Good point.
At first I was thinking just anti-censorship.
But then I remember the fake propaganda the Nazis put out before WWII, like video scenes of Germans being abused in the Sudetenland.
Florida classroom bookshelves left empty as education reform law goes into effect
- Thread starter Shiftless2
- Start date
Good point.
At first I was thinking just anti-censorship.
But then I remember the fake propaganda the Nazis put out before WWII, like video scenes of Germans being abused in the Sudetenland.
Shiftless2
Well-known member
And one from NY
www.facebook.com
"I wonder if he objected because they teach how religious persecution can lead to some baaaaaaaad things?"
After a Batavia (NY) City Schools board member objected to seniors visiting the Salem Witch Museum, the museum tells me they will offer free admission to every student on the trip. Leave it to Salem to respond to fear and misinformation with educat
After a Batavia (NY) City Schools board member objected to seniors visiting the Salem Witch Museum, the museum tells me they will offer free admission to every student on the trip. Leave it to...
www.facebook.com
"I wonder if he objected because they teach how religious persecution can lead to some baaaaaaaad things?"
And one from NY
After a Batavia (NY) City Schools board member objected to seniors visiting the Salem Witch Museum, the museum tells me they will offer free admission to every student on the trip. Leave it to Salem to respond to fear and misinformation with educat
After a Batavia (NY) City Schools board member objected to seniors visiting the Salem Witch Museum, the museum tells me they will offer free admission to every student on the trip. Leave it to...
"I wonder if he objected because they teach how religious persecution can lead to some baaaaaaaad things?"
Since I never heard anyone ever show there was any actual witchcraft in Salem, then he obviously should have known the museum was against hysteria instead of being for witchcraft.
But from his opposition to the museum, he apparently had it all wrong.
Shiftless2
Well-known member
But the mere mention of witchcraft set him off?
This is a guy who tells stories about a wizard who came to the shore, raised his scepter and called on his familiar spirit to part the Red Sea.
This is a guy who tells stories about a wizard who came to the shore, raised his scepter and called on his familiar spirit to part the Red Sea.
Shiftless2
Well-known member
Shiftless2
Well-known member
Shiftless2
Well-known member
As American public schools ban books at a record pace -- 11,982 in the 2025-2026 school year, according to PEN America's new report -- we're honoring an author who has defended the freedom to read for over fifty years: Judy Blume! The beloved author of many Mighty Girl favorites such as "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret", "Deenie", and "Tiger Eyes," Blume has been writing children's and young adult fiction for decades.
What many of Judy Blume's young fans rarely realized, however, is that the frank discussion of topics like religion, puberty, and sexuality in her books -- the same honesty that makes them so appealing to young readers -- made her one of the most frequently challenged children's authors. As she once observed, by the 1980s, “censors crawled out of the woodwork, organized and determined. Not only would they decide what their children could read but what all children could read... Suddenly books were seen as dangerous to young minds.”
Even as a relatively new author, though, instead of bowing to the criticisms, Blume persisted in writing openly and honestly about issues affecting young people -- and speaking up for authors, teachers, librarians, and others who face disapproval, insults, and even the loss of jobs and careers because they refuse to remove books from the hands of young readers. As such, she has become a champion for children's freedom to read -- and authors' freedom to write -- about topics that some find controversial.
We are proud to celebrate Judy Blume's career, both as the author of many beloved Mighty Girl books and as a determined, forceful voice against censorship and book banning. At a time when her books still face challenges -- and when book bans are climbing to record highs -- her decades of fighting censorship, and her powerful words about the value of putting complex and daring books into young hands, matter more than ever.
