I admire the students that are setting up book clubs for banned books. They are recognizing that they are being given a list of what they should read.
They’re also evidence of why the book banning doesn’t really work as well today as conservatives would like it to.
Book banning was an effective way of controlling what your young population was exposed to before the internet and social media. It worked best when the young weren’t even aware of the information they were being denied.
But social media is making sure they’re all very much aware of what has been hidden from them. They know what’s going on. You will find teenagers in particular are kind of resistant to being told no by an authority, so they’re going to do something about it.
Now, don’t feel too excited about this, because there’s a threat here. Every single time you see a conservative talking about more stringent age verification for things on the internet, part of what they’re actually trying to do is create an avenue to control the information kids are exposed to. They are pretty open about how LGBT issues, particularly the T ones, can be labeled as “sexual” and “inappropriate”. With very simple changes to the regulation, they can suppress children’s access to anything they like as long as they make a half-assed argument that it’s “inappropriate”.
It also opens the door to more internet censorship…
Those who erase history are attempting to repeat it
“Hey there’s a book about Minecraft - wait no it says ‘Mein Kampf’…”
i bet that one is allowed in most of these lists
Not in Germany… (it’s banned outside of school too)
Not true, you can even buy it on Amazon if you really want to.
I don’t think it’s legal though or is it?
It’s legal. An annotated version, with neither the swastika nor a picture of the greasy Nazi fuck, was published a few years back and tens of thousands were sold, primarily to German libraries and schools. It’s a good study on how shitheads think.
I often buy books written by shitheads when I end up studying fascism or other radical right wing movements. Heck, even more mainstream conservative movements with radical imagery or frequent dogwhistles. Reading books by shitty people on shitty topics is very important on understanding how the movements work and think.
Reading about fascism from antifascists is good and all, but understanding fascist movements when they are most active requires reading fascist works. Heck, even with books like Mien Kampf, a book with a ton of analysis done by antifascists could still be a potentially useful read for antifascists.
I hate kneejerk bullshit, so this teacher is going to teach some real shit books because the author included enough hate speech and perversion that it’s clearly not suitable for school age kids?
You think the media teacher has the same attitude ‘they said I couldn’t show you this in class but screw them! get ready for hard core porn…’
There have been good books banned but also we need to be reasonable and live in reality, not all books are suitable for children. The conversation should be about criteria for banning books in school or the process, etc. it’s incredibly dumb just saying ‘i don’t care if it’s three hundred pages of glorified rape and racism if you try to stop me teaching it to children you’re the baddie’
And yes I know ‘but we actually mean something different to the meme we’re upvoting…’ it’s ok upvote this post because I do too, right, that’s how it works?
Ok, I’ll bite.
It feels like most of your position comes from a place of misunderstanding just what goes into a lesson plan about literature; possibly even a deliberate misunderstanding. Schools aren’t giving children books with smut and senseless violence. These materials are constantly being reconsidered and reevaluated. Vonnegut was something taught when I was in school, and removed right after I graduated.
This comic is pointing at the fact that nearly every book on these lists isn’t there because the content is actually a problem. The lists just have books that some religious group dislikes regardless of whether or not they’re being used.
Besides, somehow the christian Bible is somehow still “approved” while having more rape and violence and men kissing men than any book I ever had to read for school.
I think the comic is the one that is pushing sillyness about lesson planning, it’s saying not to do to that and instead just assume the banned books have value simply because they’re banned.
Why don’t we just agree that there are plenty of books on the list that genuinely don’t belong in schools and that if we have a problem with the legislatory system we should propose sensible ways of screening books rather than pretending every banned book is Ray Bradbury and acting like every time a book isn’t passed for inclusion in the curriculum it’s literally nazi 1984.
Books are being banned with zero consideration for their worth, or even if they’re being used in a classroom. These books are on those lists purely for existing.
Or maybe you believe that the Nazis did nothing wrong. You’re entitled to that. But I draw the line at books being banned because they talk about them. A wrong thing can be just a useful teaching tool as a right thing. Counter examples are just as useful as affirming examples.
I think you’re confused what is happening, do you think when the Nazis banned books they still sold them in shops and carried them in public libraries? Do you think banning books was the sole extent of the bad things they did? I don’t know why you’d assume I’d think they did nothing wrong when I’m simply arguing that there’s a very clear reality not all books are suitable for children or a school environment.
Do you not think that there should be rules for schools? You think that the process by which books are banned is wrong but i bet if you suggested a system it’d involve public accountability and etc which would lead to you coming up with something very similar to the actual system in place.
What you mean is you think the people democratically elected to control school boards and educational departments are the wrong people for the job, and of course in many cases I very much agree.
That doesn’t mean I think every ‘banned book’ should be taught to children as a matter of principle.
It’s so strange that you clearly understand the intent of the comic, but are still getting wound up by something you admit the comic isn’t saying at all.
I know what it’s trying to say but it’s not saying that - this is defund the police all over again, why is it so hard to say fund better alternatives rather than relying on police in situations they’re not suitable…
Like this is a very simple logic on the comic, banned book list becomes reading list - a commonly held foolish notion it seems. This isn’t what anyone wants to happen, everyone here minus a few wingnuts is saying that it should be a process based on merit - one person even said it should be tasked to people with masters degrees in determining suitability of literature for children.
What’s the next one ‘kick puppies’ where we say everyone should kick puppies,’ by which we mean of course stroke them gently and cuddle with them.
I don’t understand why supporting sensible thungs that might actually convince people is anathema to the left. You don’t need to just say the dumbest thing and hope people assume you mean something totally different and sensible.
This is referring to a few books that were banned from school libraries a while ago (not sure what they were doing there in the first place).
Anyway, one of the books that were banned showed males sucking each other off. That’s hardly something you would be eager to show a kid unless you are a groomer. A common theme between these books in general was that they were pornographic. The fact that there was, and still is an outrage from the LGBT community till this day because of the bans is telling.
Also, do make note of the people here comparing the bans to Nazi Germany. Yeah, not showing kids gay porn is like being a Nazi, apparently. Disgusting.
For reference, one of the books was called Gender Queer.
I’m not sure if that’s the one with the gay blow job though.That’s the gay blow job book.
