productive, contributing member of society. I don't mean "indoctrinate with BS." I mean schools taught math, science, reading, history, civics, etc., so a child could get a halfway decent job upon graduation, understand the "adult" world around him, and all that fun stuff.
   They didn't waste time teaching about "Global Warming," "Heather has Two Mommies," "Climate Change," "Daddy's Roomate," "Eating Vegan is Good for You" and "Why we should kiss Muslim ass while they blow us up in the name of their religion of peace."
   Crap like that back in the day would NEVER have made it in through the front door of the school, much less be taught by a responsible teacher. Back then, school was about teaching knowledge, not indoctrinating the kids to become good little Democrat (communist) drones.
   When I was growing up, I became a voracious reader. My parents forbid me NOTHING except for porn/erotica. I'm sure Dad didn't like me dragging Mein Kampf home. He freaked when I brought home The Gulag Archipelago at age 12. He thought I was trying to impress some brainy girl, until I told him what it was about. I was learning about our world and how it came to be in the state it was in.
   I was forming my own opinions because the SCHOOL I went to taught me one thing that is apparently hard for a lot of today's educators to stomach.
   I was taught to THINK.
   Today's "activists" use the classroom as an indoctrination center where they can spew their BS to kids who MUST remain in class or Face The POWER of The State. Eight hours of potential indoctrination a day.
   That's why "Heather has Two Mommies" and "why we should be worried about the polar bears on the growing (I meant to say shrinking, oopsie!) icecaps" (and other useless subjects) are taught in school.
   Then you have narrow-minded, braindead parents and school administration who want to ban books for various reasons.
   I was taught to THINK. When I first read The Gulag Archipelago, I thought it was too long, too wordy and too detailed. I plodded through it and began to see the subtle similarities (THEN) between Communism and Democrats.
   The similarities between Communists and Democrats are not so subtle these days. Thus to these two groups of people, I'm a threat because I won't buy into their BS.
   Thinking is definitely politically INcorrect.
   What is worse? The seriously-confused/idiotic parents who are afraid of their kids learning about the world and has to candy-coat everything. Or the activist "educator" who can abuse the power of the classroom to turn a potential free mind into the perfect Democrat.