Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Friday, May 26, 2023

Thanks to DeSantis's book-banning laws, one parent in Florida...

 


had the power to restrict Amanda Gorman's poem, which she read at President Biden's inauguration, from elementary school children's ability to read it. 

ONE parent!

(As Ms. Gorman noted, restriction of her poem is also banning it. This is DeSantis's "Free State of Florida.)





Why is Gorman’s book facing restrictions? 

"Gorman’s poem, about the trauma of watching an attack on Washington after a the presidential election, was challenged alongside four other books, 'The ABCs of Black History,' 'Cuban Kids,' 'Countries in the News: Cuba' and 'Love to Langston,' on the complaint of one parent, according to the Florida Freedom to Read Project, a nonprofit organization focused on defending students’ right to access information at school."



The woman who complained about Ms. Gorman's poem claimed Oprah Winfrey was the author. The woman didn't even know who authored the poem, but she knew it was dangerous and inappropriate for grammar school children to read it!


Again, tell me why Conservatives/Libertarians label Liberals as "intolerant," but see nothing wrong with this absurdity.

What do Libertarians say to this?:


“That Florida has the highest number of districts banning books shows the widespread effort across the state,” said Kasey Meehan, director of the Freedom to Read program at PEN America. “The situation is chronic in Florida and worsening around the country.” Book restrictions and challenges are escalating alongside legislation in Florida that prevents the teaching of certain types of content, Meehan said.

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“The outpouring of support that Amanda and others are getting shows how out of control the book-banning movement has gotten,” Meehan said. “People are realizing that books are being targeted without regard to what is in them.”







If children are terrified in school, it's because we've made weapons of war easier to obtain than books.

If children are terrified in school, it's because they're made to endure active shooter drills. 

If we actually cared for children in this country (we don't), we'd make sure their minds and bodies are fed. 

Instead, right-wing conspiracy nut-job adults are making our kids pawns in their never-ending culture wars.


PS. These same book-banning parents would have no problem with having a Christian Bible in the schoolroom. The Bible is full of killing, mayhem, and sexual perversity.

Someone, please, make sense of this for me.

12 comments:

Les Carpenter said...

In a word, CONTROL.

Control the minds of the young and soon you have a generation of people who are easy to manage. A conservative's dream.

Never thought i'd say it but i'm glad i'm in the waning years of my life. Because the crap cons are doing, and trying to do to this country would probably end up with me going to prison before it's over.

skudrunner said...

That was in Miami Dade county and not DeSantis making this decision and it was not a ban but moving it to an age appropriate school. It is all about parents having some control over their kids education and what they want their kids to be exposed to. I fully realize any input in education goes against the teachers union. Left to the liberal teachers union Playboy and Penthouse would be required reading for second graders. I don't understand why you are OK with kids being exposed to non age appropriate material. Of course I don't understand how anyone can support a child making the determination of which sex they want to be before they can decide which jelly they want of their PBJ.

Mike said...

I didn't realize it 6 years ago, but my granddaughter was going through shooter drills in preschool. They called them "quiet" drills.

Les Carpenter said...

Really skud, where do you find all the infomation feeding your very questionable thinking?

Dave Dubya said...

Teachers are professional educators, Skud. Why do you want ignorant hillbillies dictating what other children can read?

You seem to think its OK for a single radical Right Republican, who admitted she NEVER even read the poem, to demand its restriction, and be obeyed.

All it takes now is for any single random racist to dictate there be no Black history taught in schools.

I read "All Quiet on the Western Front" when I was 11. Got a problem with that? Or is it "appropriate" because it's about war, white guys, and guns?

If you agree with that racist's demand for restriction, please, Skud, tell us why that poem is not "appropriate" for grade schoolers.

Or do you approve its restriction even though YOU never read it either?

Shaw Kenawe said...

skud: "That was in Miami Dade county and not DeSantis making this decision and it was not a ban but moving it to an age appropriate school."

DeSantis started this whole book-banning movement and the school districts are implementing it. A restriction is a ban.

Read the poem and tell me what is NOT appropriate for even grammar school children. If you're honest with yourself, you'll read it and find NOTHING, NOT A DAMN THING in that poem that is inappropriate for grammar school children to read, unless you're a anti-Black hysterical.

ONE PERSON got that poem "restricted." ONE. What about the parents of children in grammar school that WANT to keep that book in the school library? Answer that question. Where are their rights? Does ONE PARENT have the right to "restrict" a book she finds objectional? A book she thought Oprah Winfrey wrote? Yes. She didn't even know who the author was!

PS. If you've read any world history, skud, you'd know that book-banning is what the Communists in China and Russia, and the Fascists in Germany instituted when they were in power.

What Florida is doing is anti-democracy, and anyone with half a brain knows this.

This is the result of the stupidity and rank politicization of reading:

The Bible even gives instructions on how sex should be had. For example, in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he said that married couples should have sex regularly as to “not deprive one another” so that “Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”
These passages– along with a myriad of other sexually-charged verses– are the main concerns that have been brought up by both parents and educators.

