Live data from Hacker News

1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them

yarn.joinstatecraft.com

31–40 of 99 posts

Re: 1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them

#31
post #17

Book banning seems like a strange red line to have forgotten. If your kid is going to be corrupted by going into a library and finding a book that's naughtier than your taste, they're probably ahead of their similarly-corruptible peers who aren't in a library at all.

> Book banning seems like a strange red line to have forgotten Has book banning ever been a red line? Many Western countries, from Canada to France through US and New Zealand have banned many books for most of their existence.

Until relatively recently in the US, "banning books" was widely considered one of those morally reprehensible things that only authoritarian governments did, and people were outraged that the US did it at all.

It is legitimately weird how quickly that seems to have changed within the culture in the light of the moral panic over transgender "groomers" and the antiwoke movement. That, and the sentiment that the government should regulate or nationalize social media, or even make it illegal... and half the country seems to be in a competition to see how fascist they can become before the Supreme Court actually calls them out. It's like someone flipped a switch and suddenly all this dystopian shit was just ok with everyone.

Re: 1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them

#32

"Banned in the United States" does not mean the same thing as "Removed from Middle School Libraries"

"Books banned in the US" has two correct readings (regarding banned books by governments): 1) "Books that were banned, somewhere within the US" 2) "Books that were banned, across the US" In this case, at the behest of state and municipal governments, there are books that fit into reading one.

Every single book is “banned” from “somewhere” in the US, so your 1) is true, but vacuously so.

Re: 1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them

#33
I wonder what the methodology is. If I mail a copy of "The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History" to some NYC school, and they decline to devote library space to it, does that mean it's "banned"? Or does it require an existing inclusion, and subsequent politically-motivated "banning" by upset parties?

Glancing at the list, it looks like quite a bit of the usual leftist propaganda, but also some bland stuff like "14 Cows for America". No one is really "banning" that in a sincere way. You want "banned" look for some David Irving down at your public school library.

Re: 1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them

#34

>We Reviewed All of Them Am I blind? Where are the reviews? The website is also utterly broken on my device... What I always find interesting is what exactly "banned" means. Certainly there is no government which punishes distribution, printing or reading of those books.

> Certainly there is no government which punishes distribution, printing or reading of those books. Yes, state and municipal level governments have banned books in the US? Here's a list of some example laws in, e.g., education: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Tj5WQVBmB6SQg-zP_M8u...

>https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Tj5WQVBmB6SQg-zP_M8u...

Why are you posting google doc links? These things are made to track you. Do not ever click such a link or share it. Absolutely one of the worst ways to share information.

In any case, when was the last time a book printer faced criminal charges for printing a book? A book reader for reading a book? A shop for selling a book?

Re: 1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them

#35
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Books banned in the US" has two correct readings (regarding banned books by governments): 1) "Books that were banned, somewhere within the US" 2) "Books that were banned, across the US" In this case, at the behest of state and municipal governments, there are books that fit into reading one.

Every single book is “banned” from “somewhere” in the US, so your 1) is true, but vacuously so.

I don't think that's the case.

Where is "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein banned in the US by a state, local, or federal government?

Re: 1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them

#36
post #17

Book banning seems like a strange red line to have forgotten. If your kid is going to be corrupted by going into a library and finding a book that's naughtier than your taste, they're probably ahead of their similarly-corruptible peers who aren't in a library at all.

> Book banning seems like a strange red line to have forgotten Has book banning ever been a red line? Many Western countries, from Canada to France through US and New Zealand have banned many books for most of their existence.

Reformed Protestant schools in The Netherlands have banned books with curse words, heavy language, sex, occultism and magic. You are not going to find any Harry Potter books there.

School books, the ones you learn from during the curriculum, are also heavily edited so that Christian school still buy them. Bikinis, short skirts, tattoos, female pastors, dinosaurs, astrology, everything is left out of the books out of fear that Christian schools will not buy them. Publishers are very careful with what they put in their books.

https://www-bnnvara-nl.translate.goog/joop/artikelen/uitgeve...

Re: 1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them

#37
post #7

> it’s important to note that they are to the end of positive social change The end does not justify the means. Name me one single objectively bad political movement which internally thought of themselves as bad or negative. There isn't one. They all claim and for the largest part of their membership believe to serve the greater good. Therefore I find this argument of the author extremely weak. Surely they can come u…

[deleted]

Re: 1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them

#38
post #31
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Book banning seems like a strange red line to have forgotten Has book banning ever been a red line? Many Western countries, from Canada to France through US and New Zealand have banned many books for most of their existence.

Until relatively recently in the US, "banning books" was widely considered one of those morally reprehensible things that only authoritarian governments did, and people were outraged that the US did it at all. It is legitimately weird how quickly that seems to have changed within the culture in the light of the moral panic over transgender "groomers" and the antiwoke movement. That, and the sentiment that the governm…

> Until relatively recently in the US, "banning books" was widely considered one of those morally reprehensible things that only authoritarian governments did, and people were outraged that the US did it at all.

This is why I loathe the “book banning” activists, because their entire goal is to confuse people by using deliberately misleading language.

The fact of the matter is that nowhere in the US has any book been successfully banned by any government in recent memory, in the dystopian, authoritarian sense understanding of the term “book banning”. Activists simply decided to call removing books from school libraries “book banning” to deliberately induce misapprehension that this sort of dystopian, authoritarian shit is reality, when it simply is not the case.

Re: 1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them

#39
post #31
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Book banning seems like a strange red line to have forgotten Has book banning ever been a red line? Many Western countries, from Canada to France through US and New Zealand have banned many books for most of their existence.

Until relatively recently in the US, "banning books" was widely considered one of those morally reprehensible things that only authoritarian governments did, and people were outraged that the US did it at all. It is legitimately weird how quickly that seems to have changed within the culture in the light of the moral panic over transgender "groomers" and the antiwoke movement. That, and the sentiment that the governm…

I’m so confused. Book bans in authoritarian nations mean that you can’t purchase the book because the government prohibits it. Is that happening anywhere in the US today?

Re: 1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Certainly there is no government which punishes distribution, printing or reading of those books. Yes, state and municipal level governments have banned books in the US? Here's a list of some example laws in, e.g., education: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Tj5WQVBmB6SQg-zP_M8u...

> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Tj5WQVBmB6SQg-zP_M8u... Why are you posting google doc links? These things are made to track you. Do not ever click such a link or share it. Absolutely one of the worst ways to share information. In any case, when was the last time a book printer faced criminal charges for printing a book? A book reader for reading a book? A shop for selling a book?

> Why are you posting google doc links?

Because that's the way the organization makes the information available. Is Google docs on topic?

> In any case, when was the last time a book printer faced criminal charges for printing a book? A book reader for reading a book? A shop for selling a book?

You forgot: "A book owner for owning a book."

School librarians in the US face prison time for owning books in parts of the US. Has anyone actually been prosecuted for those laws? Not yet, they are new laws.

Has anyone decided to stop owning books because those laws exist? Yes, absolutely.

The government telling you what books you can own, and if you do not comply, threatening you with prison is absolutely a thing that's factual in the US.

Post reply on HN