I was rather disturbed by a photo and tag-line I saw in The Salt Lake Tribune yesterday:
Farmington firefighters/EMT Jayson Scopel (left) and Jeff Hoover huck computer monitors to the cheers of Farmington Jr. High students. In honor of white ribbon week, which promotes internet safety and anti-pornography, Farmington firefighters/EMT’s are throwing computer monitors off the roof of the Farmington Junior High School. Over 500 students pledged to shun pornography if they encounter it over the internet.(Leah Hogsten/The Salt Lake Tribune).
Someone please explain to me how this is symbolically dissimilar to burning books? A moral authority destroys access to ideas while a thong of people cheer on… I dunno, I’m just saying.
Now don’t get me wrong, I certainly don’t feel that children should be accessing pornography either at school or at home, but this sort of activity screams of hive mentality and a disregard for the role of the parent or common sense in a community. This sort of indoctrination is disturbing at best and totalitarian at its worst.
In the end I am reminded of a line from the Rage Against the Machine song Bulls on Parade:
I walk the corner to the rubble that used to be a library
Line up to the mind cemetery now
What we don’t know keeps the contracts alive and movin’
They don’t gotta burn the books they just remove ‘em
Line up to the mind cemetery now
What we don’t know keeps the contracts alive and movin’
They don’t gotta burn the books they just remove ‘em
It is almost as if censorship can cause bad things in a society that acts like sheep…
Wow, Curtis. That is unbelievable. If I had wanted to be shielded from vulgarity, I would have had to throw you off the roof years ago.
You’ve nailed it on the head with comparing it to burning books. That’s sad.
On top of that, I wonder if they gave even a thought to how dangerous what they were doing was?
“Filled with components containing such hazardous elements as arsenic, mercury, cadmium, beryllium, chromium, nickel and zinc, a monitor is nothing you want ending up in a landfill. And don’t forget the lead: Used to shield against harmful X-rays emitted during normal operation, the glass display is infused with this heavy metal — around six pounds’ worth in my 19-inch display.”
…so now we’re bowling for seventh graders? Where can I sign up to throw heavy objects at thirteen year olds?? This sounds like good (albeit slightly Bradburyesque) times!