A mother from Brevard County is “grateful” her children will be “shielded from these graphic depictions of sex,” while a first-grade teacher from Miami-Dade County says that “I support the First Amendment and love the Constitution, but not when it allows the violation and rewiring of our children’s brains.”

“Saturating our children’s eyes with pornography is beyond inappropriate,” said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. “The Bible is, unfortunately, yet another example of this. I applaud my fellow lawmakers for doing the right thing by protecting our youth.”

DeSantis is a fool and just another iteration of a fascist wannabe.

Shaw Kenawe said...

skud: "I don't understand why you are OK with kids being exposed to non age appropriate material."

Where have you seen that statement from me? Stop putting words in my mouth.



skud: "Of course I don't understand how anyone can support a child making the determination of which sex they want to be before they can decide which jelly they want of their PBJ."

No child does that. You need to stop reading right wing propaganda.

(PS. I know a bit about this, since a teen in my extended family is going through it. How close to this situation are you? Do have personal knowledge, like I do? If you don't, please sit this one out. Thanks.)

Shaw Kenawe said...

skud: "Left to the liberal teachers union Playboy and Penthouse would be required reading for second graders."

That's BS, and you know it.

I could be as insincere as you and say that if it were left to Conservative teachers, they'd ban anything that contains people of color, gays, and non-religious texts. But that would be stupid and ill-thought out.

I'm a liberal, and I don't encourage reading Playboy and Penthouse even for young boys and men since most of those magazines objectify young women as nothing more than objects of desire.

BTW, did you know that an ex-president encouraged his 2nd wife to pose in Playboy, and his 3rd wife was featured in soft-porn magazines? And the good Evangelical Xtians loved him!

The current leading presidential candidate not only married soft porn models, but actually encouraged one of his wives to disrobe and be photographed.


They worship a guy who likes his wives to be seen nekkid and in soft porn. It's a "family values" thing with the Xtians, so why are they afraid of children seeing it?

possumlady said...

From Rolling Stone Magazine:

DAILY SALINAS, THE Miami-area mother whose poorly reasoned complaint about “The Hill We Climb,” Amanda Gorman’s poem for Joe Biden’s inauguration, got it restricted in an area elementary school, is now defending herself against claims of antisemitism. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reports that Salinas posted a meme to her Facebook citing “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” a piece of virulently antisemitic Russian propaganda from over a century ago that falsely claims “Jewish Zionists” could take over the world by promoting socialism, communism, and despotism.

“I want to apologize to the Jewish community,” Salinas told the JTA on Wednesday. “I’m not what the post says. I love the Jewish community.”

Salinas, who said that English was not her first language, defended the post by saying she stopped reading when she saw the word “communism.” The Agency wrote, “Salinas said her aversion to communism stems from her Cuban identity.” “I see the word ‘communism,’ and I think it’s something about communism,” Salinas told the Agency. “I didn’t read the words.”

The JTA reported that Salinas’ Facebook feed contained several right-wing memes, and that another group, Miami Against Fascism, found video of Salinas with the Proud Boys and of her attending a protest with Moms for Liberty, a group known for attempting to ban books. Salinas denied being a member of either group but admitted she had attended the protests. (Moms for Liberty told the JTA that Salinas was not a member and issued a statement denouncing antisemitism.)

Salinas’ objection to Gorman’s poem (“The Hill We Climb,” which she ham-fistedly claimed “is not educational and have indirectly [sic] hate messages”), as well as poetry by Langston Hughes and books about Cuba, remains somewhat hazy since she said she hasn’t fully read any of them. She told the JTA that the books about Cuba “don’t tell the whole story about Cuba, communism, the dictators, their people that are dying and trying to come to America.”

Salinas told the JTA she was simply telling her “opinion” that the books don’t “support the curriculum.” But she admitted that her knowledge of both the books and the curriculum is questionable. “[People] have to read for me because I’m not an expert,” she said. “I’m not a reader. I’m not a book person. I’m a mom involved in my children’s education.”

skudrunner said...

Ms. Shaw, You call me out on a number of things I posted when most of it was just in jest. You blame desantis for things he didn't say and happened in Miami-Dade county which has switched RED. Are your ridiculous comebacks because a large former democrat county woke up and voted republican. It is interesting to watch the press do a full court press once desantis announced he was running. They must be as nervous as trump about desantis because the attacks are loud and numerous.

BTW, I have nothing against Playboy and used to read it, just for the articles of course.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Salinas: “I’m not a reader. I’m not a book person. I’m a mom involved in my children’s education.”

This non-reader and non-book person got a poem, read at President Biden's inauguration, restricted!

DeSantis has given ignorance undue power.

And his slogan to get to the presidency is "Make America Florida!"

No, effing, thank you!

Idle Gossip said...

SCREW Salinas, and the JACKASS She Rode in on.