Darlings, Are We Coming To The Age Of "Fahrenheit 451"??????????

                                    This is a very slippery slope, girls.  And, no, this in not about my contemplation of purchasing a Kindle.  It seems the Brevard County Public Library in Flordia has decided to ban from its shelves E.L. James' "Fifty Shades Of Gray" novels.  Not because they are crap, which is badly written, but
because they have been deemed too pornographic to be suitable for public circulation.

                                       The first thing I have to wonder is whether the ones who made this decision have ever actually seen any REAL pronography.

                                         I have never read these books.  But, when it became a phenomenon, like "The Hugner Games," I was intrigued.  What I discovered was not only the writing artrocious, the concept borders on plaigirism.  James has taken Stephanie Myers' 'Twilight' characters and reimagined them in highly sexualized terms.

                                          Basically, this is what you would call "fan fiction."  It is all over the Internet. In fact, just the other day, I read an interesting example.  Having recently seen the 'SVU' episode, "Ridicule," where Diane Neal (before she played Casey Novak) portrayed Amelia Chase, an autoerotic asphyxiater, rapist and murderer, I found a fanfic someone had written, in the voice of her character, Amelia Chase. She is writing from prison, where she has been placed, and the voice is that of Amelia. As I read it, I could hear Neal's voice in my head; it was that convincing.  And it gave some fascinating insights into her character, which the episode did not explore.  But is it publishable, beyond where it is contained now?  I think not.

                                              In fact, I seem to recall that 'Gray' started out this way.  I could be wrong; I freely admit to that. But, were that the case, it should have gotten no farther than the Ameilia Chase story.
Yet people are lapping it up.

                                                 With my curiousity, I had to give it a look.  Like Miss Myer, the writing is bad; I could not stomach it.  It is highly sexual, but is it pornography, or just bad erotica???? After all, in her peak period, Anne Rice wrote some volumes of erotica--"Belinda" (which I read) and "The Sleeping Beauty" books, which I did not.  I do not recall anyone suggesting her books be taken off shelves.  And even though I have had my issues with Anne, she is indeed a better writer!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                    To me, what I read of James' work comes off as poor erotica at best.
As one who relishes good writing, I could justify banning it from MY sheleves.  But, were I a librarian or bookseller, I could not, in all conscience, do so.  I might not particularly recommend them to folks, steering them towards something better.  But for the throngs out there who want access to it, they should have it, whether I, or anyone, like it or not.  Are the Brevard County folk naive enough to think that because a person cannot get it off the shelves, they can't download it onto a Nook or Kindle, if they have one, and so desiire?????????

                                                           Or do they plan to have it banned from the Internet, or at least the server in their library, if such a thing is technologically possible, so that it could not be downloaded???  To me, that is scary, and this is where we are getting into "Fahrenheit 451" territory.  For who's to say what is suitable, and what is not?  What about free will; a reader may find it unsuitable, stop, and return it to the shelves.   And once value judgements like these start being made, objectivity and freedom of speech go out
the window.

                                                         I do not personally endorse the James books.  So, I do not have to read them.  But that does not mean that those who may want to, should not have the right to do so and decide for themselves the merit of that work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                           Good Lord, is "Valley Of The Dolls" next??????????  Perish the thought!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!