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Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

richardosgood.com

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Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#261

Post by BigTTYGothGF »

margalabargala wrote: post #80
like_any_other wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Books 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 f…

We'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 valu…

> that would be a different world

Yes, it's called "the past".

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#262

Post by cpburns2009 »

okeuro49 wrote: post #219

As expected, the book examples given were not "banned". They're usually school libraries that are removing books from their collection that contain explicit material, usually at the request of parents.

Whenever I hear about "banned books" they're usually so banned that Barnes & Noble has a prominent "banned books" display selling them at the store entrance. It's all marketing.

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#263

Post by BigTTYGothGF »

dindunuf wrote: post #64
hydrogen7800 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When should it be reported, then?

when it's banned by the federal government.

@dang You might want to check this username (put a space between the 5th and 6th letters if you're luckily not familiar with the term).

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#264

Post by cpburns2009 »

Spooky23 wrote: post #252
littlecorner wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cynical side of me wonders if some books might be "banned" on purpose to have the distinction of being a banned book. Probably few books are actually that way, but these days it seems like a shortcut to notoriety

It definitely gets used as a tool to get attention, but let’s be real, nobody is getting rich selling cheap paperbacks in 2026. If you’ve ever been around a school district targeted by the moms for liberty or whatever, it’s a very real thing. When I was growing up in the early 90s, a local crazy preacher guy got a bunch of people riled up and angry about Goosebumps, Huckleberry Finn and to Kill a Mockingbird. These w…

To be fair to the folks playing metal backwards, some 80s bands did include backward encoded messages about satan. It was likely publicity stunts to rile people up though. Include something controversial for marketing.

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#265

Post by jdiff »

nephihaha wrote: post #204
rootlocus wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have abundant free flow of information today and yet I see a rise of tyranny. "This is how democracy dies, with thunderous applause." feels more grounded in reality.

We don't. Search engines return a limited number of results from "trusted media" and dissident opinion, whether balanced or batshit crazy, is all lumped together as misinformation and conspiracy theory.

Search engines return a trove of SEO-optimized generated garbage. Search engines do not apply labels such as misinformation or conspiracy theory.

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#266

Post by Cthulhu_ »

jdiff wrote: post #265
nephihaha wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We don't. Search engines return a limited number of results from "trusted media" and dissident opinion, whether balanced or batshit crazy, is all lumped together as misinformation and conspiracy theory.

Search engines return a trove of SEO-optimized generated garbage. Search engines do not apply labels such as misinformation or conspiracy theory.

Actually they or at least social media does or used to do, peaking during the panny-d and dismantling the 'fake news' checks and balances during Trump II.

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#267

Post by Cthulhu_ »

pibaker wrote: post #177
Pxtl wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "information wants to be free" discourse of just under 30 years ago feels so charmingly naive now that we've seen how lies are also information and can travel even better using the same flow.

And who shall we appoint at the supreme arbitrator of what is lie and what is knowledge? Some of us remember when they assured us that the novel virus in china was not to be afraid of.

And it wasn't, until it was. Before Covid-19 we had SARS and MERS, both of which were also watched closely but those didn't develop into a pandemic.

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#268

Post by steviedotboston »

Cool project, except these aren't really "banned" books. thats a misleading term. In most of these cases, the book isn’t actually banned. Nobody is being arrested for owning it, Amazon isn’t forbidden from selling it, and adults can still read it whenever they want.

What’s really being debated is whether a particular school library, children’s section, or curriculum should include a book. That’s not the same thing as government censorship. Schools and libraries make age-appropriate selection decisions all the time. They don’t carry every book ever published, and not every objectionable book belongs in front of kids just because someone wants to call its removal a “ban.” A single school library deciding not to carry a book because they think it's inappropriate, but that same book being available at the local public library, every book store in town, the internet, etc is not the same as the soviet union literally banning the ownership of books.

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#269

Post by Cthulhu_ »

okeuro49 wrote: post #219

As expected, the book examples given were not "banned". They're usually school libraries that are removing books from their collection that contain explicit material, usually at the request of parents.

Which is understandable, but only to a point - the problem was that a lot of banned books were also frequently anti-establishment or critical of the regime.

If it was just explicit material then the bible would also need to be banned. But as always, it was never about protecting the children.

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#270

Post by john_strinlai »

steviedotboston wrote: post #268

Cool project, except these aren't really "banned" books. thats a misleading term. In most of these cases, the book isn’t actually banned. Nobody is being arrested for owning it, Amazon isn’t forbidden from selling it, and adults can still read it whenever they want. What’s really being debated is whether a particular school library, children’s section, or curriculum should include a book. That’s not the same thing as…

>What’s really being debated is whether a particular school library, children’s section, or curriculum should include a book. That’s not the same thing as government censorship.

except for the cases where the government, not the librarian, is saying "you cannot have that book on your shelf, even if you think it is appropriate and want it".

>Nobody is being arrested for owning it, Amazon isn’t forbidden from selling it, and adults can still read it whenever they want.

when tomhow/dang "ban" someone from HN, that user doesn't get arrested if they make a new account. they can still visit the site. is it misleading for them to use the word "ban"?

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