[rant on]
So, I'm sitting in class last night listening to this so-called Native American expert (1/132 Chickasaw...she showed us her voting card) and she lectured for an hour on how we should get rid of any books in the library with the following terms regarding that group:

braves
savages
eskimo
squaw
war whoops
victory
conquest
massacre
blah, blah, blah...

Up until now, I have been pretty happy with library school because we tend to be concerned with things like privacy, (ALA is one of the most outspoken groups against the Patriot Act), not censoring and promoting free speech. But, after this idiot told us to take "The Little House on the Prairie" series off the shelf because there is a picture with an Indian wearing the "wrong" type of shoe, I just lost it.

My prof obviously believed all the crap being spewed about this, which really pissed me off because I had previously felt that she was pretty cool.  Now I am trying to figure out how to keep my cool until the end of the semester when all I feel like doing is screaming "BULLSHIT" when I walk into class!
[/rant off]
Marian(ThePissed)Librarian

[img]http://www.whitbyhs.cheshire.sch.uk/curric/history/trips/europe/europe2000/thurs20/bookburning.jpg[/img]
[b]Shortly after the Nazis came into power in 1933, they introduced a policy of burning books that were contrary in thought or teaching of the policies of the Third Reich. May 10, 1933.[/b]

[img]http://www.threeoaks-marshall.com/images/books.jpg[/img]

She was a tad bit 'tweaked' when she came home last night...She's cooled off since!

1/132 Chickasaw makes this stooge an expert? Geez! I must be Sitting Fucking Bull! I'm 1/16 Cherokee! 'Scuse me while the savage braves and I do some war whoops as we set out for a conquest fo a few squaws to celebrate our victory at the recent massacre! Ask this so-called expert if it's OK if I wear Converse All-Stars, or are they the "wrong" shoes.

Y'know, I'm as sensitive as the next guy to the plight of the so-called Native Americans, but c'mon. Puhleeeez.

Marian,

It's your duty to call 'bullshit' on this diatribe that is nothing more a demand for censorship.  As a student in graduate school, you are expected to contribute to the class discussion, advocate opposing points of view, point out inconsistencies in arguments, and challenge doctrine.  You will not only feel better about yourself, but you will establish yourself as a class leader when you speak out in favor of common sense and in defense of free speech.

The Commissioner

My field of study is math. As a grad, and now a postgrad(doc) one is expected to

(1) be first with the proof
(2) be sure the proof is error-free, and
(3) ferret out the errors in the proofs of   others.

And, nobody stopped them then, and nobody's stopping them now......[V]

Thank-You!! (you put it very gently)

(If I was a prof, I might bring in a speaker like that just to see if any "sheep" had the balls to challenge it!!! [snoopy])

Since when is being called a brave an insult or derrogatory?  Victory????  Gimme a break!  Massacre?  Does she means when the indians were massacred or when they committed massacres?

My great grandma was an indian.  She used to tell us stories and use those exact words...squaw, braves.  

Your so-called expert is advocating censorship, plain and simple.  Maybe we should remove all references in history books to slavery.  Burn anythin that contains the following words:

Black
Dark
Color
Labor
Whip
Punish
Slave
Cotton
Plantation
Chain
Own
Property
Work
Free

Marian, please tell me why librarian studies is a graduate-level only field.  I have a friend who has just finished his Master's in that field and he can't answer my question.

So did you speak up? Did you question the speaker as to why she felt that way? Did you engage in a discussion about the book written?

You are in grad school, you do not have to sit blindly by why some one spouts something you disagree with. Step up to the plate.

Marian(ThePissed)Librarian




You Charmer......you are on the right track though I say BullShitz also.

Just for the record, I did call her on some of it.  I "delicately" asked if she thought we would remove "To Kill a Mockingbird" because of the use of the word nigger.  She said that she was not for censorship, but that she was there to make us "think."  

About 1/2 of the class kept pointing out her foibles and she just grinned and kept going.  It is the fact that my prof agreed with her and was promoting the agenda that really torks me.  This was not a situation where she was trying to get us to defend our positions or anything, she was serious about the whole thing because we grilled her about it when the presenter left.

Marian(TheEvenPissierBecauseIKeepThinkingAboutIt)Librarian

There are some places that do have undergrad library science programs, but they are not ALA accredited programs.  Nearly every library in the US demands a masters from an ALA accredited school. It's sort of like med school.  Undergrad med students study broad areas of science, undergrad students wanting to be librarians study broad areas of humanities (and other areas): literature, art, music and so forth.  Then, library school, like med school, focuses on taking that knowledge to another step.  This is oversimplifying, it but is the best analogy I could come up with in my aggitated state.
Marian