Today a story and a photo were cut from the lit mag. I'm upset. It's not that I'm upset that they were cut, exactly, but for the reasons that they were cut.
Anyone who's read our school's literary magazine before knows that there can be some disturbing stuff in there. Which is fine by me, since it's usually not threatening. There's swearing, drugs, violence, and cannibalism pressed right next to pages about tulips, apple trees, love, and autumn. And that's alright with me. I like it to be a relatively free student publication.
However, of course, it's not as free as the staff would like it, which brings me to why I'm upset with the administration and most Americans.
The photo that was cut was a shadowy photo of a girl with her back to the camera, arms wrapped around herself, and no shirt. So, a naked back. Cut. But it's semi-understandable.
The short story was about a boy (presumably in high school) who was God himself. And he murdered a girl in a bathroom stall for being a "whore", cut muggers to pieces in the streets, and killed a mother. Pretty graphic stuff. But that's not why it was cut. God loved a 12 year-old girl, because she was pure. No sex involved, even though his attraction to her was implied. Therefore, it was cut for being "pedophilic". And that's what makes me angry. Not because of the descriptions of the murders?? Because of implied sexual content??
How is it that we can live in a world where anything sexual is supposedly worse than murder? Where many people would rather have their sons get in fist-fights than get someone pregnant?
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