Nerd Church - The Dilemma of Morally Dubious Media (Ft. American Psycho, Game of Thrones and Harry Potter)

Warning: this post discusses morally dubious media, including but not limited to: rape, murder, incest, general violence.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

American Psycho is about a serial killer that takes pleasure in raping and killing women in the most horrible ways, and the narrative goes into gratuitous detail about it.

Do I have your attention? Buckle up, dearest nerdlets!

No matter what, there is always gonna be media - books, films, TV series, whatever - that is kinda dubious on the ol' morality front.

Is that ok? Is that something we should be consuming? Is that something that people should be creating?

And if it isn't, is that something that we should be supressing?

Should we be, to put it bluntly, censoring it?

Month in Review(s) - September 2018

Ohmygod September.

September was a f**king rollercoaster. The type where you throw up a lot.

(I'm actually kind of quietly impressed with this graphic that I threw together in like, 15 minutes! Lol.)

On the good side:

It was my birthday! Woop!

(If you wanna give me a present, you can get me a coffee here! If not, I still love ya! 😊)

#BannedBooksWeek: Nerd Church - F**k It, Let's Talk Censorship (Ft. Thirteen Reasons Why)

Warning: this post discusses suicide, suicidal thoughts, mental health problems, sexual harassment, and censorship.

Links may also discuss these topics.




(Did you notice I self-censored in the title of this post? I can't bring myself to swear without *'s because in a traditional Welsh household, the only one allowed to swear is your mam. Lol.)

Via Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week is back! (23-29 Sept 2018)

And, darling nerdlets, I'm here once again to ask all the goddamn awkward questions!

Cos that's kinda what this week is about!

Friday Fics Fix - Love Vs War. Freedom Vs Silence.

'He’d read all of Bucky’s letters over and over till he almost knew them by heart, and none of the phrases in the transcript were in any of those letters. There must be another letter, one that never got sent.'

Stop the presses, Cee's back on the Stucky!

Shocking, I know.

(Fangirling notes: Stucky is a Steve Rogers (Captain America) and Bucky Barnes romantic and/or sexual relationship. You can't tell me it doesn't make sense.)

Nerd Church - 5 Things I Learned From Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff (Without Reading a Word)

'Oh scream, America, scream. Believe what you see. From Heroes and Cons.'

We are in the middle of the 21st Century Breakdown.

Unfortunately, I don't think Green Day meant their apocalyptic concept-album to be an instruction manual. *laughs slightly hysterically*

Month in Review(s) - September 2017

September was a mixed bag.

But then, that's life I suppose! Still, it was my birthday month, so there's that at least ;)

(I ate soooo much pizza and chocolate cake!!!! 🎂🎂🎂🍕🍕🍕😁)

#BannedBooksWeek | Nerd Church - On Censorship

24th-30th September 2017 is Banned Books Week, as set up by the American Library Association (ALA.)



I'm all for intellectual freedom my nerdlets; I'm against censorship in general.

Banned Books Week 2016 - Dangerous Words

As part of Banned Books Week 2016, I figured I'd look at some quotes from books that are often challenged.





So, are words really that dangerous?

I thought that I'd throw together just a few quotes from some of the books featured on the 'most challenged' list of 2015. See what you think ;)

All quotes are from the Goodreads page for that title.

"I am going to take this bucket of water and pour it on the flames of hell, and then I am going to use this torch to burn down the gates of paradise so that people will not love God for want of heaven or fear of hell, but because He is God." - Looking For Alaska by John Green

Amazon links: UK - US

"Don't place some vague moral judgement on yourself based on what others might think. Don't waste your energy." - Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James

Amazon links: UK - US

"There is no reason that we should ever be ashamed of our bodies or ashamed of our love." - Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

Amazon links: UK - US

"What would happen if we spoke the truth?" - Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

Amazon links: UK - US

"The Sufi saint Rabi'a Al-Adawiyya was seen carrying a firebrand and a jug of water - the firebrand to burn Paradise, the jug of water to drown Hell...

So that both veils disappear, and God's followers worship, not out of hope for reward, nor fear of punishment, but out of love." - Habibi by Craig Thompson

(Yes I chose this one because the similarity to the Looking For Alaska quote struck me!)

