The attacks on librarians, libraries, and bookstores in my state is batshit crazy. The fact that the people doing it think they stand for freedom and are not just like other authoritarians really blows my mind.
Discussion
Whatโs going on?
I haven't heard anything about that. What is the background?
The library in my town got attacked! Mainly by vagrants, and mostly by napping in the chairs by the periodicals
There are/ have been multiple issues from the school district level to the state level aimed at banning books all under the guise of protecting children. I should note there is already a law banning obscene materials in all public libraries, i.e. youโre not going to find playboy on loan. Act 372 was passed in the legislature that is very broad and unspecific. Itโs actually watered down from what it was originally proposed. Currently two sections of it are blocked due to court challenges based on their constitutionality. It does make checking out books to or on behalf of minors, or selling books to minors that one person deems questionable a felony complete with prison terms. This includes parents providing their own child with a book someone else doesnโt agree with. I say questionable because only one person has to raise a challenge to the material and the law gives no constraints to what that material might be. The local library has a warning on job listings that while there is currently a court injunction this job could put you at risk of incurring a felony. Now people are going after librarians jobs and have taken the tactic of using legislative means to override local boards who have refused to fire librarians who have challenged the law.
I hope I explained this well. I was trying to condense a lot of happenings into as succinct a post as possible.
I should note all the libraries in my area that Iโve personally been in have children and frequently separate teen zones. We even have a childrenโs only library. I think we can all agree that there is reading material unsuitable for children. These laws go after material thatโs not aimed at children. It is censorship in the guise of safety.
Hella happening in my county and school board too, they want to 'protect the kids' but its a thinly veiled attempt to censor and restrict access to very specific books. Pointless attack on freedom. Its insanity at times amd an IMMENSE waste of resources to engage amd defemd against.
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I think that's how most of those bills work. There's lots of analogies to encryption bills that Congress tries to pass every now and then, they say it's for protecting the children, but really it's just censorship and an attempt to backdoor encryption.
Like, yeah, sure, I get it. Criminals use encryption, but so do normal people.
But banning books is something that's so foreign in my mind. Like, yeah, I'll totally agree that there's probably some stuff that children shouldn't be reading, but at the same time, knowledge exists to be shared And once they reach an appropriate age where their comprehension is at a certain level, there's no reason why children shouldn't have access to books that people disagree with so they can form their own opinions.
Library? You mean book communism?