another take

september 6, 2007

by william beaulieu

during the past few years, various right-wing commentators have used the expression "they hate us for our freedoms" when referring to islamic fundamentalists. this rather simplistic phrase is used to explain why people in the middle east resent our attempts to impose our "democratic values" at the point of a gun.

but i must borrow the phrase to discuss the latest attempts by certain people to censor what others can read.

the latest is dan kleinman, writing in the aug. 29 issue of the daily southtown. he attempts to confuse the issue by throwing out meaningless and unverifiable "statistics" about peoples' attitudes, as if the law was nothing more than a public opinion poll.

why do these mainly right-wing, would-be censors hate us for our freedoms? are they really so ignorant of our constitutional freedoms, so uncaring of the meaning of the bill of rights that they would throw away freedom of speech because certain issues offend them?

these un-american censors usually hide their real agenda - censoring what free americans can read - by saying they are protecting children. but their claims ring hollow when they ignore the real issues threatening children. the issues of poverty, lack of health care and lack of adequate school facilities do not seem to be on the radar screens of these self-described protectors of children.

but as a service to the censors, i would like to alert them to a book that is in the juvenile section of the oak lawn library. this book contains quite sexually explicit erotic poetry, stories about adultery and incest, as well as masturbation. it also has prostitutes presented in a heroic light! do we really want our children exposed to this filth?

this salaciously smutty, pornographically perverted tome is called the holy bible. please, censors from all across the united states, demand that this book be removed from the juvenile section of the library.

william beaulieu is a resident of oak lawn.

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