7 ms·
Your thought experiment asks: what if the banned book library contained out-of-print white supremacist books instead of historically banned books? The answer s
by sgentle 3mo ago
Your thought experiment asks: what if the banned book library contained out-of-print white supremacist books instead of historically banned books?
The answer should be obvious: it would be a white supremacist library.
Given that the present administration includes fans of those books, their banning seems unlikely. Perhaps a refresher on the kinds of books that are presently under threat is in order? https://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10 https://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10
(You can find contemporary Huck Finn censorship attempts in their database here, by the way: https://airtable.com/appZthgrTU9u1Bf5d/shr4J8Mgiua2CV2Ig?mWWqe=rechkIpr8BaxdeLMa https://airtable.com/appZthgrTU9u1Bf5d/shr4J8Mgiua2CV2Ig?mWW... )
- like_any_other 3mo agoBooks that are assigned reading in schools and universities, and promoted by libraries, are "under threat", while books nearly impossible to find, never on any reading lists, and whose promoters get their speeches shut down by French police [1], or get investigated by the FBI and kicked out of university [2], are to be considered widely available, got it. And your "historically banned" is just "occasionally removed from public school libraries on parental request". Not using tax money to promote them to children is a low, low bar for "banned". While actual availability is, of course, completely ignored. Whatever tells the best story, facts be damned. [1] Jared Taylor's Banned Conference Speech - https://www.arktosjournal.com/p/jared-taylors-banned-conference-speech https://www.arktosjournal.com/p/jared-taylors-banned-confere... [2] Ohio universities involve FBI in investigation of ‘It’s okay to be white’ and white nationalist group’s postings on campus - https://www.thefire.org/news/ohio-universities-involve-fbi-investigation-its-okay-be-white-and-white-nationalist-groups https://www.thefire.org/news/ohio-universities-involve-fbi-i...
- chipsrafferty 3mo agoWhy do you want people to read those books so bad?
- like_any_other 3mo agoIt's convenient that only evil people point out the emperor has no clothes, isn't it?
- margalabargala 3mo agoWe've decided collectively as a society that some ideas are "good" and others are "bad". For example, racism and white supremacy have been decided to be "bad". There's an alternate reality where white supremacy is mainstream, where queer fiction is impossible to find, and that would be a different world. Instead, what's being preserved are the books written that celebrate the values that match our broad cultural values, despite a handful of cultural deviants attempting to suppress the parts of the rest of humanity they dislike.
- like_any_other 3mo ago[flagged]
- margalabargala 3mo ago"For once"? That's a significant impugnment of the honesty of a person you know nothing about. "Banned books" is the colloquial term for these books, even if it's not as accurate as you'd personally prefer. Next thing you'll be complaining you bit into an Apple and got computer instead of fruit.
- like_any_other 3mo ago> "Banned books" is the colloquial term for these books Yes, many people are either unaware of, or willing participants in, this lie. That doesn't make it any less of a lie.
- margalabargala 3mo agoIt's not a lie. Some entity somewhere banned them. It's vague, not inaccurate. You're just pissy because they aren't using your personal favorite parameters around "banned" for "by whom" and "for whom". You're pretending your opinion is fact and therefore anyone who disagrees must be a liar.
- 3mo ago
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]