What do you think of Moms for Liberty banning books?

Question

In 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation that targets books that include sexually explicit material, following complaints from the organization Moms for Liberty.

This law, which went into effect in 2023, has resulted in the removal of several books from elementary. middle school and high school libraries, including Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain and The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. It has also resulted in the removal of 23 of Stephen King's novels, including Carrie, It, The Gunslinger, The Running Man and The Long Walk. King's response has simply been WTF.

What do you think about the power that the Moms for Liberty organization has in being able to ban books in public schools? More generally, what do you think about banning books in general? Have you ever read Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, which was required reading in my high school English class?

CrazyGirl2 · Accepted Answer

None of this is true! I hear this almost constantly, yet when I first heard about it, my friend's sister was in high school, So I called and asked her she could check her school library to see if those books really were banned. The following day, she told me they were not only not banned, they were still available in her school library, also the librarian told her that it was not only was it not true, but that she had several students asking the same thing over the past few days. So I dug further, and I discovered that this so-called list of banned books it’s a total lie!
Here is an excerpt from a USA Today article from last week! (not exactly a far right rag) (full source below)

“laim: Image shows a list of books that are banned from schools in Florida"
In July, a new Florida law went into effect that allows parents to register concerns about books taught in schools and petition local districts to ban them.

Nevertheless, many prominent people on social media have been claiming that a slew of books were immediately banned in schools and libraries statewide by the law. They have circulated an image of 25 book titles listed on a piece of paper.

The book list includes novels that have been taught in schools for generations, including "tom Sawyer and the adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Catcher in the Rye” “The Diary of Anne Frank”, and "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." It also includes the Harry Potter series and the Biblical chapter Song of Solomon.

The image of the banned book list has been shared by many people including American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, and Star Wars actor Mark Hamill on Aug. 21 and 22. Hamill's tweet has racked up more than 30,000 retweets and 150,000 likes.

An Aug. 21 Facebook post featuring the image of the book list has been shared 80 times. The post reads, “Florida's Current Banned Book List. Tragic How Many Totalitarian Third World States Exist in the USA in 2022.”

But the list is total fiction.

While school districts can ban books through a process created by the new law, Florida has not banned any books at the state level.
Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/08/25/fact-check-fake-list-banned-florida-books-circulates-widely-online

*(End of the excerpt from the USA Today)*

Here’s the problem: These days everything seems to be political, and politics are tribalized in an “us versus them” mentality , and if you are “with them” you are just bad! You are eithet stupid, racist, bigoted, fascist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, a “bigoted phobist ist-o-phobe”, or you are a “snowflake”, a soy-boy” a “beta male”, a “cuck”, or a “man-hating feminist"! Then add into the mix Twitter (I’m not calling it 𝕏!) People post all kinds of BS on Twitter literally millions of times a day, and if they happen to be old-style blue checkmark types, like Mark Hamill and Randy Weingarten, when they tweet something it gets seen by hundreds of thousands or even MILLIONS of people, who then re-tweet and quote-tweet it making it viral. More importantly it gets seen by journalists, who all follow each other! So if any one of them tweets something, they all see it! That’s usually when national newspapers will pick up the tweet and print an online news story about it and if it’s a big enough story, they’ll likely a make a print version as well! However, various online publications also begin publishing their own versions of the “story”, and as it becomes trending news, the cable and broadcast media begin reporting on the story as if it actually were true! Then a few days later when the whole thing has been proven to be utterly false, The cable networks will maybe offer a 5 second retraction after 11pm, (after discussing it for hours a day in prime-time panels, for several days before that!) and then only if they are threatened with a lawsuit, will they retract it! The newspaper’s will possibly retract or “correct” the story on page 11D in the lower right corner, in the smallest print possible. Meanwhile in the on-line space, nobody has even seen the retractions, and since the smaller on-line publishers are not accountable to anyone, so they leave their version of the fake story online, which people use as sources to “prove” the “accuracy" of the story!

While there were a handful of very sexually graphic LGBT+ book that WERE banned for grades k-3 which is little children aged 8 and under, I believe most people would agree that 5, 6, and 7 year olds do not need to know how to give a blowjob! But if their parents WANT them to know, they can still get the books from their local county library, or just buy it. Although if I ever discovered that a parent gave their 7yo instructions on how to perform oral sex, I would report them to DCF (Florida’s version of CPS).

I really hope this helps.
Laura 🤗 🥰

purplepoppy · Accepted Answer

I can understand banning books that dehumanise groups or try spread misinformation (not debatable stuff) Similarly I get why a geography department would to refuse to stock a flat earth book.

