Book Banning

[raison de arizona]

60 Minutes had an excellent segment on book banning last night, focusing on a situation in South Carolina, with much attention paid to our FL friends at Moms For Liberty.

“Parents have the right to determine what their children are … allowed to read,” Geier told 60 Minutes. “But what we're having a problem with is parents that want to determine what other parents' rights are for their children to read what they want.” https://cbsn.ws/3UY8vPn

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Publishers condemn 'silent' censorship of books trashed at Staten Island school

Prominent publishers have sent a letter to the New York City Department of Education expressing alarm that books featuring diverse characters and subjects were discarded with the trash at a Staten Island elementary school.

“We are deeply concerned that silent or unacknowledged censorship may be going on in New York City schools,” the letter said.

Gothamist reported last week that hundreds of books about Black history, immigration and LGBTQ+ characters were placed with the trash outside P.S. 55 on Staten Island, and hundreds more were given away. Attached to many of the books were sticky notes saying “not approved.” Some of the notes highlighted apparent concerns, including “negative slant on white people” and “teenage girls having a crush on another girl in class.”

https://gothamist.com/news/publishers-c ... and-school

They pitched books on Nina Simone, Navajo Code Talkers, etc.

Starten Island.

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IMG_7771.png (395.73 KiB) Viewed 1162 times

https://bsky.app/profile/jensorensen.bs ... nqosbkok2q

[AndyinPA]

There really is no bottom.

[keith]

1st Amendment: freedom of "

• religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
• abridging the freedom of speech, or
• of the press; or
• the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and
• to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

"

[raison de arizona]

Far-right broadcaster Stew Peters is taking his radicalism out from behind the camera and into the real world by organizing an "Extreme Accountability Event" that will feature a literal Nazi-esque book burning. https://bit.ly/3Kf2WoU

[raison de arizona]

The kids are alright. The superintendent, on the other hand, refused to even touch the book. Because he’s a little bitch. I hear.

The Handmaid's Tale Was Removed from an Idaho School Library. This Teen Handed a Copy to the Superintendent At Graduation
Annabelle Jenkins protested the removal of the graphic novel adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel earlier in the school year

An Idaho high school graduate took book censorship into her own hands at her graduation ceremony earlier this month.

During the May 23 graduation ceremony for the Idaho Fine Arts Academy, Annabelle Jenkins handed West Ada School District superintendent Derek Bub a copy of the graphic novel adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale. The book had been removed from the school district’s libraries in Dec. 2023.

According to the Idaho Statesman, the novel was one of 10 books, including Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen and Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas, to be removed from the school district. It's administration concluded that the “graphic imagery contained within [the graphic novel adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale] was not suitable for the West Ada School District student population,” per a statement from district representative Niki Scheppers.

“I just realized that I did not want to walk across that stage and get my diploma and shake the superintendent's hand,” Jenkins told KTVB. “I just did not want to do that.”

https://people.com/idaho-graduate-gives ... ip-8656592

[sugar magnolia]

The best part is that she just dropped it at his feet.

[raison de arizona]

Appeals court tells Texas it cannot ban books for mentioning ‘butt and fart’
Conservative-dominated court restores books denounced by officials as ‘pornographic filth’ to school libraries

An appellate court has ruled that Texas cannot ban books from libraries simply because they mention “butt and fart” and other content which some state officials may dislike.

The fifth US circuit court of appeals issued its decision on Thursday in a 76-page majority opinion, which was written by Judge Jacques Wiener Jr and opened with a quote from American poet Walt Whitman: “The dirtiest book in all the world is the expurgated book.”

In its decision, the appellate court declared that “government actors may not remove books from a public library with the intent to deprive patrons of access to ideas with which they disagree”.

It added: “This court has declared that officials may not ‘remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the idea contained in those books and seek by their removal to prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion or other matters of opinion’.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/art ... eals-court

[northland10]

The panel is made up of a Bush 1, Bush 2, and Trump. The Trump appointee (Duncan) dissented because of course he did. He was lead counsel for Hobby Lobby in their case against ACA.. Shocked.

