#3. On Censorship in Literature [edited]

Literature that raises eyebrows, that causes controversies, especially in the twenty-first century, should be censored or withheld. A lot of people will probably disagree with my opinion, but I have my reasoning.
I feel that in our world, right now, there's so much more freedom of expression because of social networking. Facebook allows employers and teachers to interact with employees and students at a highly personal level. There is also less privacy. And so many times the line blurs and people cross it without even realizing it. I don't think that's a good thing.
I don't consider S-5 controversial literature. Most people in our time and age don't. What I'm saying is literature considered CONTROVERSIAL IN OUR DAY AND AGE should be censored. I guess subject matter would be the main issue.
For controversial literature to not be censored, to not be withheld, seems dangerous to me. Songs these days are already poorly censored. I remember running into a 7-year-old singing London Bridge back when Fergie was huge in the music biz. Although songs like Fergie's London Bridge is not intended for little children, kiddies come into contact with it because it's a small world. Kiddies singing explicit song lyrics is frowned upon.
So why shouldn't controversial literature be banned/censored? If it's for the greater human good, then that's the way things should be. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms allows one to express his own thoughts and feelings as long as it doesn't interfere with someone else's rights. If a piece of literature offends certain groups of people, why should it not be censored?
I might be old-fashioned in some aspects, but there's just some things that you shouldn't say out loud. There's a reason why we have that little voice inside our heads to tell us when to stop talking. I'm just saying.

#2. A Quote from K.V.

"I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center." - K.V.

Sometimes, when I stand in the middle of the action, I feel I don't have a full perspective of the situation. I always have tunnel vision in those cases. But when I'm on the outside looking in, I feel sure of what the right decisions are, even though I'm not the person making the decisions at that moment. But when you're on the outside, you want to make sure that you're not too far away.
Another way to look at this Vonnegut quote would be to emphasize carpe diem. Seizing the day. It's always been something easier said than done. We're all on the pursuit of happiness, but there's always been that brick wall. I hate that brick wall.
I wish I had had some of Vonnegut's wisdom all my life. He doesn't seem like the kind of man to dwell on the past. Slaughterhouse Five is representative of that. He seemed like the kind of man who didn't let the past impair his judgements for the future.
What doesn't kill you, can only make you stronger.

"Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough. They are there to keep out the other people." - Randy Pausch

#1. Fate vs. Free Will

"There is really no such thing as what might have been. There's what happened and what will happen. I've just had to realize that what might have been is imaginary, and it's this beautiful illusion of how it could have been if you had just done this right ... But things don't line up ... and you mess up for a reason." -Taylor Swift

I've always imagined that the future was dependent upon the decisions we come up with, that the future was silly putty which could be molded to our liking. But over time, I've figured out that the future is something both unfathomable and untouchable. It's a beautiful thought, believing in free will. However, I realized that I don't always have free will because life happens.You don't determine the life you're born into. You can't pick your family (though sometimes we wish we could) or choose what you look like (besides with plastic surgery). There's also only one Paris Hilton in the world. She didn't choose to be born into a world of glamour. It just so happened. Most people aren't that fortunate. And some people are born into poverty. Some people have to pour cold water onto their cereal because they can't afford milk. This is fate's play.
The power of free will is also nonexistant in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five. Billy Pilgrim never chose to be abducted by the Tralfamadorians. I know that with every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. But not everything that happens can be explained with that logic.
The question still stands. Why Billy Pilgrim?
Fate.
Life is like a road, paved with thousands upon thousands of forks in the path. I suppose it's what you do with your situation that determines your life. But I think whether you turn left or you turn right, the path you tread on is the one you were meant to take. The other path is a "beautiful illusion". In your mind it stands as something that could have happened, but in reality it could never have happened. My mantra has always been that everything happens for a reason. That good things fall apart so that better things can fall together. I'd be living a life of regret at this point if I didn't believe in fate.
That's my take on this.

"There's a peace in knowing that all things that turned into dead ends turned into dead ends for a reason. If I felt a different way, it would be hard to sleep at night." -Taylor Swift