Why We Need Profanity Warning Labels on Books to Protect Our Young People

Thanks for the rebuttal. One issue I need to take with your argument is that you're assuming irresponsible parents are purchasing books like the one mentioned above, then foisting them to their children unaware of their content. If this were the case, then they should indeed be held accountable and could be seen as irresponsible. But more often than not this is not the case. Young people -- and I'm talking mostly about curious high school and college age kids -- are off on their own, purchasing these things, testing boundaries and values -- values often contrary to those they were brought up respecting. And this is the nature of growth and self-discovery I suppose: people need to redefine themselves, irrespective of how they were raised (but hopefully good values will make a difference). Parental supervision can only go so far, in other words, and after a certain age young people will enter a phase of exploration, highly influenced (unfortunately) by the sensational and decidedly "boundary-less" media, which is in itself influenced by the popular liberalism and anti-religious stance of Hollywood. It's unrealistic to believe that parents exert a God-like presence in the life of a teenager. Often by the age of 13, a child will be exposed to alarming things; be "sold" on what are often (I'll admit) well intentioned but ultimately destructive liberal ideas. Liberals live in a world removed from reality, in my opinion. A liberal (often nurtured by Hollywood fantasies) lives in a world where nothing can do harm and everything needs to be accepted and embraced -- that everything is "cool" -- whether gay, straight, or sideways. A liberal lacks the courage or the character (or the moral fiber) to decide if something is good or bad. I argue against this and once again will suggest that clearly defined boundaries, clearly defined roles in life, clearly defined expectations are a good thing. Warning labels on books would be a good thing. But (and this is my stance) companies will not regulate themselves specifically concerning books, fearing a backlash from the liberal left who will scream out "censorship!" or "racism!" and say that their First Amendment rights are being trampled upon or challenged. Now I communicated with this troubled young man who purchased "Permanent Obscurity" and I asked him if his parents purchased the book for him. And he just laughed and said, "My parents would kill me if they knew I was reading stuff like this; I mean it's pretty dirty. With lesbian and fetish stuff and 'female domination' kink and all." "It's pretty dirty" -- those were his words, not mine. How did he purchase this pornographic trash from Amazon, I asked, without his parents knowing? "Through a friend," was his casual reply. And how did he even find out about this book? Again, through a library, he said, that carried the novel. Then he admitted something else: "Also the website." "What website?" I asked. "A porn website?" He shrugged and fell silent. "I googled the title and it popped up," he said. I later tried this myself, googling the title of the book and there it was, as he said, right on top. I clicked on the link, expecting to see a site promoting this pornographic trash listed as an adult site complete with adult verification, but it wasn't that way at all. A toddler could log on to the website of this book and view samples of this obscene material as well as view disgusting sadomasochistic material relating to it. Now I ask you: How can a parent -- or even a concerned citizen -- fight against this? How can we prevent books promoting anti-social behavior and drug use from falling into the wrong hands, the hands of impressionable youth? Don't mention "boycotting" these runt imprints putting out this trash; these are not reputable companies but fly-by-night or hit-and-run ventures (or at least they seem that way to me); squash one and another pops up like a mushroom. Boycotting only works if millions of units of an item are sold because only then it would become noteworthy or media worthy (and even then the message would most likely be distorted). You also mention a "rating" and if you mean customer reviews they are worthless in preventing young people from purchasing a particular unsavory item. There are no ratings for books, and that is my point -- the point of this argument and debate -- because the novel in question does not mention a rating (as a movie might). Again, in my opinion, this material should be rated "X" and clearly state this on the book or any website associated with it; it should clearly state the category it belongs in upfront and not hide the fact of what it is -- degenerate filth -- beneath "hip" rhetoric suggesting a dare. Parents are not able to prevent impressionable youth from being exposed to the book in question. Parents cannot exert the God-like control that you imagine they are capable of. And this is why community activists -- responsible adults promoting positive American values -- need to take control, to regulate the irresponsible dissemination of such sick and perverted garbage. This goes for the work of Chuck Palahniuk and this goes for the work of Richard Perez.