[sugar magnolia]

Appeals court tells Texas it cannot ban books for mentioning ‘butt and fart’
Conservative-dominated court restores books denounced by officials as ‘pornographic filth’ to school libraries

An appellate court has ruled that Texas cannot ban books from libraries simply because they mention “butt and fart” and other content which some state officials may dislike.

The fifth US circuit court of appeals issued its decision on Thursday in a 76-page majority opinion, which was written by Judge Jacques Wiener Jr and opened with a quote from American poet Walt Whitman: “The dirtiest book in all the world is the expurgated book.”

In its decision, the appellate court declared that “government actors may not remove books from a public library with the intent to deprive patrons of access to ideas with which they disagree”.

It added: “This court has declared that officials may not ‘remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the idea contained in those books and seek by their removal to prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion or other matters of opinion’.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/art ... eals-court

Too bad they weren't in Mississippi when this happened just down the road from here.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/15/us/missi ... index.html

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South Carolina poised to impose draconian censorship regime on school libraries

On Tuesday, the South Carolina State Board of Education will impose a centralized and expansive censorship regime on every K-12 school library in the state. The new regulations could result in the banning of most classic works of literature from South Carolina schools — from The Canterbury Tales to Romeo and Juliet to Dracula. The rules were championed by South Carolina State Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver, who is closely aligned with Moms for Liberty, a far-right advocacy group seeking to remove scores of books from school libraries.

The regulations restricting library books, which were first proposed by the State Board of Education in September 2023, would ban any instructional materials, including library books, that are not "Age and Developmentally Appropriate." The term "Age and Developmentally Appropriate" is defined as "topics, messages, materials, and teaching methods suitable to particular ages or age groups of children and adolescents, based on developing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral capacity typical for the age or age group." This definition is so broad and subjective that it could justify the removal of virtually any material.

Further, any library books (or other instructional materials) are automatically deemed "not 'Age and Developmentally Appropriate' for any age or age group of children if it includes descriptions or visual depictions of 'sexual conduct,' as that term is defined by Section 16-15-305(C)(1)." Critically, the regulations ban library books with any descriptions of "sexual conduct" whether or not those descriptions would be considered "obscene." Under the South Carolina law, a library book is not considered obscene if it includes descriptions of "sexual conduct" if it has "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value" or if the book, taken as a whole, does not appeal to a "prurient interest in sex." This means that classic texts that contain descriptions of sexual content, including The Bible and Ulysses, are not considered obscene.

The new South Carolina regulation refers only to Section 16-15-305(C)(1), which defines "sexual conduct" as "vaginal, anal, or oral intercourse, whether actual or simulated, normal or perverted," "masturbation," or "an act or condition that depicts actual or simulated touching, caressing, or fondling of, or other similar physical contact with, the covered or exposed genitals." Starting tomorrow, any book that contains any descriptions of "sexual conduct" that meets that sweeping definition is required to be banned from South Carolina schools, regardless of whether it has literary merit or would be considered obscene.

https://popular.info/p/south-carolina-p ... -draconian

[Volkonski]

Ban the Bible! It is full of sexual stuff.

Do better than that. Ban any mention of the Bible and/or religions that use it as a holy book.

Ban teachers and administrators who are Christians.

Ban parents. If they are parents they must have engaged in sexual intercourse.

[Ben-Prime]

Ban parents. If they are parents they must have engaged in sexual intercourse.

Bold of you to assume some state educational administrators, state reps, etc., have been taught and know this.

[northland10]

Ban the Bible! It is full of sexual stuff.

The OT is filled with all that sex stuff (I'm looking you King David).

Proper English gurus would also want to ban it for Paul's egregious use of the run-on sentence which he does all the time for reasons that no person who understands proper sentence structure would ever do and if they were to do such a thing they would be dismissed from the proper English person forum, or whatever language forum was proper in their country of language arguing or in the geekey Greek reading theologian club which probably thinks that Paul or Παῦλος, as spelled by the Greeks and others who like Greek, runs on way to much in his writings that made it into the Epistles of the bible as accepted by the early church councils.

Doctor Suess might be pleased...

Romans 7:15-20 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me. For I know that the good does not dwell within me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do the good lies close at hand, but not the ability. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me.

