"Banned in the United States" does not mean the same thing as "Removed from Middle School Libraries"
Do you mean, "banned across America"?
1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them
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Re: 1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
> point of public school boards and elections thereto is to enable voters to exercise the political control over the branch of government that is providing public education Fair enough. Perhaps the answer is school libraries are Constitutionally problematic–we can call them book bazaars and acknowledge that minors under state custody do not have the right to a library. Politicians removing books from libraries is a c…
I don’t think that non-school public (ie. government-ran) libraries here are any different from legal perspective: since I am funding my local public library, and since the library has a limited budget, I expect to have a say as a voter as to what books I want it to stock and take space on shelves. For example, I am very much opposed to it stocking books in foreign languages, because few people even can read these, a…
> since I am funding my local public library, and since the library has a limited budget, I expect to have a say as a voter as to what books I want it to stock
Then, put simply, it's not a library. It's a store of books. Libraries have deeper historic, political and legal significance than books the majority wants around. (You can call it whatever you want. But it shouldn't receive federal funding nor the legal protections we extend to libraries.)
> there is very little interest in political action directed to remove books from non-school public libraries
It's a prominent and increasing trend [1].
[1] https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2023/03/record-book-...
Re: 1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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…
>Is Google docs on topic? No. I had to open it in Tor. >School librarians in the US face prison time for owning books in parts of the US No they don't. Stop lying. >The government telling you what books you can ow No. The government tells them which books to put into their libraries , read your link. Can you tell the difference? It is public vs. private.
I'm disappointed in the low quality of your arguments here. They border on bad faith, but, in truth, are probably simply lazy.
I googled "new law prison time for school librarians banned books" and the following was the top result: "School librarians face prison time for distributing banned books" (actual title slightly different)
In keeping with the ethos and guidelines of Hacker News, please apply the principle of charity and do a bit of research before doing a low-effort takedown of someone you disagree with.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/05/18/school-l...
Re: 1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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…
>Is Google docs on topic? No. I had to open it in Tor. >School librarians in the US face prison time for owning books in parts of the US No they don't. Stop lying. >The government telling you what books you can ow No. The government tells them which books to put into their libraries , read your link. Can you tell the difference? It is public vs. private.
> No they don't. Stop lying.
I'm sorry you don't believe me, but librarians are facing jail time in Tennessee, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Librarians (typically school librarians, but in at least one state also public librarians). The books their collection owns is a book they own. The states are telling them they could go to jail for owning a book in their collection.
In Arkansas, a librarian can now face 6 years in prison for 'Obscene material' but provide no guidance on what 'Obscene' means. Laws that are selectively enforced and provide no clear guidance are laws that are designed to limit speech and limit freedom.
Simply saying "no." and accusing me of lying does not change the fundamental truth of the matter.
Re: 1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them
#75~975 are "Banned Pending Investigation" which is hyperbole for "Under Review".
If the books are unavailable while under review, then they are effectively banned.
Re: 1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them
#76Earlier 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...
None of these laws punishes possession, printing and reading any books, and the only distribution restrictions are about some public libraries (typically school ones), which are directed to not stock these books, but otherwise there are no restrictions on distribution of these books.
> None of these laws punishes possession ...
> which are directed to not stock these books
You see how these are opposites, right? Stocking a book in a library is possessing it. The laws punish libraries for having a book in their collections, and that punishment can include years in prison.
Years in prison for a library having a book in its collection.
Libraries are some of the bastions of freedom and liberty in our nation, they represent the fundamental ideal that free speech should be accessible. Telling libraries that they should not stock books is antithetical to freedom and liberty.
Re: 1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Especially when the article itself identifies only 1.6% of the books as having a 17+ rating. You presume those ratings mean something. "Getting It: A Guide to Hot, Healthy Hookups and Shame-Free Sex. An empowering guide to casual sex and hooking up from sex educator and Girl Sex 101 author Allison Moon." I'm sure that's entirely age appropriate for my 13-year-old daughter to be reading from the high-school library.
There's a good chance your 13-year-old is hooking up and about 100% chance she's hearing about friends hooking up. A guide like that is useful for identifying healthy and unhealthy behaviors around consent, health, and emotions. Have you actually read this book? Or are you making assumptions based on the title?
I included the title and its own summary.
And FWIW, the age of consent in the U.S. is 16+.
13...my goodness man...
Re: 1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
You cannot bring it to a final calculus exam in many public universities, for example. If you want to complain that this is not what you meant by “banning” books, I fully agree with you, but that’s the whole issue here: activists decided to name some normal stuff like removing some books from some public libraries to be “banning”, despite the fact that this is not anywhere close to what normal people think of when th…
> You cannot bring it to a final calculus exam in many public universities, for example.
That is not what is happening here
Re: 1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them
#79I wonder how the authors feel about restrictions on books such as The Bell Curve or others. I don't particularly like or agree with those sorts of ideas, but I am curious of there is a double standard or if these people are generally interested in and/or opposed to the banning of books generally.
Re: 1,626 Books Were Banned Across America Last Year We Reviewed All of Them
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don’t think that non-school public (ie. government-ran) libraries here are any different from legal perspective: since I am funding my local public library, and since the library has a limited budget, I expect to have a say as a voter as to what books I want it to stock and take space on shelves. For example, I am very much opposed to it stocking books in foreign languages, because few people even can read these, a…
> since I am funding my local public library, and since the library has a limited budget, I expect to have a say as a voter as to what books I want it to stock Then, put simply, it's not a library. It's a store of books. Libraries have deeper historic, political and legal significance than books the majority wants around. (You can call it whatever you want. But it shouldn't receive federal funding nor the legal prote…
> Libraries have deeper historic, political and legal significance than books the majority wants around.
If a public library doesn’t do what the majority of people want, why should they keep it around? In our political system, the people are the sovereign, and they have the ultimate right to decide how they want their government to operate, limited by constitution and other law. Public libraries don’t have a right to independently exist as some sort of feudal benefice, with right to extort the local peasants attached to it. Their existence and operations stem solely from the will of the people, and they will it to work differently or not at all, so shall it be.
> It's a prominent and increasing trend
As far as I can tell, the article linked is overwhelmingly talking about school libraries. Have you read it? I hope you haven’t, otherwise it would be rather dishonest of you to give it as evidence to support the point about non-school libraries.