Yikes. The scorched earth method of applying kooky ideology in a legislative paste gets out of hand fast. The book bans are obviously way past any sensible efforts to examine truly obscene materials, not that any serious intent was involved to begin with. This is all just 80’s Tipper Gore panic all over again. The war on school content is really scary, and sad. These panicked parents (and even some board members without kids in the district) are the problem. Kids are going to see, hear and learn about the very things these panic junkies are obsessed with blasting from the face of the earth. Kids can handle these books. My guess is 90+% of the books being removed should be kept on school shelves, and aren’t obscene, or even controversial. When dictionaries and encyclopedias are being removed, we have reached the point where you admit it’s broken, and a reboot is needed. Restore all the banned books and simply give the weirdo parents the power to approve any books their kid wants to check out. If your parent is unfortunately a book-panic junkie, you may need a pass to access the library, and permission to take out a book. The normal kids can read any books they want. How about that. If we are talking about public schools, maybe a federal law should be enacted that prevents any books from being banned, censored or removed without a court order that the book in question is “obscene.” Historically, at least in the last 35 or so years since Luther Campbell and 2 Live Crew won a landmark obscenity case, the bar set by courts for “obscene” content is very high. Federal law should begin with the principle of “access for all,” but also allow parents to place reasonable restrictions on what THEIR kid can see. Allowing thousands of school boards all over America to entertain nutty parents and their personal lists of “bad” books to be removed for ALL students is just insane. How we haven’t settled this on a national level is bonkers.
We're well beyond banning dictionaries because they're obscene. These Moms have demanded books be removed from the shelves because the author's last name was "Gay."
While I do acknowledge that being a woman and going through a pregnancy and then {shudder} raising it is an amazing and super-human feat... I do not feel that because that a child-bearer bore one they are experts on kids, people, or anything in particular. I teach. I've taught literally thousands of kids (or made the effort anyway) and I'll bet you I know more about their psychology, biology, sociology, and other ologies that I am sure exist, than a person whose CV includes "mom", as their major qualification.
anybody wanting to ban a book should be required to read it aloud . . . if they can't read send them back to first grade . . . if they can read, make them write a book report and if it can't pass a teacher's grading, back to junior high with 'em!
Any person wanting to ban a book should be required to read it aloud. If they can't, then burn the person. (With votes, or feathers, or what have you, of course.)
Even in my small corner of the socialist hellhole that is Canada, we have people who are valiantly trying to protect the children from Drag Queens. Last summer I got. phone call from an elderly lady who wanted to talk about Drag Queen story hour, and without thinking, I asked her if she wanted to arrange one. She indignantly corrected me, her concern was that we were already holding them at the library (we weren't) and she wanted to complain about it. Apparently she was going into the hospital for something serious, and she said that she wouldn't feel right if she didn't register her disapproval while she had the chance. She told me that she had already cut up her library card, and given away her Library tote bag in disgust. I said that her complaint was noted, and wished her well in the hospital. After they finished laughing, some of my co-workers suggested that we could hold a Drag Queen story hour in her honour if things didn't go well in the hospital.
‘Even getting labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center did nothing to damper GOP enthusiasm for ____”
Literally anything could fill in that blank. The Manson Family, Herman Goering’s book club… at this point in the GOP being a hate group isn’t just a point. It’s the only fucking point.
I agree. Allowing wild-eyed panic junkie parents all over the country to bring their personal lists of books that offend them is just insane. ALL books are welcome, and inclusion of ALL literature is a vital element of democracy and freedom of speech and expression. It’s rich that wingers preach the first amendment anytime they want to escape consequences for sharing their terrible views, then march into schools, sometimes where they have no kids, and hereby demand these titles be banned. A federal law protecting schools from censorship or punishment for content needs to happen. If a parent wants a certain book banned, pay the filing fee, get an attorney, and prove to a judge the title is “obscene.” These bans need to stop. Talk about resembling 1940’s Germany.
In a bit of good news from Wisconsin, the local MFL asshats challenges 400-odd books from my local high school and middle school. Review complete, no books banned! A few moved from middle to high school and a few put in a "parental permission" list. A good day for sure. Especially since we're in a red-leaning county.
Awesome. A “parental permission” shelf for the scary books is silly, but a reasonable compromise for these panicky nutter parents. It won’t appease most of them, because they want to affect what all the kids see and do, and they want the schools to bend to their will. But this is as far as I would go as an administrator. If you want a book actually removed? File suit and prove to a judge the title is “obscene.” Otherwise, it’s an endless battle over ideology, not really about obscenity at all.
They're really going to shit themselves when they see the new policy. Every complaint was copied from a MFL controlled site, number of swears, number of sexy times incidents. A quick Google search and you can find them. New policy is that you can only challenge a limited number of books and you have to have read them in their entirety and be able to explain in your own words why they are inappropriate. Not just copy some bullshit from a website. LMFAO. Our superintendent does not fuck around.
It's a major step forward for library science. Sure, a lot of kids will not be able to check those books out, but they'll be able to see which books are on the list. After that, it's a simple matter to get a library card for the New York Public Library, at no charge for anyone under eighteen, that will allow them to download ebooks and audio books of anything age-appropriate in their stacks.