To read our blog post, "Protecting 'The Books That Will Never Be Written'": Judy Blume's Fight Against Censorship," visit https://www.amightygirl.com/blog/?p=7425
For two inspiring books about girls fighting against censorship in schools - both for ages 9 to 12 - we highly recommend "Ban This Book" (https://www.amightygirl.com/ban-this-book) and "Property of the Rebel Librarian" (https://www.amightygirl.com/property-of-the-rebel-librarian)
For children's books about girls living in real-life societies throughout history with little respect for freedom of expression, visit our blog post "The Fragility of Freedom: Mighty Girl Books About Life Under Authoritarianism" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=32426
For a thought-provoking young adult novel exploring censorship, we recommend "Suggested Reading" for ages 14 and up at https://www.amightygirl.com/suggested-reading
And for Mighty Girl stories that pay tribute to the transformative power of books, check out our blog post "Celebrating a Love of Reading: 35 Mighty Girl Stories about Books, Libraries, and Literacy" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=11656
Ban This Book
Amy Anne considers herself shy, but when she learns that her favorite book in the whole world, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, has been banned from the library, she decides it's time to find her courage! So she recruits her friends to make their point: they start a secret...
Property of the Rebel Librarian
When 12-year-old June's parents decide one of the books from her school library is inappropriate, they pressure the administration of the school into suspending the librarian and start pulling books off the shelves. June normally follows the rules, but she knows this is wrong, even if her crush...
SOURCE with comments
JB point:
Absolutism has obvious appeal. When a rule has no exception, the simplicity imparts to it the appearance of virtue that attends hypocrisy exclusion.
Culturally, legally, sensibly we already censor for the benefit of children, at cinema.
All ages admitted
Some material may not be suitable for children
Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13
Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian
No One 17 and Under Admitted - source: https://www.filmratings.com/
I haven't seen hordes of furious parents angrily brandishing garden implements demanding remedy for this.
Is there compelling reason we should tailor education by age, restrict cinema audience access by age, but turn our backs on our children, toss them to the wolves in our "public" (a euphemism for "government") school libraries?
No sear, there isn't.
Thus, the problem. We ALREADY censor public school libraries.
The result: this is NOT a dispute about whether or not to draw the line.
Instead the issue is where the line is to be drawn.
s counterpoint:
Absolutism has obvious appeal. When a rule has no exception, the simplicity imparts to it the appearance of virtue that attends hypocrisy exclusion.
Culturally, legally, sensibly we already censor for the benefit of children, at cinema.
All ages admitted
Some material may not be suitable for children
Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13
Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian
No One 17 and Under Admitted - source: https://www.filmratings.com/
I haven't seen hordes of furious parents angrily brandishing garden implements demanding remedy for this.
Is there compelling reason we should tailor education by age, restrict cinema audience access by age, but turn our backs on our children, toss them to the wolves in our "public" (a euphemism for "government") school libraries?
No sear, there isn't.
Thus, the problem. We ALREADY censor public school libraries.
The result: this is NOT a dispute about whether or not to draw the line.
Instead the issue is where the line is to be drawn.
Shiftless2
Well-known member
Rhetorically you may have scored a point here S2. BUT !
Does it really get us substantially closer to applied sensible, equitable, public school library standards?
Our children deserve better than a rhetorical Pyrrhic victory @CV.us
View attachment 6997
As American public schools ban books at a record pace -- 11,982 in the 2025-2026 school year, according to PEN America's new report -- we're honoring an author who has defended the freedom to read for over fifty years: Judy Blume! The beloved author of many Mighty Girl favorites such as "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret", "Deenie", and "Tiger Eyes," Blume has been writing children's and young adult fiction for decades.
What many of Judy Blume's young fans rarely realized, however, is that the frank discussion of topics like religion, puberty, and sexuality in her books -- the same honesty that makes them so appealing to young readers -- made her one of the most frequently challenged children's authors. As she once observed, by the 1980s, “censors crawled out of the woodwork, organized and determined. Not only would they decide what their children could read but what all children could read... Suddenly books were seen as dangerous to young minds.”
Even as a relatively new author, though, instead of bowing to the criticisms, Blume persisted in writing openly and honestly about issues affecting young people -- and speaking up for authors, teachers, librarians, and others who face disapproval, insults, and even the loss of jobs and careers because they refuse to remove books from the hands of young readers. As such, she has become a champion for children's freedom to read -- and authors' freedom to write -- about topics that some find controversial.
