Banning books, transphobia, guns, anti-wokeism etc.
Corrupt politicians (and the Corps that fund them) will do anything and everything to distract and avoid people noticing they are being ripped off to a historic degree at every single turn.
This is a direct tunnel towards Christian Nationalism, which is what these lunatic parents want. They want to go back to when the Christian bible was the only book anyone was allowed to read. We are headed backwards to witch burning, slavery and other banishments until the only ones left are the White Christian Nationalists. Probably not in my lifetime, but my kids or grandchildren's time, unless we vote out the extremists who give license to these hard line Christians and white supremecists. Saving the teachers and librarians is a nice bandaid but it doesn't stop the infection. It's time to start protesting against the tyranny in our governments, and try to stay out of jail doing it.
Who is paying for this? My Iowa state senator had excerpts from all sorts of books. Who collected the excerpts and distributed them? I'm sure he didn't. Some group gave them to him. I know the Moms For Liberty is funded by the Heritage Foundation. Is that who is behind this?
Out of context, the excerpts seemed pointless but I took the time to either read the book or to look up what it was about--not too hard to find. None promoted anything unhealthy. One did give a cautionary tale though.
The USA has a teacher shortage. It’s not going to get better.
Regarding the hot and flat state of Florida, the NAACP has told Black people not to go there. I decided back in 2020, when they encouraged mass suicide from an airborne virus, I would never go to Florida again. There are more beautiful beaches all over the world and there are better Disney parks all over the world.
Fahrenheit 451 is a 1953 dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury.[4] It presents an American society where books have been personified and outlawed and "firemen" burn any that are found.[5] The novel follows Guy Montag, a fireman who becomes disillusioned with his role of censoring literature and destroying knowledge, eventually quitting his job and committing himself to the preservation of literary and cultural writings. Imagine: Each person memorizes a book and rehearses it.
As a former teacher librarian in New Zealand, I find this scary. Unthinkable that it could happen here, but sadly, some are influenced by this craziness in the USA...
Unbelievable, haven't enough of these religious phonies disappeared or outright died by now, who is spawning them? Especially since 2006 out Kansas way.
There's a big problem for bible belters seeking to convert the US government into a theocracy, there's a short bench of candidates to lead this flock of idiots, so far Trump. Now there's leadership, yeah, that dude.
Hmmm. I'm a centrist, not a Republican or a Democrat. (Pro-choice, atheist, etc.) I
So I'm not sure how to feel about this. I've seen excerpts from some of the materials in school libraries that are being called out as obscene, and while I don't consider myself a prude, I can't say I love the idea of some of it (i.e., explicit drawings and text about oral sex, anal sex, how good it all feels, etc.) being in school libraries. School libraries feel different to me than public libraries, because they are exclusively geared to people whose life experience is limited and whose brains are not yet fully cooked.
That being said, I'm also a free speech advocate.
Yes, there have always been religious nuts and control freaks trying to get this novel or that one (or that movie over there, or that song) banned because it's "disrespectful to religion" or a "thinly veiled God parable" or "suggests that Superman/Harry Potter/etc. is a Christ figure."
But this asinine and harmful behavior -- this "bullying," as you rightly call it -- is not limited to religious nuts/control freaks on the right. We now have equally religious nuts on the left effectively getting children's and young adult books banned before they're even published because they claim an author has "misappropriated" something that "belongs" to another sex or culture or ethnicity, or because something about a book is "offensive," or because a story or its characters espouse some belief or idea that is "harmful" to this or that minority or "marginalized" group.
The Dr. Seuss estate permanently pulled 3 books from its lexicon (including 2 that I loved when I was a kid, McElligott's Pool and On Beyond Zebra) because someone deemed at least one of the drawings in each book to be racist. One used the word "Eskimo."
Puffin recently reissued a number of Roald Dahl's children's books with text throughout edited to remove words, ideas and even names the publisher had decided FOR ALL OF THE REST OF US were too "offensive" to leave alone.