It must really suck to spend all that time trying to disguise your fascism as “parental rights” only to have the mask pulled away by your own rank hypocrisy and love of Hitler quotes.
People don't realize they are fascist, do they? Didn't Hitler hate fascists? Or was it Stalin? Putin? Trump? Everyone hates fascists. Even fascists. I want to find a non-fascist fascist, iow a "Republican", and expose them to a definition of fascism... I will even let them choose the source, and see how they react.
As a former teenager, I can state that heterosexual teens will have as much interest in books about gay people as books on ancient Assyrian funerary customs or the life cycle of nematodes--no book is going to change anyone's sexual orintation
No but what if it appeals tho their prurient interests and causes them to have salacious thoughts? Huh? What then? You gonna let them just walk the streets of our communities with those thoughts in their heads?!? (whispers: "the horror")
Why, before you know it, those impressionable boys will be having unexpected and inappropriate erections, resulting in a critical three-ring binder shortage.
I was a teenaged boy 60+ years ago and have a pretty good memory of it, but nothing about three ring binders. Have boys at sometime in the meanwhile stuck their dicks in the rings or something? Please clarify the reference for a curious old man.
Teenage boys with unexpected erections believed that their hardons were so massive that everyone would see what was what when they walked down the hall between classes, so they'd walk with their textbooks or a three-ring binder in front of them to hide the evidence.
But exactly WHICH four books were the Mid-Valley Citizens Action Committee having a hissy fit about? The possibilities are endless, and denunciation by the "Mid-Valley" dunces would be excellent advertising for the books in question- if it makes THEM so angry that they try to enlist the police in their Jihad for ignorance, the 50% of the population on the high side of the stupid/smart dichotomy should further appreciate these works of art if they aren't already aware of them. If the Marching Morons denounce a thing, then I, for one, would at least like to know what it is, that I may savor it in privacy, maybe even buy cheap used copies to send to people I like and respect.
Seems to me that the Biden campaign should be leaning into that "Nikki Haley proudly proclaims herself to be a terrorist" bit.
Crap. Did I blink and miss something?
"What are you, some kind of elitist?"
Translates to "are you a person with expertise in a particular field?"
Well, we can't have that! I'd like the average fucks of WV to start doing brain surgery on each other. Who needs expertise after all?
Banning books will definitely keep people from reading them.
Yikes. The scorched earth method of applying kooky ideology in a legislative paste gets out of hand fast. The book bans are obviously way past any sensible efforts to examine truly obscene materials, not that any serious intent was involved to begin with. This is all just 80’s Tipper Gore panic all over again. The war on school content is really scary, and sad. These panicked parents (and even some board members without kids in the district) are the problem. Kids are going to see, hear and learn about the very things these panic junkies are obsessed with blasting from the face of the earth. Kids can handle these books. My guess is 90+% of the books being removed should be kept on school shelves, and aren’t obscene, or even controversial. When dictionaries and encyclopedias are being removed, we have reached the point where you admit it’s broken, and a reboot is needed. Restore all the banned books and simply give the weirdo parents the power to approve any books their kid wants to check out. If your parent is unfortunately a book-panic junkie, you may need a pass to access the library, and permission to take out a book. The normal kids can read any books they want. How about that. If we are talking about public schools, maybe a federal law should be enacted that prevents any books from being banned, censored or removed without a court order that the book in question is “obscene.” Historically, at least in the last 35 or so years since Luther Campbell and 2 Live Crew won a landmark obscenity case, the bar set by courts for “obscene” content is very high. Federal law should begin with the principle of “access for all,” but also allow parents to place reasonable restrictions on what THEIR kid can see. Allowing thousands of school boards all over America to entertain nutty parents and their personal lists of “bad” books to be removed for ALL students is just insane. How we haven’t settled this on a national level is bonkers.
We're well beyond banning dictionaries because they're obscene. These Moms have demanded books be removed from the shelves because the author's last name was "Gay."
"Mrs Doubtfire" featured the first drag queen story hour. Has it been banned yet? where's the outrage?
Everyone thought that Moms 4 Liberty were square until they found out about the threesomes.
While I do acknowledge that being a woman and going through a pregnancy and then {shudder} raising it is an amazing and super-human feat... I do not feel that because that a child-bearer bore one they are experts on kids, people, or anything in particular. I teach. I've taught literally thousands of kids (or made the effort anyway) and I'll bet you I know more about their psychology, biology, sociology, and other ologies that I am sure exist, than a person whose CV includes "mom", as their major qualification.
anybody wanting to ban a book should be required to read it aloud . . . if they can't read send them back to first grade . . . if they can read, make them write a book report and if it can't pass a teacher's grading, back to junior high with 'em!
[ repeat as necessary ]
Any person wanting to ban a book should be required to read it aloud. If they can't, then burn the person. (With votes, or feathers, or what have you, of course.)