I once subbed for a no-show reader at church and had to read the above without any prep. God has a twisted sense of humor.

[sugar magnolia]

South Carolina poised to impose draconian censorship regime on school libraries

On Tuesday, the South Carolina State Board of Education will impose a centralized and expansive censorship regime on every K-12 school library in the state. The new regulations could result in the banning of most classic works of literature from South Carolina schools — from The Canterbury Tales to Romeo and Juliet to Dracula. The rules were championed by South Carolina State Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver, who is closely aligned with Moms for Liberty, a far-right advocacy group seeking to remove scores of books from school libraries.

The regulations restricting library books, which were first proposed by the State Board of Education in September 2023, would ban any instructional materials, including library books, that are not "Age and Developmentally Appropriate." The term "Age and Developmentally Appropriate" is defined as "topics, messages, materials, and teaching methods suitable to particular ages or age groups of children and adolescents, based on developing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral capacity typical for the age or age group." This definition is so broad and subjective that it could justify the removal of virtually any material.

Further, any library books (or other instructional materials) are automatically deemed "not 'Age and Developmentally Appropriate' for any age or age group of children if it includes descriptions or visual depictions of 'sexual conduct,' as that term is defined by Section 16-15-305(C)(1)." Critically, the regulations ban library books with any descriptions of "sexual conduct" whether or not those descriptions would be considered "obscene." Under the South Carolina law, a library book is not considered obscene if it includes descriptions of "sexual conduct" if it has "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value" or if the book, taken as a whole, does not appeal to a "prurient interest in sex." This means that classic texts that contain descriptions of sexual content, including The Bible and Ulysses, are not considered obscene.

The new South Carolina regulation refers only to Section 16-15-305(C)(1), which defines "sexual conduct" as "vaginal, anal, or oral intercourse, whether actual or simulated, normal or perverted," "masturbation," or "an act or condition that depicts actual or simulated touching, caressing, or fondling of, or other similar physical contact with, the covered or exposed genitals." Starting tomorrow, any book that contains any descriptions of "sexual conduct" that meets that sweeping definition is required to be banned from South Carolina schools, regardless of whether it has literary merit or would be considered obscene.

https://popular.info/p/south-carolina-p ... -draconian

For a state that #39 in reading proficiency, you'd think they would want MORE books, not fewer.

[Volkonski]

Texas school district agrees to remove ‘Anne Frank’s Diary,’ ‘Maus,’ ‘The Fixer’ and 670 other books after right-wing group’s complaint

https://www.jta.org/2024/06/26/united-s ... -complaint

The superintendent of a school district in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas recently agreed within minutes to a conservative group’s demands to remove 676 books, including some seminal texts about the Holocaust and antisemitism.

Now, weeks later, Carol Perez has been removed from the district she led, just as the Republican governor of Texas appeared to endorse the book removals on social media.

Conservative activists, led by a local pastor and outspoken Israel advocate, pushed the district, Mission CISD, to excise books mostly about gender, sexuality and race. Their demands represented an extreme version of a nationwide culture war over books that has played out in recent years — and ensnared a number of books with Jewish themes.

In Mission, the long list of books on the chopping block includes a recent illustrated adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary; both volumes of Art Spiegelman’s Holocaust graphic memoir “Maus”; “The Fixer,” Bernard Malamud’s novel about a historical instance of antisemitic blood libel; and “Kasher in the Rye,” a ribald memoir by Jewish comedian Moshe Kasher.

The conservative groups are led by Pastor Luis Cabrera, who is active in Latino conservative circles in the state and whose Instagram profile picture is currently an upraised fist outlined with the Israeli flag. Originally from Guatemala, Cabrera is a member of several right-wing Christian activist organizations and has also posted numerous pieces of pro-Israel social media content.

Cabrera’s groups, the local chapters of Citizens Defending Freedom and the Remnant Alliance, have meanwhile advocated for the removal of books about the Holocaust and antisemitism, lumping them together with books containing sexual content.