This is ALSO book-banning. It is also wrong. And it is effective. (Publishers don't want to be the subject of activist ire.)
So ... I have to pose this question: Do you think there are ANY books that should not be available in a school library? A public one? What about these books I just made up? "10 Best Ways to Kill Yourself." "How to Make Ricin From Things You Probably Have Lying Around the House." "Why Rape Is Justified If You're Only Raping [fill in religious group here], Who Aren't Really Human Anyway." "Pedophilia: The Sport of Kings."
And if you DO think the books I just made up do not belong in a school library, how do you justify not including them there? If you say it's because they're "harmful" or "dangerous" or "offensive," then that is a value judgment you're making -- just as people on the right are making a value judgment that explicit sex activity instruction geared to children is "harmful" and "dangerous" and "offensive."
The problem is that most of us seem to think that this kind of judgement-making is okay if it's by US and about something WE don't like -- but if someone in an out-group is trying to do the same thing, THAT'S bullying and censorship.
Free speech has always struck me as an all-or-nothing right. Either we are willing to stand up for it on behalf of people with whom we disagree, or we have no moral authority to push back when they try to take it from us.
People on the Left -- including, sadly, some in the ACLU -- are also trying to ban books, such as those by Abigail Shrier and Kathleen Stock. The best example is, of course, JK Rowling. Because any author who's gender critical or who doesn't believe in gender ideology is a target for the Left's fringe.
Well said. I live in a purple state and, while that's not "red", I keep looking over my shoulder waiting and worrying about it all. I buy banned books for the children in my life and also buy books that aren't banned but would be if Republicans knew they existed for the educators in my life. Sometimes I think it's not much but I know that books are power and I want to give the power to them.
I realized I wanted to work in a library during this scary time for libraries. I still have not found a job in a library (though I am volunteering) but the background noise of this current moment makes me scared and like "wow I sure picked a terrible time to decide this is what I want to do". (Not that it's all about me; I know darn well it isn't.)
It’s rough on authors trying to write realistically. Publishers want a happy ending, and while most of them are in blue states, they want a book that no state would ban. How do you write a realistic book about the NYPD without offending almost everyone?
Slim chances for newer authors have become even slimmer, and the supposedly edgy books today are tamer than what was acceptable in 1920s pulp and 1990s literary fiction.
This is as much a matter of placing profit above everything else, and it has made repressive backwater laws essentially national as well as producing books and art that have been neutered.
Please, I must live with people who think and don’t take everything the wrong way. I can’t deal with the ridiculous personal attacks people make in the idea of my indirect idea being somehow more personal than calling me all kinds of names and abuses?
Fact, everyone is a thought policeman. If they think you’re a autistic then you are open to being attacked. The real truth is anyone suspected of being autistic should and will be protected from personal attacks.
This is really getting bad. Autism is when your thoughts make you into an automaton, I’m a person without a control loop. Aka the thought spiral optimized for today.
Personal attacks don’t refute any idea. It could be right or wrong from anyone. Buddhism is the best. The Buddha was poor and homeless but had all the wisdom of the world.
I’m a true researcher, I need protection and we need new ideas and thoughts. These people who are instinctive trauma responses and system assertions need to go, need to stop speaking, stop writing. Stop policing everyone’s thoughts.
The madness is spreading to other countries. Here in Germany we just had the first moral panic about a drag queen story hour. Gender neutral language (more of an issue with a language like German which genders all nouns) is a prime concern to the right. There are cries of "eco terrorism" which is "worse than the Taliban" when people block traffic to protest the lack of action against climate change. All to distract from the fact that the right is morally corrupt and unfit to deal with what we are really facing. Or that the only actual attacks against the existence of Germany a liberal democratic state come from the right. The transition to pure culture war politics entirely divorced from reality is happening here and at a scary speed.
Banning books, transphobia, guns, anti-wokeism etc.
Corrupt politicians (and the Corps that fund them) will do anything and everything to distract and avoid people noticing they are being ripped off to a historic degree at every single turn.
I’m seriously waiting for a witch scare.
