Hey, yo, the Brits are trying to put "appropriate age" stickers on BOOKS now. What fun thing will they take away from children next?



You don't want this to happen. Phillip Pullman is leading the campaign to get this shit stopped before it gets started, and he makes all the obvious and important points:

1) You are gonna stigmatize kids for reading adult books.
2) You are gonna stigmatize adults for reading kids books.
3) Nobody writes for a specific age group.
4) Books are for anyone who can understand them, and you can't really accidentally read something you aren't "ready" for.
5) Maybe kids should "accidentally" read things they aren't ready for.
6) Come on! This is crazy and stupid and can only be used for evil purposes.

Also, isn't this gonna discourage people from buying as many books, statistically speaking? How many people are writing books SPECIFICALLY for age 7- to 8-year-olds? And who gets to decide what books go to what age? Hemingway and Beckett have third grade vocabularies, but are for "adults." On the other hand, kids ought to start reading Dickens as soon as their little fontanelles get hard. With their little dictionaries beside them, and their little brows furrowed, and their little hearts beating fast...

So take some action, cats. Sign the petition at www.notoagebanding.org.

It will take you five minutes to do this. Come on! Remember how happy you were to read your first dirty book? You were so happy! You were so happy, and then people told you how smart you were for reading a book meant for adults! You were SO HAPPY to read your first piece of mind-cracking smut that made you erotically dizzy, with your brand-new genitals twirling inside you like ballerinae.

You want to take that small happiness away from the small people who will someday be deciding what to do with your rotten old wrinkled ass?

Comment!

Posted by miracle on Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:44:25 -0400 -- permanent link