BodhipaksaJan 29, 2023

A HS student to their TX school board, which is banning books:

“I’m not going to sit here and talk about the slippery slope that book banning leads to because I learned from a book, that I checked out from my school’s library, that I don’t need to resort to logical fallacy to make a point. I’m simply going to say that no government – and public school is an extension of government – has ever banned books, and banned information from its public, and been remembered in history as the good guys.”

Show threadJohnnoJan 29, 2023
@bodhipaksa
Stephen King sums it up eloquently:
https://mstdn.social/@fedorachronicles/109772867940497908
FedoraChronicles (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image I’ve been saying this, for years, Prohibition does nothing but increase demand. If you prohibit a drug, drink, or a book, or any other kind of media, you will increase interest in that thing exponentially. Forbidding me to read anything worked out really well for my parents. I read everything they told me not to! #ReversePsychology.

Mastodon 🐘
Show threadBodhipaksa
@johnno We need a centralized searchable website for banned books where students can see a list of books that their school district has banned, linked to reviews and to sources of the books (e.g. to combat censorship, NY public library allows young people from anywhere in the US to become members).
Jan 29, 2023 at 3:06pmWeb
Show threadJohnnoJan 29, 2023
@bodhipaksa I'm afraid such a website would most likely be banned....
We just need to stop banning books!!
Show threadKathy StanfordJan 29, 2023
@johnno @bodhipaksa Keep moving it, make sure it’s shared everywhere, print it out and paste it on message boards and lamp/ power posts. Give it to kids in your family.
Show threadBodhipaksaJan 29, 2023

@johnno Who would have the power to ban the website? Individual states don't have that power, and even if they tried to, kids know about VPNs. The federal government could, but any ban would be removed by the courts as an infringement of first amendment rights.

Also, "we" are not banning books. "They" are. "We" need to fight them, and such a website would be one way of doing that.

Show threadJohnnoJan 29, 2023

@bodhipaksa
Sorry to disagree, but WE (as a society) are banning books.

Here in The Netherlands we have one (1) officially banned book. (Mein Kampf)

In my opinion the huge number of banned books in the US speaks volumes about the indisposition of that society.

Show threadBodhipaksaJan 29, 2023

@johnno Saying it again doesn't make it true.

There is one political party in the US that is banning books. The Republican Party is not the United States. It's simply one political element within the United States.

Show threadFranchescaJan 30, 2023
@bodhipaksa @johnno one of only 2, which is the problem. The flawed voting system in the US (inherited from the British) is responsible for keeping the polarizing 2 party system going, but it can’t be modernized because of the deep belief that “American is better”.
Show threadOpenDNA⚙️Jan 30, 2023

@Frantasaur @bodhipaksa @johnno Yeah, no. Proportional representation which results in the American Nazi Party getting 2% of the seats is not preferable to the Jungle Primary in which the winner *always* gets over 50% of the vote.

Our "Third Parties" don't win elections because they suck. Best case: they're deeply stupid. More likely, they're "controlled opposition" for rational partisans.

Show threadFranchescaJan 30, 2023
@opendna @bodhipaksa @johnno the ones that do win elections also suck, to be fair.
Show threadOpenDNA⚙️Jan 31, 2023

@Frantasaur @bodhipaksa @johnno I wish more of their governance but at least they understand that dictating police requires winning elections.

The third parties front like they're real contenders for presidential races without winning any of the 536 federal offices. Forget voters, they can't even find candidates for state-level races.

Show threadNoraJan 31, 2023
@opendna @Frantasaur @bodhipaksa @johnno
The statement that the American Nazi Party would win 2% of the seats is histrionic and doesn’t address the original post, which related to the lack of democratic representation baked into the American system. If you oppose true democratic representation, please say so honestly. In any event, if all American Nazis do indeed vote and manage to elect 7 members nationwide first time out, then maybe we should be paying them to run voter engagement classes for the DSA. Further, if indeed 2% of the American voting public are Nazi sympathizers (and I won’t quibble with that, because, Trump?) maybe splintering these people into their fiefdoms of hate would not be a bad idea, and forcing them into the harsh light of day might be curative. (Witness recent Republican Speakership shit-show).
Show threadMarcelJan 29, 2023
@johnno @bodhipaksa Mein Kampf is not even banned in The Netherland (nor in Germany); it is not illegal to own it or read it, and libraries have copies of it you can borrow. However, it is illegal to sell it, so there will be no reprints. As for the topic at hand: a website listing banned books would be very interesting.
Show threadPlutoCJan 29, 2023
@bodhipaksa We the People participating in an actual fight to end banning of books is a good fight, a uniting fight. Is it too small a fight and too late? Maybe and maybe not. America has been on the road to an authoritarian plutocracy for 5 decades and to normalize banning books is to remove a supporting block from democracy’s foundation to achieve that end.
Show threadCherylJan 31, 2023
@johnno @bodhipaksa I don’t think by saying “we” should be all inclusive
Show threadKaliJan 29, 2023

@bodhipaksa @johnno

like this list?
https://openlibrary.org/collections/banned-challenged-in-schools

Banned & Challenged Books by School System | Open Library

Open Library is an open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published. Read, borrow, and discover more than 3M books for free.

Show threadBodhipaksaJan 29, 2023
@kali @johnno Well, that's a start, but it only has seven school districts from the whole of the US (plus the state of Texas, not broken into school districts). It's also run on a volunteer basis. We need something well-funded and comprehensive.
Show threadKaliJan 29, 2023
@bodhipaksa @johnno I don’t think well funded and activism go together…
if you want change, you probably need to start it yourself.
Show threadBodhipaksaJan 29, 2023
@kali @johnno Often that's true, but right wing authoritarian activism is often very well funded. They're well organized, and get money from people like the Kochs. Liberals need to start emulating that model, or they're doomed.
Show threadGentle Wise CoachJan 29, 2023
@bodhipaksa @johnno I'll donate hours to the effort
Show threadAlan GamricanJan 29, 2023

@bodhipaksa @johnno
The list at the bottom of this article is a good place to start:

https://www.rd.com/list/banned-books/

WARNING! Sensitive Media exposes links to sources of BANNED BOOKS! 😵

#bannedbooks #censorship #library #reading

23 Banned Books You Should Probably Read Right Now

Celebrate the freedom to read by picking up one (or all) of these banned books.

Reader's Digest
Show threadartuitoJan 29, 2023
@bodhipaksa @johnno do districts have to publicly publish the books being banned? I only ever see them listed in journalism/articles or miscellaneous sites, nothing official. Is there not a government site where they have to list changes to school policies (books banned for example)? I’m guessing nothing is ever so organized or easy.
Show threadBodhipaksaJan 29, 2023
@artuito @johnno Someone would probably need to file a Freedom of Information request to get that information. It's usually documented because these are official decisions by groups such as school boards or education authorities.
Show threadMyMiloCat+MydogNoodlesJan 30, 2023
@bodhipaksa @johnno both the NY Public Library and the Brooklyn Public Library are offering free virtual cards to any school child in the USA who needs one to access the books they want to read.