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by ironlake 1366 days ago
Lots of comments in this thread talking about how books aren't being banned, just removed from school libraries, or we're just trying to control the sexual content taught to our kids. No, the books aren't banned. You can still find them in bookstores.

One political party is removing access to books. They're doing it in the easiest place they can. They will never come for you because you have money and are an adult.

But this is fascism and the people in the thread who are defending it are cool with fascism. They like it because it hurts people they don't like. They will defend fascism with their lives, and many of the people you work with are these people.

3 comments

Both political parties are removing access to books. When this book is widely available in local bookstores and presented in schools whenever other material related to minority sexual and gender identity is discussed, I will gladly change my mind. https://www.amazon.com/Irreversible-Damage-Transgender-Seduc...
Everybody is a fascist because I'm challenged about my personal opinions.
Everybody is a fascist who doesn't want their kids to learn that it's OK to be born different or to learn foundational science that conflicts with their religious dogma. This is different from challenging me about my favorite color.
The irony here is that my university quietly "delisted" a bunch of books from far-right extremists (Ann Coulter, Bill Oreilly, Jordan Peterson) but then launched protests over banned books in schools.
If they did so quietly, how do you know it happened? Give us a link.
I had a discussion about it with the school librarian.

But I just went to their online catalogue to confirm if that's still the case - of all the authors mentioned, I could only find a single copy of a Jordan Peterson book in a psychology library at a satellite campus. Interestingly, they have a dozen books about Jordan Peterson (both pro and anti, interestingly enough).

Although it's worth pointing out that the article only considered external acts as "banning". Actions of librarians to maintain their collections are not considered censorship and are not publicly tracked anyway.

History curriculum is routinely modified to match the modern ethics. They don't call this banning, but it really is. Out with an old version, in with a new.
That's the privilege of institutional power - you can control reading lists and access to books, and it doesn't register as a ban.