Even in my small corner of the socialist hellhole that is Canada, we have people who are valiantly trying to protect the children from Drag Queens. Last summer I got. phone call from an elderly lady who wanted to talk about Drag Queen story hour, and without thinking, I asked her if she wanted to arrange one. She indignantly corrected me, her concern was that we were already holding them at the library (we weren't) and she wanted to complain about it. Apparently she was going into the hospital for something serious, and she said that she wouldn't feel right if she didn't register her disapproval while she had the chance. She told me that she had already cut up her library card, and given away her Library tote bag in disgust. I said that her complaint was noted, and wished her well in the hospital. After they finished laughing, some of my co-workers suggested that we could hold a Drag Queen story hour in her honour if things didn't go well in the hospital.
you could still hold one in her honor, even if she makes it.
At this point, "Everyone Poops" would probably get you a $25,000 fine in West Virginia.
Which, I feel I should point out is only slightly less than half the annual HOUSEHOLD income in West Virginia.
‘Even getting labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center did nothing to damper GOP enthusiasm for ____”
Literally anything could fill in that blank. The Manson Family, Herman Goering’s book club… at this point in the GOP being a hate group isn’t just a point. It’s the only fucking point.
The GOP is a hate group
You know what? That's the truth. omfg.
Ta, Marcie. Who would disagree with a parent's rights? I would. I do. Let the kids read ANYTHING they want.
I agree. Allowing wild-eyed panic junkie parents all over the country to bring their personal lists of books that offend them is just insane. ALL books are welcome, and inclusion of ALL literature is a vital element of democracy and freedom of speech and expression. It’s rich that wingers preach the first amendment anytime they want to escape consequences for sharing their terrible views, then march into schools, sometimes where they have no kids, and hereby demand these titles be banned. A federal law protecting schools from censorship or punishment for content needs to happen. If a parent wants a certain book banned, pay the filing fee, get an attorney, and prove to a judge the title is “obscene.” These bans need to stop. Talk about resembling 1940’s Germany.
In a bit of good news from Wisconsin, the local MFL asshats challenges 400-odd books from my local high school and middle school. Review complete, no books banned! A few moved from middle to high school and a few put in a "parental permission" list. A good day for sure. Especially since we're in a red-leaning county.
Awesome. A “parental permission” shelf for the scary books is silly, but a reasonable compromise for these panicky nutter parents. It won’t appease most of them, because they want to affect what all the kids see and do, and they want the schools to bend to their will. But this is as far as I would go as an administrator. If you want a book actually removed? File suit and prove to a judge the title is “obscene.” Otherwise, it’s an endless battle over ideology, not really about obscenity at all.
They're really going to shit themselves when they see the new policy. Every complaint was copied from a MFL controlled site, number of swears, number of sexy times incidents. A quick Google search and you can find them. New policy is that you can only challenge a limited number of books and you have to have read them in their entirety and be able to explain in your own words why they are inappropriate. Not just copy some bullshit from a website. LMFAO. Our superintendent does not fuck around.
It's a major step forward for library science. Sure, a lot of kids will not be able to check those books out, but they'll be able to see which books are on the list. After that, it's a simple matter to get a library card for the New York Public Library, at no charge for anyone under eighteen, that will allow them to download ebooks and audio books of anything age-appropriate in their stacks.
Indexing, as always, is key.
Our public library will let them check those out as well. This is only for the school libraries.
. . . and your votes recently got to matter.
I know! Crazy, right?
It must really suck to spend all that time trying to disguise your fascism as “parental rights” only to have the mask pulled away by your own rank hypocrisy and love of Hitler quotes.
People don't realize they are fascist, do they? Didn't Hitler hate fascists? Or was it Stalin? Putin? Trump? Everyone hates fascists. Even fascists. I want to find a non-fascist fascist, iow a "Republican", and expose them to a definition of fascism... I will even let them choose the source, and see how they react.
As a former teenager, I can state that heterosexual teens will have as much interest in books about gay people as books on ancient Assyrian funerary customs or the life cycle of nematodes--no book is going to change anyone's sexual orintation
No but what if it appeals tho their prurient interests and causes them to have salacious thoughts? Huh? What then? You gonna let them just walk the streets of our communities with those thoughts in their heads?!? (whispers: "the horror")
Why, before you know it, those impressionable boys will be having unexpected and inappropriate erections, resulting in a critical three-ring binder shortage.
I was a teenaged boy 60+ years ago and have a pretty good memory of it, but nothing about three ring binders. Have boys at sometime in the meanwhile stuck their dicks in the rings or something? Please clarify the reference for a curious old man.
Teenage boys with unexpected erections believed that their hardons were so massive that everyone would see what was what when they walked down the hall between classes, so they'd walk with their textbooks or a three-ring binder in front of them to hide the evidence.
But exactly WHICH four books were the Mid-Valley Citizens Action Committee having a hissy fit about? The possibilities are endless, and denunciation by the "Mid-Valley" dunces would be excellent advertising for the books in question- if it makes THEM so angry that they try to enlist the police in their Jihad for ignorance, the 50% of the population on the high side of the stupid/smart dichotomy should further appreciate these works of art if they aren't already aware of them. If the Marching Morons denounce a thing, then I, for one, would at least like to know what it is, that I may savor it in privacy, maybe even buy cheap used copies to send to people I like and respect.