Jesse Walker on banned books
In a hilarious riff on Banned Books Week, Reason editor Jesse Walker belittles the "failure of the censorious imagination" revealed in this year's list of most-challenged books. Catcher in the Rye and Heather Has Two Mommies again, ho hum — Walker suggests some less obvious choices for the book-banning busybodies that require a little interpretation.
Green Eggs and Ham, meanwhile, is a thinly disguised account of homosexual seduction. In this kiddie favorite, "Sam I Am" (that is, "Same As I Am") tries to persuade the narrator to "eat" green eggs and ham. Anyone who has traveled in the Spanish-speaking world knows what "eggs" are. The ham, of course, is a long, phallic sausage, perfect for "porking" someone. The protagonist repeatedly denies any interest in the offer, but Sam persists, proposing that he join him in any number of locations, positions, and kinky arrangements. ("Would you, could you, on a boat? Would you, could you, with a goat?") Finally, our hero gives in, just once—and discovers that he enjoys fellating breakfast after all. Sam has made a convert, and the legion of God-Fearing Heterosexuals is diminished by one.
(Link snagged from RiShawn Biddle.)
