Wednesday 6 January 2010

Book Ban Observation: Couldn't Get "When Everything Changed" into Computer Bag or a Pocket

It seems like the bizarre decision not to include books, magazines and newspapers as things you can take into the cabin with you on US-bound flights leaving Canadian airports, is getting some attention which is a good thing.

I'm on the lookout for information about just how readers are faring these days, and I've heard that books have been successfully brought aboard in coat pockets are computer bags. But when I travel I like to take good-sized books for some uninterrupted reading. As I finished up the previous post about a hefty book on the progress of women since 1960, I took a closer look at it, and realized that there was no way it would make the cut...unless I actually cut it into sections to squirrel around my person in pockets with a a hefty slice in a computer bag.

We need a protest on this: Stop Dumbing Down: Allow Books on Airplanes

2 comments:

lagatta à montréal said...

Pierre Foglia of La Presse recounts taking a flight in the US with then Senator Barack Obama, and later thought the most notable thing about the presidential candidate was not that he could be the first President of African descent, but that he was the only other person on the flight reading an actual book (it was a big, serious book), and not just a magazine or newspaper.

Between dumbing down and the humiliation of virtual naked parades and not being able to pee, this is getting ludicrous. I bet some "terrorists" find all this very funny indeed.

Martin Langeland said...

"I bet some "terrorists" find all this very funny indeed."
Since the object of terrorism is to make one's enemy so afraid they will change their customary behavior: yes. The "terrorists" are giggling up their sleeves as we fall all over ourselves to shred our civil rights because the possibility of an attack makes flight incrementally slightly more dangerous.
The appropriate response to this incident is a brief announcement by the local authorities. If a plane overshoots the runway, we don't hound the president about it. We shouldn't hound the president for this, nor demand that heads roll. But that would require a media with a just appreciation of the weight of events. Ours only wish to sell papers.
--ml