Watch, it’s going to happen.
This is a direct tunnel towards Christian Nationalism, which is what these lunatic parents want. They want to go back to when the Christian bible was the only book anyone was allowed to read. We are headed backwards to witch burning, slavery and other banishments until the only ones left are the White Christian Nationalists. Probably not in my lifetime, but my kids or grandchildren's time, unless we vote out the extremists who give license to these hard line Christians and white supremecists. Saving the teachers and librarians is a nice bandaid but it doesn't stop the infection. It's time to start protesting against the tyranny in our governments, and try to stay out of jail doing it.
They have revived the Comstock Laws. I thought those were shamed out of existence decades ago.
They need to be shamed again.
And the people doing this are not 'conservatives'. They are radical extremists. Repeat that label consistently, and often.
Who is paying for this? My Iowa state senator had excerpts from all sorts of books. Who collected the excerpts and distributed them? I'm sure he didn't. Some group gave them to him. I know the Moms For Liberty is funded by the Heritage Foundation. Is that who is behind this?
Out of context, the excerpts seemed pointless but I took the time to either read the book or to look up what it was about--not too hard to find. None promoted anything unhealthy. One did give a cautionary tale though.
The USA has a teacher shortage. It’s not going to get better.
Regarding the hot and flat state of Florida, the NAACP has told Black people not to go there. I decided back in 2020, when they encouraged mass suicide from an airborne virus, I would never go to Florida again. There are more beautiful beaches all over the world and there are better Disney parks all over the world.
Fahrenheit 451 is a 1953 dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury.[4] It presents an American society where books have been personified and outlawed and "firemen" burn any that are found.[5] The novel follows Guy Montag, a fireman who becomes disillusioned with his role of censoring literature and destroying knowledge, eventually quitting his job and committing himself to the preservation of literary and cultural writings. Imagine: Each person memorizes a book and rehearses it.
As a former teacher librarian in New Zealand, I find this scary. Unthinkable that it could happen here, but sadly, some are influenced by this craziness in the USA...
Unbelievable, haven't enough of these religious phonies disappeared or outright died by now, who is spawning them? Especially since 2006 out Kansas way.
There's a big problem for bible belters seeking to convert the US government into a theocracy, there's a short bench of candidates to lead this flock of idiots, so far Trump. Now there's leadership, yeah, that dude.
Hmmm. I'm a centrist, not a Republican or a Democrat. (Pro-choice, atheist, etc.) I
So I'm not sure how to feel about this. I've seen excerpts from some of the materials in school libraries that are being called out as obscene, and while I don't consider myself a prude, I can't say I love the idea of some of it (i.e., explicit drawings and text about oral sex, anal sex, how good it all feels, etc.) being in school libraries. School libraries feel different to me than public libraries, because they are exclusively geared to people whose life experience is limited and whose brains are not yet fully cooked.
That being said, I'm also a free speech advocate.
Yes, there have always been religious nuts and control freaks trying to get this novel or that one (or that movie over there, or that song) banned because it's "disrespectful to religion" or a "thinly veiled God parable" or "suggests that Superman/Harry Potter/etc. is a Christ figure."
But this asinine and harmful behavior -- this "bullying," as you rightly call it -- is not limited to religious nuts/control freaks on the right. We now have equally religious nuts on the left effectively getting children's and young adult books banned before they're even published because they claim an author has "misappropriated" something that "belongs" to another sex or culture or ethnicity, or because something about a book is "offensive," or because a story or its characters espouse some belief or idea that is "harmful" to this or that minority or "marginalized" group.
The Dr. Seuss estate permanently pulled 3 books from its lexicon (including 2 that I loved when I was a kid, McElligott's Pool and On Beyond Zebra) because someone deemed at least one of the drawings in each book to be racist. One used the word "Eskimo."
Puffin recently reissued a number of Roald Dahl's children's books with text throughout edited to remove words, ideas and even names the publisher had decided FOR ALL OF THE REST OF US were too "offensive" to leave alone.
