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As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective

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Re: As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective

#111

Post by ericd »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #18
shagie wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nobody’s calling for banning books. They are calling for not using certain books in curriculum, which is very different and not allowing certain books is necessary for any school system. From the other day on NPR: https://www.npr.org/2021/11/11/1054798508/when-schools-ban-b... > Texas Gov. Greg Abbott joined Krause's efforts this week, sending his own letter to the Texas Education Agency asking it and other agencie…

Well then, again, would you want a flat-earther science manual in the school library? Schools exercising discretion is not 1940s Germany book bans and the two are not comparable.

I kind of do, that sounds like a fascinating read. Also a good way to learn that something being printed in a book doesn’t make it authoritative.

Re: As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective

#112

Post by germinalphrase »

akira2501 wrote: post #100
quadrifoliate wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is that librarians already provide a "SafeSearch" by curating material at libraries. This is more similar to if Texas tried to mandate that Google SafeSearch at libraries should now include a ban on any LGBTQ images. Contrary to what you might imagine, checking out and shelving books is not the only things librarians do – they also curate and trim material, a bit like cultivating a garden. Libraries ar…

> Libraries are a fine-tuned system that maximizes freedom of expression and ideas in a reasonably curated manner. Is there a difference between the freedom of expression of children and of adults? If so, wouldn't parents have a right to limit the freedoms of their own children according to their families moral and religious beliefs? I wonder if maybe the issue is that in a school setting, the librarians are operatin…

Parents should teach their children to use “good judgement” according to their family values with regard to what books they choose to check out from the library. Creating some kind of list system (with all the additional overhead involved) seems silly to me.

Re: As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective

#113

Post by jl2718 »

The “Banned Books” movement is clearly only about any books that have faced even minor protest from “the other side” of the political spectrum. They frame the censorship debate in terms of provocative, but otherwise meaningless fiction. Real censorship of factual and relevant information exists today, and they support it.

Re: As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective

#114

Post by wolverine876 »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #35

For everyone arguing about how the library system is being censored with this, I would like to remind people that since 2000, all libraries (including non-school libraries) have the internet censored with (almost always) Google SafeSearch locked on and many websites (particularly porn but there are others) blocked. And it's federal law. https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/childrens-internet-prot... Is this censorshi…

It's a common philosophical question applied to this topic: The logically easy philosophical definition is always the extreme - in this case, absolutely no restriction - and there are always objections using false equivalencies and slippery slopes ('if you violate the extreme in this way, you can violate it in any way').

Real life is not about logical extremes. Nothing in the US Bill of Rights is unlimited, for example. You have freedom of speech, to bear arms, and of religion, but you can't slander someone, own an anti-aircraft weapon, or sacrifice humans to the gods.

At the school library, we may not want people watching pornography. That's different than political censorship.

Re: As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective

#115

Post by wolverine876 »

29329867 wrote: post #79

As a high schooler I loved the banned books list. My English teacher had a cabinet full of old copies of books they weren’t allowed to teach any more for one reason or another. She lent me The Chocolate War, Catcher in the Rye… Before that, in elementary school, some of our books had sections blacked out for being too racy. First thing I did was head straight to the local library and read those passages specifically.…

Ha - It's a great signal!

Re: As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective

#116

Post by Spooky23 »

quadrifoliate wrote: post #9

A lot of the other comments on here are saying that this is banning books from curricula [1]. But I would...like to see the sources for this assertion? All of the stories I have seen [1][2] say that the books are banned from the school library system . As far as I am aware, school libraries usually contain a wide range of books, not just whatever is required for the curriculum. So banning a book from a school library…

Local school districts frequently do this sort of thing.

It sucks for the kids, but it is a good signal for you when you’re looking for a place to live, as the school board is controlled by provincial idiots.

Re: As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective

#117

Post by jl2718 »

chmod775 wrote: post #109

That is how you raise yet another generation who mistakenly believes everything written to be sacrosanct, holds no tested and cohesive views, is easy prey to manipulators who have no qualms making people uncomfortable , and will forever defer to authority figures who tell them what is acceptable.

Do you mean banning books containing well-researched facts, which is commonly practiced in silence, or promoting fantastical fiction books about your political agenda by convincing kids that the evil censorship boogeyman is after them?

Re: As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective

#118

Post by wpurvis1 »

CountDrewku wrote: post #63

k-12 students are not adults. We ban and censor all sorts of things for the the underage crowd, look up CIPA. There are borderline pedophilia books available at school libraries. I've also seen several examples of incredibly racist CRT books in classrooms. I don't think young kids should have unfettered access to this stuff. They're not able to process it correctly. If communities are saying they do not want this is…

"I've also seen several examples of incredibly racist CRT books in classrooms."

Can you list some examples?

Re: As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective

#119

Post by jl2718 »

29329867 wrote: post #79

As a high schooler I loved the banned books list. My English teacher had a cabinet full of old copies of books they weren’t allowed to teach any more for one reason or another. She lent me The Chocolate War, Catcher in the Rye… Before that, in elementary school, some of our books had sections blacked out for being too racy. First thing I did was head straight to the local library and read those passages specifically.…

> banned books … local library.

Hmmm… those evil censors must have been working overtime to stop you.

Re: As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective

#120

Post by erichocean »

wolverine876 wrote: post #115
29329867 wrote: post #79

As a high schooler I loved the banned books list. My English teacher had a cabinet full of old copies of books they weren’t allowed to teach any more for one reason or another. She lent me The Chocolate War, Catcher in the Rye… Before that, in elementary school, some of our books had sections blacked out for being too racy. First thing I did was head straight to the local library and read those passages specifically.…

Ha - It's a great signal!

In that case, people should look deeply into the books banned on Amazon.com—great signal!
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