#i'm spoiling it because fuck it this shouldn't have been in a children's book

[probablyaseamonster]

Hi I’m rereading Sunwing by Kenneth Oppel and WTF?!

[just-a-queer-fanboy]

Wooo another random rant, this time about critical analysis and book banning

July 1st, 2023, 9:05 PM central standard time

Possible trigger warning for mentions of infanticide and murder, they arent discussed that in depth but mentikned and used as examples. Also i spoil the entirety of the giver so if you somehow havent read it yet beware

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"This book shouldn't be taught in schools because-" Nope. Shut the fuck up. I hate certain books as much as the next guy, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be taught.

The reason some books are taught in school is because they either give information on a topic currently being taught, or they spark discussion on topics and questions bigger than the book. This can, shocker, even apply to shitty books!

False information and poor writing can actually be used to teach extremely important skills and topics like how to fact check, spot bias, find credible sources, and can spark legitimately important discussions about important ideas and topics, especially ones that are prevalent in real life.

I don't think the giver is a bad book, but I'll use that as an example since I've heard some whispers of it getting banned for its contents (although I highly doubt such a popular book is being banned, I'll have to double check)

The book is about a cult-like "community" with strict rules and barely any free will. Jobs are assigned and can't be changed, and are assigned to those once they turn 12. When the main character learns of a rampant issue of euthanization being used on entirely healthy people for miniscule reasons, he takes a baby meant to be killed and runs off with it, and that's it, the end.

You can say "this book should be banned for discussing infanticide" all you want, but the issue is the portrayal and how we discuss and critically think about the book.

The portrayal (in my opinion) is pretty alright. It points out the people don't know better but doesn't glorify the action of killing the children, even if it's painless. It shows a level of nuance to it, which is surprisingly rare in these kinds of discussions.

But the most important part is to point out the themes and think about them before coming to a conclusion. I'll use the concept of 'sameness' as an example.

In the book, the giver tells Jonas that they switched to sameness because it made things easier. Harsh weather damaged crops. When people were wildly different, they had war and hunger and all these other issues. Someone might read that and come to the conclusion that yeah, everything should be the same, and live life with that idea in their head.

But the most important part of reading about such heavy subjects is discussion, critical thinking, and asking questions. How much is considered too much with sameness? How come we have to control everything rather than adapt to change? Is freedom more important than safety, and to what degree? If you don't ask important questions, you won't learn important things.

In conclusion because I've been typing for 15 minutes, yeah, I think shitty books should be taught in schools so we can criticize them, not because they're good. And if you disagree, that's fine, I don't think banning Lolita is gonna cause any drastic issues, just be normal about it and consider other perspectives, I'm begging you.

[evilauthor]

Miraculous Ladybug

This is my official opinion on Ladybug.

Fuck you. It's a cartoon intended for children. Not saying children's media shouldn't be held to a standard. I'm saying you're not the target audience and no one is holding a gun to your head making you watch it.

If you don't enjoy this cartoon that wasn't made for you, don't watch it.

A new episode just came out. Due to a horrible release schedule, this episode is not currently available in any legal fashion in the states. In fact...this episode only came out on the 13th.

Naturally I've already had the episode spoiled completely by people ripping it apart and telling me why it was so awful. No tags marking it as a spoiler. Just there. I tried just scrolling past. I don't want to see long rants telling me why something I watch for fun is trash. I happen to watch cartoons because I have this weird personality trait where I enjoy them.

I've even seen someone who has been extremely harsh towards media I enjoy come out to defend the episode...she had the decency to tag by the way. It's Tumblr's fault I saw that one. It was tagged. She did her part. But my dash has been flooded by people ripping the show apart. So fuck you.

I'm taking a page out of my best friend's book and I'm going to be blocking people from now on.