We are proud to celebrate Judy Blume's career, both as the author of many beloved Mighty Girl books and as a determined, forceful voice against censorship and book banning. At a time when her books still face challenges -- and when book bans are climbing to record highs -- her decades of fighting censorship, and her powerful words about the value of putting complex and daring books into young hands, matter more than ever.
To read our blog post, "Protecting 'The Books That Will Never Be Written'": Judy Blume's Fight Against Censorship," visit https://www.amightygirl.com/blog/?p=7425
For two inspiring books about girls fighting against censorship in schools - both for ages 9 to 12 - we highly recommend "Ban This Book" (https://www.amightygirl.com/ban-this-book) and "Property of the Rebel Librarian" (https://www.amightygirl.com/property-of-the-rebel-librarian)
For children's books about girls living in real-life societies throughout history with little respect for freedom of expression, visit our blog post "The Fragility of Freedom: Mighty Girl Books About Life Under Authoritarianism" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=32426
For a thought-provoking young adult novel exploring censorship, we recommend "Suggested Reading" for ages 14 and up at https://www.amightygirl.com/suggested-reading
And for Mighty Girl stories that pay tribute to the transformative power of books, check out our blog post "Celebrating a Love of Reading: 35 Mighty Girl Stories about Books, Libraries, and Literacy" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=11656
Ban This Book
Amy Anne considers herself shy, but when she learns that her favorite book in the whole world, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, has been banned from the library, she decides it's time to find her courage! So she recruits her friends to make their point: they start a secret...www.amightygirl.com
Property of the Rebel Librarian
When 12-year-old June's parents decide one of the books from her school library is inappropriate, they pressure the administration of the school into suspending the librarian and start pulling books off the shelves. June normally follows the rules, but she knows this is wrong, even if her crush...
SOURCE with comments
Instead of banning books, what schools should do is encourage their being read and then group discussions to understand and evaluate them.
JB point:
s counterpoint:
Absolutism has obvious appeal. When a rule has no exception, the simplicity imparts to it the appearance of virtue that attends hypocrisy exclusion.
Culturally, legally, sensibly we already censor for the benefit of children, at cinema.
All ages admitted
Some material may not be suitable for children
Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13
Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian
No One 17 and Under Admitted - source: https://www.filmratings.com/
I haven't seen hordes of furious parents angrily brandishing garden implements demanding remedy for this.
Is there compelling reason we should tailor education by age, restrict cinema audience access by age, but turn our backs on our children, toss them to the wolves in our "public" (a euphemism for "government") school libraries?
No sear, there isn't.
Thus, the problem. We ALREADY censor public school libraries.
The result: this is NOT a dispute about whether or not to draw the line.
Instead the issue is where the line is to be drawn.
But aren't those rating about sex and violence, as opposed to banning something like "Fahrenheit 451" which is political?
Shiftless2
Well-known member
Maybe we should require anyone wanting to have a book banned to submit a written report on the book - a brief precis of the book in question and a detailed explanation as to why they want it banned. (Something more that "it includes gay characters" or "there are talking animals" or some such).
www.nbcnews.com
www.ala.org
More than half of books banned last year featured LGBTQ characters or people of color, report finds
Of history and biography books that were banned last year, 26% featured Black people, and 25% featured LGBTQ people.
www.nbcnews.com
Censorship by the Numbers: Banned Books Data
The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has released new data documenting book challenges throughout the United States, finding that challenges were nearly double that of 2021, reaching the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data...
Indeed.
That's the issue of simplicity.
ZERO consideration for our children subjects them to reading vivid accounts of torture, instructions on how to shoplift without getting caught, etc.
We ALREADY draw the line. So it's not a debate about whether to draw the line or not. That debate has already been resolved.
Yes BUT !
The banners already get their lists 3rd party. Implementing S2 #253 would merely add an additional step for them. BUT !
Perhaps a quiz?
Subject book ban proposers to written test. Make consideration of their book-ban proposal contingent on a passing grade in that test?
