Our nation cannot censor its way back to cultural health

Post by Nursie » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 6:32 AM UTC

somenameforme wrote: post #128

Nursie wrote: post #18

The rants about "cancel culture" from the US right are hilarious, given their long history of boycotts of brands they dislike and escalating hate and fear for everything up to actual book burnings of material like Harry Potter. I'm not saying that the accusations of cancel culture are unfounded, I'm saying they are wildly hypocritical. (It's good that efforts at censorship on the right are raised in the article as a…

I think there would by hypocrisy if you had the same people who supported censorship in the past now opposing it, though even then it begs the question of whether that is hypocrisy or simply an evolution of views. But as for parties, in the US there are, for all intents and purposes, only two parties. And as the views of society change, these parties change out of necessity. To give another example, as recently as 20…

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 6:41 AM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #144

imgabe wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t remember the case, but I read somewhere that the Supreme Court drew a distinction between deciding not to add something vs taking away what was already there in regards to school libraries. Assuming this is referring to Maus , it wasn’t a part of the curriculum, it was just a book that was available in the library. The school board removed it from the library, clearly in an effort to limit access to it.

I'm not in favor of book banning, but that book shouldn't be allowed in a library.

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 6:43 AM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #144

imgabe wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t remember the case, but I read somewhere that the Supreme Court drew a distinction between deciding not to add something vs taking away what was already there in regards to school libraries. Assuming this is referring to Maus , it wasn’t a part of the curriculum, it was just a book that was available in the library. The school board removed it from the library, clearly in an effort to limit access to it.

I'm not in favor of book banning, but that book shouldn't be allowed in a library.

Post by beebmam » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 6:44 AM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #112

api wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Outside extreme examples like child porn or speech that is copyright violation I am not aware of many cases of actual prohibited speech in the US. Schools however are a grey area because attendance is mandatory and the state sets the curriculum.

It’s not a gray area at all. Public schools are a public service paid for by tax dollars. The government excluding certain things from the curriculum doesn’t implicate freedom of speech any more than it excluding certain bus routes implicates freedom of movement.

Post by myrion » Mon, Feb 07, 2022, 6:46 AM UTC

sb057 wrote: post #156

WalterBright wrote: post #143

Anyone remember the Hay's Code? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Production_Code The result was 20 years of crappy movies.

Say what you will about the Hays Code, but I would hardly consider Gone With the Wind, The Great Dictator, Casablanca, It's a Wonderful Life, Sunset Boulevard, The Ten Commandments, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Ben-Hur, Spartacus, Psycho, West Side Story, Lawrence of Arabia, To Kill a Mockingbird, Paths of Glory, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, or, you know, Citizen Kane to be espe…