Unbelievable

So, this week America entered a new era of hope, and it is a very good thing. We've entered the 21st century at long last.

But then I read something like this, a blog post in which I learn that some people in this country simply have no clue what the word "freedom" really means, and I shake my head in disbelief.

It appears that at some elderly care facility in this great country of ours, one prudish, repressed old prune is taking it upon her/himself to determine what kind of reading material the rest of the residents may read. S/he is sorting through books donated by well-meaning citizens and removing those s/he believes are inappropriate and tossing those into the garbage bin.

Wait a minute? WTF!?


First, for any one person to honestly grant themselves such authority to make such decisions on behalf of anyone else is arrogance and narcissism to the nth degree. Who the hell does this person think s/he is? Who made her/him King of Everything? Was there an election?

Secondly, for anyone to think that people who've lived long, experienced lives might not have the ability to determine for themselves what they find appropriate and inappropriate reading material is mind-numbing.

And if the insult to these senior residents - people who have already had so many of life's freedoms denied to them by virtue of their physical and/or mental deterioration - is not enough, how dare this person take yet another choice from them? This person is stealing something from these people just the same as if s/he went into their closets and walked out with their things. Disgusting!

Much blame needs to be laid at the feet of the resident home's administrator who is so spineless as to be unable to stand up to possible complaints that she allows this to happen. She is permitting the desires of one to dictate the choices of all. Not very Spock-like, to be sure.

I think the solution to such blatant and horrifying censorship is exposure. People need to be aware of what is happening in this place. Families of those who live there need to know that their loved ones are being denied something without any choice in the matter. If I discovered that my 97 year old grandmother lived in such a home, I would be calling my congressman about the situation, writing every newspaper in print, and bitching to the high heavens until something changed. This is not acceptable. I'm so outraged, that I'm itching to write a letter to this particular place and I have absolutely no connection with it whatsoever.

Too, if I determined that my donation of books would best serve this particular community, and I took the time and effort to take my books there and my donation was accepted, I would be beyond livid to learn that they were disposed of at a later date and without my knowledge. This is a fraud. At the very least, donors deserved a phone call telling them that all of their books were not going to be used, and would they like to retrieve them. We are trying to keep books out of landfills.

So, yeah, I'm pissed. Because this is wrong. On oh so many levels, this is just wrong.