This is ALSO book-banning. It is also wrong. And it is effective. (Publishers don't want to be the subject of activist ire.)
So ... I have to pose this question: Do you think there are ANY books that should not be available in a school library? A public one? What about these books I just made up? "10 Best Ways to Kill Yourself." "How to Make Ricin From Things You Probably Have Lying Around the House." "Why Rape Is Justified If You're Only Raping [fill in religious group here], Who Aren't Really Human Anyway." "Pedophilia: The Sport of Kings."
And if you DO think the books I just made up do not belong in a school library, how do you justify not including them there? If you say it's because they're "harmful" or "dangerous" or "offensive," then that is a value judgment you're making -- just as people on the right are making a value judgment that explicit sex activity instruction geared to children is "harmful" and "dangerous" and "offensive."
The problem is that most of us seem to think that this kind of judgement-making is okay if it's by US and about something WE don't like -- but if someone in an out-group is trying to do the same thing, THAT'S bullying and censorship.
Free speech has always struck me as an all-or-nothing right. Either we are willing to stand up for it on behalf of people with whom we disagree, or we have no moral authority to push back when they try to take it from us.
People on the Left -- including, sadly, some in the ACLU -- are also trying to ban books, such as those by Abigail Shrier and Kathleen Stock. The best example is, of course, JK Rowling. Because any author who's gender critical or who doesn't believe in gender ideology is a target for the Left's fringe.
Well said. I live in a purple state and, while that's not "red", I keep looking over my shoulder waiting and worrying about it all. I buy banned books for the children in my life and also buy books that aren't banned but would be if Republicans knew they existed for the educators in my life. Sometimes I think it's not much but I know that books are power and I want to give the power to them.
I realized I wanted to work in a library during this scary time for libraries. I still have not found a job in a library (though I am volunteering) but the background noise of this current moment makes me scared and like "wow I sure picked a terrible time to decide this is what I want to do". (Not that it's all about me; I know darn well it isn't.)
It’s rough on authors trying to write realistically. Publishers want a happy ending, and while most of them are in blue states, they want a book that no state would ban. How do you write a realistic book about the NYPD without offending almost everyone?
Slim chances for newer authors have become even slimmer, and the supposedly edgy books today are tamer than what was acceptable in 1920s pulp and 1990s literary fiction.
This is as much a matter of placing profit above everything else, and it has made repressive backwater laws essentially national as well as producing books and art that have been neutered.
Please, I must live with people who think and don’t take everything the wrong way. I can’t deal with the ridiculous personal attacks people make in the idea of my indirect idea being somehow more personal than calling me all kinds of names and abuses?
Fact, everyone is a thought policeman. If they think you’re a autistic then you are open to being attacked. The real truth is anyone suspected of being autistic should and will be protected from personal attacks.
This is really getting bad. Autism is when your thoughts make you into an automaton, I’m a person without a control loop. Aka the thought spiral optimized for today.
Personal attacks don’t refute any idea. It could be right or wrong from anyone. Buddhism is the best. The Buddha was poor and homeless but had all the wisdom of the world.
I’m a true researcher, I need protection and we need new ideas and thoughts. These people who are instinctive trauma responses and system assertions need to go, need to stop speaking, stop writing. Stop policing everyone’s thoughts.
To quote RD Lankes, the library should be a safe place to engage dangerous ideas.
The madness is spreading to other countries. Here in Germany we just had the first moral panic about a drag queen story hour. Gender neutral language (more of an issue with a language like German which genders all nouns) is a prime concern to the right. There are cries of "eco terrorism" which is "worse than the Taliban" when people block traffic to protest the lack of action against climate change. All to distract from the fact that the right is morally corrupt and unfit to deal with what we are really facing. Or that the only actual attacks against the existence of Germany a liberal democratic state come from the right. The transition to pure culture war politics entirely divorced from reality is happening here and at a scary speed.
This is all being done by Christian fanatics. Now Muslim fanatics are in on it too;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJbtHUV_xI0