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Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

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Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#261
post #68

If anybody thinks this is a good idea, I'm looking forward to reading your opinions.

Let me be clear that I do not agree at all, in any way with this argument, I'm just answering your question as to what the opinion of people who like this think. There are books which contain explicit depictions of sex between teenagers. Why do you want teenagers thinking that having sex before you are 18 is normal? Kids shouldn't be reading stuff about sex (gay, straight, or otherwise) before they are adults. The on…

Here's the thing: The argument you have articulated there, whether you agree with it or not, is not actually what is being argued (or at least is not all that is being argued).

It's not actually primarily "books which contain explicit depictions of sex between teenagers" that are being challenged by this. It's books talking about the existence of gay, trans, and other queer people as something other than a horrible sin or a mental defect.

If it were just what you say, then yes, that would still be wrong, and stupid...but what it is, in fact, is wrong, stupid, and horrendously bigoted.

Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't step in non-constitutional-carry states. The good thing is that, with the exception of basically Florida, there are no states I care to visit that don't already have it. The problem is traveling to those states. I'm temporarily a felon to get there, even though it is my right to keep and bear that handgun nationally. Beats me. I will not contribute my money to a government that does not allow me my rights, an…

> and will also not disarm myself to make myself more of a juicy target Are you the president of the United States? Are you a multi-millionaire? Are you openly a member of a gang or other criminal organization? If not, then, quite plainly, you're not a target. Period.

Hmm. Watch Active Self Protection on YouTube, and tell me that again.

You'd be surprised how often people get targeted for no reason / stupid reasons.

Frankly, I find that the people that oppose guns and concealed carry are usually the type that live in nice neighborhoods and make nearly six figures, where the opinion is invalid. So, basically the demographic of Hacker News.

Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#263
post #124
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I disagree with the assertion that destroying public education is a right-wing goal. While there may be some individuals or groups with that belief, it is not a universally held position among those who identify as right-wing. Additionally, making it a crime to teach is not a tactic that is being used by any mainstream political group or party. Education is an important issue that affects the future of society and sh…

Did ChatGPT write this?

Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a law is passed the presumption under democracy is it has the assent of the majority. Personally I'm not a huge fan of democracy, but you're looking at it.

"If a law is passed the presumption under democracy is it has the assent of the majority. " Why would that be the presumption instead of, you know, looking at polls?

Because then you would realize the whole charade about the social contract and consent to be governed under the law all falls apart and there is nothing left but whether you decide to defend against the violence of enforcement.

Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn’t have thought laws like this were needed, but then there are things like this: https://youtu.be/TwucVRj_mdc

Cool, but do you have any sources that haven't been produced by an organization well-known for repeated lies and fraud?

I am not familiar with them being well known for lies or fraud. Showing actual video seems like a way to avoid that. The videos seem to speak for themselves. Even if taken out of context it looks reaaaally bad.

Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#266
post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So they already have the worst teacher shortage, and they're determined to make it even worse by making it a crime to encourage children to read. This is completely insane. How can this be even remotely constitutional? Please tell me at least the current Florida legislature is deeply unpopular because of their commitment to censorship and opposition to education.

Encouraging children to read is not a crime and nobody ever claimed that it was, will be, or should be.

[flagged]

Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were some books that some segment of voters didn't approve of that certain school libraries were providing. This seems like a backdoor way to stop that while bypassing having to go through controversial school board meetings and/or 1A constitutionality issues to block those books. Not to say this isn't insane, just explaining how I think it happened.

> There were some books that some segment of voters didn't approve of that certain school libraries were providing. I mean, so? This is small minority of people we're talking about. Why do they get veto power over everything present in the classroom? It's the teachers' job to teach the kids, manage/provision the classroom, etc. At some point you have to just tell people "No".

> This is small minority of people we're talking about.

This group of people you are talking about are well organized to take action on anything that aggrieved them. It just so happens that they are aggrieved by anything that isn't explicitly what they believe. Instead of accepting that some may not agree with you, they believe that anyone not in agreement is wrong and must be stopped at every turn.

Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free speech is not the same as being able to tell other people’s kids anything you want while they’re attending a mandatory educational institution run in the name of the public. This law seems like an extreme reaction, but to what many people believe is already an extreme situation. See also: https://youtu.be/TwucVRj_mdc

This whole thing is basically a moral panic a la 80s Satanic Panic where people thought playing DnD led to ritual murder.

Except there’s actual video, pictures, tweets, etc of people participating in the activities this time, which wasn’t the case with the other moral panics.

Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I thought the GOP was all about freedom?

People forget there are more than one kind of freedom. Example: I believe states should be small, physically, so their laws are relevant locally. But since several megacountries do exist, I prefer those countries to have "freedom" in the sense where locals can do whatever laws are relevant to them, even if those local laws include censorship or other nonfree things.

Under this definition everything is freedom, you just get to pick your scale. "Freedom" in the sense that a dictator is free to pick whatever laws they feel like that day, even if it includes subjugation and other nonfree things.

Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#270
post #38

When was the last time a kid said, gee, I'll read the books randomly lying around the classroom?

Even better, most of those books laying around are purchased by the teachers themselves out of their own money. So if my wife had a kid who's fascinated by bulldozers, she'll go to a thrift store and look for books on bulldozers so he could read something that interested them. Which if we lived in Manatee County Florida would be a felony because she'd be grooming him to screw a bulldozer, apparently.
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