But what is the most strange is that what upset me the most as a juvenile reader, was the historic accounts, like Roman torture, incest, slavery, invasions, etc., and the Christian excesses like burning witches, etc.
So it is not clear to me where the line should be drawn or who should draw it?
That my cyber-friend is the thin edge of the wedge.
When we restrict them as we should, we invite also restricting other texts we shouldn't.
Leaving it to government can keep a text out of that library, preventing access from that library.
Leaving it to the parents may deny permission, but not access.
It seems parents and institutions are still in a head-scratch about restricting children's screen-time per day.
I'm too old, & too un-phoned to offer useful insight around that.
Shiftless2
Well-known member
This from Wyoming - she was fired in 2023 and was awarded $700,000 in October of 2025. Note that she has a second lawsuit pending - it's been delayed until Nov of this year
She was told to burn the books or lose her job, so she chose her job, her reputation, and 27 years of service over silence.
Terri Lesley devoted nearly three decades to the Campbell County Public Library in Gillette, Wyoming. For 11 of those years she served as executive director. She knew every aisle, every patron, every book on those shelves. She saw the library as a place that belonged to the entire community, not just the loudest voices within it.
In June 2021, the library posted a simple acknowledgment of Pride Month on Facebook, noting related books in its collection. What followed was unprecedented. A small group of residents, 17 people, filed 57 formal challenges to 29 different books, demanding they be removed. Some called the staff criminals and demanded Terri be prosecuted for distributing “obscene” materials. A special prosecutor investigated and concluded that the challenged books were not obscene.
But the pressure didn’t stop. It intensified. Campbell County commissioners who supported the activist campaign began replacing library board members with people aligned with their views. By 2023, four of five board positions had turned over. The reconstituted board had one mission: get Terri to remove the books or force her out.
Terri refused to censor. She stood on the First Amendment. She believed a public library serves everyone, not just those demanding removal. In July 2023, the board voted 4–1 to fire her. After 27 years of service, after building trust and community reliance, she was gone.
Hundreds of residents showed up at the board meeting, most supporting Terri, with only a few dozen backing the decision. But the vote had already been taken.
Terri could have walked away. Many would have. She’d lost her job, her income, and her professional reputation in the community where she had spent nearly three decades. Instead, she filed a federal lawsuit alleging
CONTINUED with comments
www.nbcnews.com
She was told to burn the books or lose her job, so she chose her job, her reputation, and 27 years of service over silence.
Terri Lesley devoted nearly three decades to the Campbell County Public Library in Gillette, Wyoming. For 11 of those years she served as executive director. She knew every aisle, every patron, every book on those shelves. She saw the library as a place that belonged to the entire community, not just the loudest voices within it.
In June 2021, the library posted a simple acknowledgment of Pride Month on Facebook, noting related books in its collection. What followed was unprecedented. A small group of residents, 17 people, filed 57 formal challenges to 29 different books, demanding they be removed. Some called the staff criminals and demanded Terri be prosecuted for distributing “obscene” materials. A special prosecutor investigated and concluded that the challenged books were not obscene.
But the pressure didn’t stop. It intensified. Campbell County commissioners who supported the activist campaign began replacing library board members with people aligned with their views. By 2023, four of five board positions had turned over. The reconstituted board had one mission: get Terri to remove the books or force her out.
Terri refused to censor. She stood on the First Amendment. She believed a public library serves everyone, not just those demanding removal. In July 2023, the board voted 4–1 to fire her. After 27 years of service, after building trust and community reliance, she was gone.
Hundreds of residents showed up at the board meeting, most supporting Terri, with only a few dozen backing the decision. But the vote had already been taken.
Terri could have walked away. Many would have. She’d lost her job, her income, and her professional reputation in the community where she had spent nearly three decades. Instead, she filed a federal lawsuit alleging
CONTINUED with comments
Wyoming library director fired amid book dispute reaches $700,000 settlement
"It's been a rough road, but I will never regret standing up for the First Amendment," Terri Lesley said.
www.nbcnews.com