I'm constantly reading about these people that shoot others, blow up buildings, and destroy lives. It's not particularly by choice; a lot of them are included as requirements for classes. But in these pieces, I've noticed a pattern that's starting to annoy me: authorities too often judge a person on the books they read. I'm a huge reader, and I find myself both nervous and minorly pissed off that people associate destructive and dangerous behavior with certain literature.
For example, in the recent NIU shooting, they made a comment that "police confiscated several items from Baty and Kazmierczak's apartment, including a copy of Friedrich Nietzsche's "The Antichrist" and the "Encyclopedia of Serial Killers"" (CNN). I've taken several Homeland Security classes, and I have all sorts of research laying around, from the 1993 WTC bombings commission reports, to Pakistan - US relations. Does this mean I'm going to be watched? Go ahead, look into it. If the government wants to look into my life that far, I welcome them to. Come on, Patriot Act. I've got nothing to hide. Except the fact I like to know what I'm talking about.
It's amazing that most people don't know that your library records are free to be observed by the authorities. Monitored. Recorded. Some people get a little uptight about it. I frankly really don't care, but I don't get it. Did Timothy McViegh do it just because he read The Turner Diaries (which is really messed up, by the way)? Or because his favorite movie was the 1984 Patrick Swayze epic Red Dawn? We might as well record everyone who reads Catcher in the Rye since apparently all snipers have read it at some point in their lives, according to one of my past professors. Never mind that it's one of the most common books for kids to be assigned in middle school English classes.
Oh, and just for everyone's information, I'm currently reading Alison Weir's Innocent Traitor. Finished Kabul Beauty School. And of course they’ve influenced me. But try not to judge me for it.
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