Periodical Praise
Jim Sullivan
When
it comes to my lifetime's favorite hangout, the public library, all I hear
about these days is that librarians ought to put a V-chip or some similar
screening contraption in the library's computers to block kids from seeing
things they shouldn't see, like naked men and women.
Well,
I object, not to the nude folks, mind you, but to the screening devices!
I'm here to say that no one in my hometown public library, which I visited
as a kid, stopped me with a V-chip or with anything else electronic, mechanical,
or physical from perusing whatever I wanted to in the collection.
That included its vast archive, going back to the early 1920s, of National
Geographic Magazine with its easily recognizable glossy, yellow-bordered
cover. All were shelved openly, if remotely, in the back of the library
(but within its walls).
Certainly
the librarian, the facility's only staffer, who was in her 80s but with
all her mental faculties as sharp as ever, save for slight impairments
in sight and hearing, must have known full well what I was looking at so
quietly for hours, back there in the dimly lit, narrow aisle also filled
with dusty law books.
I
was getting an eyeful, I'll grant you. But at the same time, I was
getting an education in more ways than one. Primarily, Africa's,
Asia's, Australia's, and the South Sea Islands' past was being revealed
to me. I didn't learn until years later that there was a reputable
word for what I was learning anthropology.
In
any case, I concentrated on the magazine's text. Well okay, I scanned
the captions mostly. But I poured over those pages, mainly filled
with big, black and white photos until I nearly went blind. That
affected my later life in some ways. Today, for instance, I have
to wear glasses. But I learned a lot about people from other lands
and that's made me a tolerant person. I do, though, have a tendency
nowadays to get a wee bit cranky with bigots and censors.
What
I am, too, is self-educated. It's not only in the field mentioned
above but also in anatomy, gross and otherwise; geography; cultures of
the world and related subjects. The credit for all that goes to National
Geographic Magazine, which I still enjoy. Today, by the way,
I have the good lighting I need to see the magazine pages without straining
my eyes. And I do it (look at the magazine, that is) in a dust-free
environment.
Admittedly,
reading National Geographic Magazine as a youngster may have inadvertently
accelerated the onset of my puberty but no harm came to me as a result.
On the other hand, I did marry rather young at age 22. Yet that
didn't work out too badly, considering that my missus and I have been wed
now for over 40 years.
But
the point I want to make is this. A V-chip might block out some things
that parents dont want their little Tommys and Marys to see but, in
the process, topics to which loving moms and dads would, upon reflection,
want their children exposed, if youll pardon that term, will also be covered
up.
Naturally,
I'm not defending hard-core stuff. That's something else again where
children are concerned. But the only sure way to keep kids from viewing
or reading such material anywhere is for a vigilant mother, father, older
sibling (not!), or other responsible adult to be there to prevent it from
happening in the first place.
One
of those individuals should always accompany kids to the public library
where ideas, in print, in pictures, and on the internet, possibly ideas
contrary to those taught in the family home, are rampant. That shouldn't
come as a surprise to anyone, for the public library is the area's home
for different ideas.
Yes,
I can safely and proudly, proclaim that the National Geographic Magazine
made a man out of me, and an informed one at that. So, censors, stop
badgering librarians! They're doing their jobs splendidly.![10x5 Page Background GIF Image](../../Images/10x5_Page_Background.gif)
When any government, or any church for that
matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, "This you may not read, this
you must not see, this you are forbidden to know," the end result is tyranny
and oppression, no matter how holy the motives.
from If this Goes On-
by Robert A. Heinlein
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February 2005 |
Frontiersman,
1510 North 22nd Drive, Show Low, Arizona 85901
frontiersman@pharos.websiteallies.com
Also see Pharos at http://pharos.websiteallies.com/ |
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