Judd Legum1. This man moved from New York to Florida a few months ago
Now he wants to ban 3600 BOOKS from the school libraries
And he's already made significant progress
Follow along if interested
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2. This year, at least 102 books have been removed from the shelves of school libraries in Clay County Florida
Many of these books were pulled at the request of 1 man: Bruce Friedman
A conservative activist and longtime resident of New York, Friedman moved to Clay County in May
3. One of the books pulled from the shelves is The Girl From The Sea, an award-winning graphic novel.
The book is about a 15-year-old girl who develops romantic feelings for another girl.
The two girls hold hands and, at one point, share a kiss.
No sex. No nudity. No swearing
4. In an interview with Popular Information, Friedman described The Girl From The Sea as a book for "slightly post-pubescent little lesbians."
Friedman says he objects to the book being available because students are "not in school to learn how to be better lesbians."
5. The Girl From The Sea has been removed from Clay County school libraries because of a new policy, implemented in July, that requires books to be pulled as soon as a challenge has been properly filed.
Friedman has exploited this policy by flooding the district with challenges.
Aris Teon@juddlegum the problem is that pieces of news like this are not crafted into a consistent narrative that dominates public discourse. Whereas the far right propaganda machinery uses any excuse to create false narratives and spread them, so their false narratives become more or as widespread as real ones. I see 'apolitical' people repeat far right talking points like 'cancel culture' just because that's what they pick up from social media.