But the books mentioned are well respected and not pornography nor do they have some sinister political agenda.

abc3643 · Accepted Answer

Let's think this through... Moms for  Liberty want  to ban  books. That's a bit ironic, isn't it? More irony... From their website: Spread Awareness We spread awareness and an understanding of the  limited role of governme nt . Oppose Government Overreach We stand together against government overreach and intimidation tactics. Meanwhile PEN America describes themselves as follows: WHAT IS PEN AMERICA PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. and they write about book bans...  TITLE: Banned in the USA: State Laws Supercharge Book Suppression in Schools SUBTITLE: Update on Book Bans in the 2022-2023 School Year Shows Expanded Censorship of Themes Centered on Race, History, Sexual Orientation, and Gender ... Politicians, and Legislation Of the 1,477 reported book ban cases this school year, 74% are connected to organized efforts, mainly of advocacy groups; elected officials; or enacted legislation (n=1,085).  Of these, 20% (n=294) are connected to organized advocacy groups, meaning actions by them influenced a book ban.  The most influential of these groups, Moms for Liberty, is connected to 58% (n=170) of all advocacy-led book bans around the country (n=294).  These 170 bans occurred in six districts across North Dakota, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Florida.  ======= So, about those Moms for Liberty... The Least Endangered Animal in America They should rename themselves " Karens For Karens ".

DJB72 · Accepted Answer

Certain books don't belong in an elementary school. Others don't belong in a high school. Basically pornography and gratuitous violence.

That certainly doesn't mean a flat ban. And literature from past eras must be read to understand how we got to where we are today. Twain's writings simply depict the life and language of the era, before the politically correct lunatics told white people they couldn't say certain words the individuals with a greater melanin content in their skin from certain socioeconomic conditions freely use to describe themselves.

In my lifetime I've seen people live out "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me", and their children need "safe spaces" because someone said "fuck off" to them and now they're going to need counselling for the next ten years.

Society was a shitload better before queynte liberal ideology took over. Read Chaucer. Shakespeare. Milton. Bernard-Shaw. Twain. Recover from the stupidity of weak men clawing to be women and women so devoid of true men they're trying to become what they're missing.

Moms for Liberty should be required to watch this movie every day until they understand the message:

MisterWack · Answer

Banning books is not ideal, it is against freedom of speech.
Video games, parents were afraid of children getting their hands on inappropriate adult content so they made the ESRB rating system. M for Mature, E for Everyone, T for Teen, etc. so why not just create a label system? I don't know just seems stupid to ban something since the more you are told you can’t have it, the more we want things.

NamerOfStars · Answer

Well, that's not banning the books; just taking them out of libraries (which is still not good, but nowhere near as bad). And it's not "Moms for Liberty" (which they manifestly aren't, since they're being rather illiberal), but Governor DeSantis. Yes, their words and actions  inspired  him, but if that's the same thing, then George III wrote the Declaration of Independence.

Phoenix98 · Answer

I've seen some of the books they have in those kids libraries and they were so sexually explicit that they made the school board uncomfortable to listen to them being read out loud by outraged parents.

Books like that should 100% not be allowed in children's schools, what the fuck is wrong with these people -_-.

Ladsin2 · Answer

I think parents have a vested interest in what their children are learning. I think parents have the right to tell teachers what they want their children to learn, and not to learn. This is especially true if teachers are trying to teach questionable or objectionable materials.

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Certainly fits both criterion.

Lliam · Answer

I am 1000% opposed. I even suspect that Moms for Liberty is an astro turf organization created by powerful forces with a sinister agenda.

But I am in favor of restricting LGBTQ and certain sexually explicit books from public schools.

GOLDFISH_smile · Answer

Mom's for liberty is a bunch of parents fighting for parents extra rights at the expense of children's human rights. They don't have my support.

Anonymous · Answer

What's he done about school shootings? His book burning and drag queen crusade is well documented as well as his war on Disney for having the audacity to disagree with him about something.

msc545 · Answer

Banning books is a disgusting anti-democratic practice.

LiamJHayden · Answer

I understand keeping porn and the such from kids, but the idea of not exposing kids to disparate ideas and thus learning how to think and reason seems ignorant.

Guacamole409 · Answer

I'm for parents voting to ban books in public schools.

OtterMan68 · Answer

I don't need other parents dictating what my child can and cannot read

Hispanic-Cool-Guy · Answer

Good. We can't be having books in a library where kids are seeing pornographic material.  Damn ridiculous.

Anonymous · Answer

Your fear of the democrats winning is showing lol

Walksbehindtherows · Answer

I read all of these books

Dongie · Answer

❤️‍🔥🥂 here's to the ladies!!💐

beefcakebradybatson · Answer

Typical far-right busybodies.

RedInnocent69 · Answer

Poorly.

What do you think of Moms for Liberty banning books?

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