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I'm with Colleen from Chasing Ray: A whole lot of crazy has converged on us this week, and it's enough to drive us both insane!
You may be well aware that Roman Polanski was finally arrested this week for raping a child decades ago and subsequently fleeing the country rather than face the sentence his plea bargain would result in. [You can find great recap posts with lots of links to the coverage here and here. Not to mention Kate Harding's searing work on Broadsheet. And Melissa Silverstein's insider view on Women and Hollywood.]
But Colleen also wants you to be aware that today, in 2009, book banning and author censorship is alive and well, particularly when it comes to schools and young adult fiction. And she sees a compelling connection, or perhaps more accurately, a cognitive dissonance, between what we say about protecting young people, and what we do. For her unique and cautionary take on the Polanski crime, we have chosen Chasing Ray's post We've got a whole lot of crazy going on as our BlogHer of the Week.
Nothing could better explain this week's choice, and why it struck us, than these passages:
Roman Polanski raping a child and fleeing the country is reality. Sixteen-year old honor student Derrion Albert beaten to death on the way to the bus stop in Chicago is reality. Soaring suicide rates and depression and teen pregnancy and alcohol abuse and drug abuse and gang violence across the US are all the reality we are living in.
But we seek to save children by telling them not to read about these things? Don't read about teenagers doing the things that teenagers are doing. Make those teenagers - the ones who do those things - someone different, someone far away, someone who - maybe - deserved it.
and
Blame some children for how they acted, how they dressed, where they were - but don't do the hard work of actually trying to reach those children. Don't celebrate, protect and defend the authors who reach out with their words to real living and breathing teenagers. Hold on to some ideals that somehow lets us, as a society, defend Polanski and decry [banned author] Hopkins.
To my own discredit, I was unaware of every story of censorship and book banning in Colleen's post. And it's a crying shame.
To her credit: Colleen's post illuminates this troubling trend, and draws useful, if disturbing, parallels to the Polanski case.
For that, Chasing Ray is our BlogHer of the Week!
Thanks to everyone for continuing to send in your nominated posts. Remember to nominate individual posts, not entire blogs, and keep them coming! If you want to check out all the BlogHer of the Week posts, check out the BlogHer of the Week archive.
Best,
Elisa
For Elisa, Jory and Lisa, BlogHer Co-founders
