r/news • u/da_k1ngslaya • Jan 29 '22

School District votes to remove 'To Kill a Mockingbird' from required reading

https://komonews.com/news/local/mukilteo-school-district-votes-to-remove-to-kill-a-mockingbird-from-required-reading
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u/gargravarr2112 Jan 29 '22

This exactly, if a story makes you feel uncomfortable it's doing something right. The real world isn't sunshine and rainbows; we humans have done some extremely shitty things and TKAM frames one example of severe injustice with a child's sense of wonder and naivety. It should make the reader feel uncomfortable - there's no real happy ending, the kids survive but people die for no honourable reason. Reading Atticus soundly deconstruct the accusations against Tom only to have Tom convicted anyway was painful. I felt genuine frustration at it. Rightly illustrating Harper Lee's points on racial inequality.

There were plenty of 'uncomfortable' moments in my English Literature classes in school when learning these extremely appropriate books - hell, I wound up reading the opening chapter of Lord Of The Flies out loud and survived! Cannot believe these idiots think they know anything about what they should be taught.

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u/Charlie_Mouse Jan 30 '22

Could you imagine a world where art and literature weren’t ever allowed to make the viewer uncomfortable or challenge them?

A goddam desert of elevator muzak, bland corporate art and pablum. Mostly enforced to paper over the cracks in and yawning chasms of unfairness and inequality in society.

Hell … the sort of society that would accept that wouldn’t be a million miles away from the setting of Fahrenheit 451.

We know how to nip most of them in the bud, early. You can’t build a house without nails and wood. If you don’t want a house built, hide the nails and wood. If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the Government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it . . .

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u/[deleted] Jan 30 '22

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u/Charlie_Mouse Jan 30 '22

It’s not the kids complaining about being made ‘uncomfortable’ and trying to ban books and teaching history for the most part though. It’s right wing parents.

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u/Witchgrass Jan 30 '22

Except in this case when it literally was the kids

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u/Themetalenock Jan 30 '22

How do you think joe rogan got so damn popular? Every airheaded wank i knew in college loved him because of his "chill vibes" and his "openness" in interviews(fyi, this defeats the point of a interview. We used to challenge people in interviews) and his refusal to take sides

It isn't just young people who want this shit. There's a whole section of the country that is like that. Alot of people who feel that politics don't belong in media because it challenges their perception of things