In emails posted online, activist Martha Garza-Johnson wrote to Perez on May 17 to ask her to remove a list of 676 books the group deems “very sexually explicit” and “filthy and evil,” copying Cabrera and other local right-wing leaders on the message. The groups also threatened to attend public school board meetings and read graphic passages from the books out loud if their demands were not met, a tactic that activists have used around the country.

“We are here to work with you,” Garza-Johnson wrote. “We are advocating for our children because we want to protect them from these extremely vulgar and offensive books that have no business in our schools.”

Typically, a school district would require book challengers to go through a formal challenge process in which each individual book would be assessed for merit. Instead, five minutes after receiving the demands, Perez agreed to them.

“We will certainly check to see if we have those books to remove them,” she wrote. “Thank you!” The district’s deputy superintendent then followed up to say she would “begin working with Library Services to track the books on the system and have them removed from the libraries.”

[Resume18]

Ban the Bible! It is full of sexual stuff.

The OT is filled with all that sex stuff (I'm looking you King David).

Proper English gurus would also want to ban it for Paul's egregious use of the run-on sentence which he does all the time for reasons that no person who understands proper sentence structure would ever do and if they were to do such a thing they would be dismissed from the proper English person forum, or whatever language forum was proper in their country of language arguing or in the geekey Greek reading theologian club which probably thinks that Paul or Παῦλος, as spelled by the Greeks and others who like Greek, runs on way to much in his writings that made it into the Epistles of the bible as accepted by the early church councils.

Doctor Suess might be pleased...

Romans 7:15-20 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me. For I know that the good does not dwell within me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do the good lies close at hand, but not the ability. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me.

I once subbed for a no-show reader at church and had to read the above without any prep. God has a twisted sense of humor.

The longest run-on sentence in English is exactly where you'd think: Confessions of an English Opium Eater

[raison de arizona]

Is this a joke? I don't think this is a joke.
https://x.com/AKBrews/status/1807933318299635868

These are the new laws to enter a library in Idaho.

Idaho Library Goes “Adults Only” in Response to State Book Banning Law

Growing efforts to criminalize providing minors with access to “inappropriate” books have led one small library to become “adults only.” Donnelly Public Library in Donnelly, Idaho, made the decision in response to the state’s so-called “Children’s School and Library Protection Act.” The law allows parents or guardians to file complaints about material they deem inappropriate (a term left undefined) for minors and requires school or public libraries to relocate the material where minors can’t access it. Parents or guardians who report violations would receive damages if a library fails to comply—which will of course incentivize complaints and fear mongering around books.

The library explained on its Facebook page that the ambiguity of the new law, combined with the small size of the library (only 1,024 square feet), made it impossible to comply by relocating materials as the law required: “Our size prohibits us from separating our ‘grown up’ books to be out of the accessible range of children.” The library added, “this change is painful and not what we had hoped for at all. We desire to comply with federal and state legislation, but because of size we have to protect our staff, our library, and our taxpayer money.”

Overbroad and ambiguous laws like Idaho’s that are popping up all around the country have a chilling effect. Because it is not clear what books might be deemed unlawful to allow minors access and penalties are stiff, libraries and librarians are forced to drastically limit—or even eliminate—the materials and services they provide to minors. Donnelly Public Library’s response is a good example of this. They had two choices to comply with the new law: either remove all books that someone might possibly find inappropriate or become an “adult only” library. The result is that all library patrons must now sign a “patron agreement,” only permitting children access to the library in the company of an adult, and requiring children who take part in the library’s after school programming (which is vital not only to the community, but to the library’s funding) to have parental waivers.

A similar situation is taking place in Sumner County, Tennessee. Several public libraries have been forced to limit minors to the children’s section when they aren’t accompanied by a parent or guardian. As “Right to Read Sumner” noted on its Facebook page, this means that even “16 and 17 year olds with drivers licenses can no longer freely access the young adult section without their guardians.”

It is a sad day indeed when even teenagers are not permitted to go to public libraries on their own. So many of us grew up finding refuge and discovering a love of reading in our local libraries. These politically-motivated laws trample the rights not only of minors but also their parents, and inevitably will lead to a less educated and literate society.

https://authorsguild.org/news/idaho-lib ... nning-law/