Amazon links: UK - US

"I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them." - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Amazon links: UK - US

Like this post? Try these:

• Banned Books Week 2016 - Diverse Books Under Threat
• Censorship - Are We All Hypocrites...?

Banned Books Week 2016 - Diverse Books Under Threat

Given that diverse books make up a relatively small amount of the total books available (in English, at least,) it should be eye-opening that the most challenged and banned books are those which allow diverse voices a platform.

A look at the 2015 list of the 10 most challenged books should show you the truth of this.

Except for The Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, each of these books either has an author from a diverse community, and/or has diverse characters.

(Even Looking For Alaska, I'm told (by Wikipedia,) has a PoC character.)

This year's Banned Books Week from the American Library Association (yes, I know I'm not American - but dudes, when America sneezes, the world catches a cold,) is focussed on celebrating diversity.

And the banned-books-flag is starting to be flown over here in the UK too.

Diversity is not a threat. Diversity is under threat.

Diversity is vital. Diversity is wonderful. Diversity gives you the opportunity to hear other people's voices.

Why would you think hearing the voices of others is a bad thing?

And a little food for thought...

All graphics & infographics are from the ALA/Banned Books Week Coalition

Like this post? Try these:

• Censorship - Are We All Hypocrites...?
• 5 Diversity Myths Debunked

Nerd Church! - A Little Retail Therapy

Sometimes, you need window shopping - or, in this post-digital age, windows shopping. I'm a nerd. We have established this. We shall move on.

church image courtesy of debspoons at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I found The Literary Gift Company when faffing through the intricacies of the interwebs - and I like their style. I particularly like the Banned Books Bracelet. I am sooo tempted!!! If only I had more moneys (drat!)

But Cee! You're all thinking. This is Nerd Church! It's supposed to be stuffed full of moral sh** that you've dug from the pages and slapped into a blog post. Ah yes, erstwhile blog-hopper, but every religion and marketing company in the world will tell you that symbols are powerful things - and so jewellery and gifts with a literary theme are a fantastic way to spread the bookish message(s.) And maybe start to think about Xmas shopping for your fellow book nerds... or just windows shop, because sometimes you need it. Retail therapy is a powerful thing, even if you don't have the money to treat yourself.

Banned Books and Censorship (or, To #@!% or Not To #@!%)

Warning: In the spirit of anti-censorship, I'm going to swear like a sailor with no symbols to protect your innocent eyes.

This week is Banned Books Week 2015, and while it's largely an American thing, the rest of the world are often more than happy to jump on the proverbial fucking band wagon and celebrate books which have been banned and challenged. Intellectual freedom is a founding stone of any society that's worth its shit.

Book banning is something which still happens alarmingly regularly - and we need to be more aware of it. Unlike in the US, where the ALA attempts to keep record of fucking challenges and book-banning, there are very few such records kept in the rest of the world. I have no idea when, or if, book banning happens in the UK, having to rely instead on bloody anecdotal evidence.

I know, for example, that at my old school (I'm in my 20s, and finished school in circa 2013... or was it 2011? It might've been 2011. Maybe. Time's never been my strong suit,) every Dan Brown book was marked as 'Sixth Form Only.' Presumably because they didn't want parents coming back at them about the religious/controversial aspects. 'Naughty,' books with sex etc were often confined to these shelves. And sometimes books would have one copy on these shelves, and one on the shelves of the main library (e.g. The Book Thief.) I have no bloody idea why the fuck this was, and neither did the librarian.

So, why ban books? I have no fucking idea. But the reasons given are often about religion, violence, sex, nudity, and swearing. Basically, fucking reasons. Except that kids do not live in a shitting bubble - they know that the world is a complex and shitty place in which people fuck with everything - themselves, each other, and people's minds.

If you want your kids to be good people, they've got to come to that decision by themselves, not because you've prevented them from accessing other opinions. And sometimes, it's just fucking ridiculous. You don't like gay penguins? Fine, go be fucking bigoted on your own time. Just don't stop your kids from realising there's a world out there. And don't even get me started on the religious narrow-mindedness. You can believe what you want, but please allow others to make up their own minds. And don't ban vampire books just because they scare you.