The dumpster fire of book bans

[AMMeyers]

It infuriates me that the book banning thing has been insane across the States. And it’a now reached my library where most people in my town are conservatives and push bibles in your face to convert you…

A bit of backstory—about a month or so ago, there was a Pride parade at our park. Not a lot of people came, but it was a lot busier than I thought was gonna be. It actually my very first Pride event that I’ve ever went to. There was family-friendly drag queens, some speakers, and music, along with a bunch of various vendors. The library was asked to be a sponsor, and so, our head outreach person paid 25 dollars for a spot to be out there. It was her and me, and we grabbed a bunch of LGBT books that ranged from toddlers to adult fiction, to show that we aren’t only an ally, but we have materials for LGBT readers.

Some of the books, as said before, were children’s books… and these were things like the Pronoun Book, Bye Bye Binary, and a few others.

Well, there was a guy at the parade who kept walking around, taking photos of people and things, and was very suspicious. Multiple people actually had concerns (my colleague even checked the linings of his pockets to make sure he didn’t have a weapon) and the security teams followed him around. Toward the end of the night, he came up to our booth and started taking photos of the books and each page and then asked questions like, “So the library chose to be here?”

We found out, eventually, he was from a church in town and was like a reporter or something from them. And the next day, he did a hate post on Facebook and tagged not only the library but multiple other businesses and was basically like, “These places should be ashamed of themselves for showing porn and strippers to kids, and the library should be defunded.”

The library had a board meeting to talk about said books in the post and said they were gonna keep them in, because we’re a non-censoring library.

But it didn’t end there.

For the last few weeks, we’ve had a ton of people complain and shove the Bible in our faces about how porn shouldn’t be in the kids section… when it actually isn’t because there are no nude photos or depictions of sex made for kids. They just call it porn to describe the LGBT community.

So then there was a bunch of misinformation going around, including an addition of multiple teen books about sex (temptations, abuse, hormones, etc.) that were described as “books in the children’s section” when it’s clearly in the teen section. I even had a call from a guy the other day who was asking about information on the situation, and he’s like, “Yeah, there’s talk about pornography in kids books and the strippers that kids saw at park…”

Like sir, I have the pictures and videos to PROVE they weren’t strippers. I have seen your child wear less clothing than this at the pool. So…

And pornography? Please. A book about learning pronouns or an ABC book is not porn. I mean, have you read the Bible? There is lots of violence and rape and sin in that book that is enough traumatizing for adults… and you still give that book to kids… *dramatic eyelash blinking

Because of all this, there was a board meeting today to discuss about banning these books… and boy, it seemed insane. I didn’t participate, but there was a bunch of people (the room holds 150, and there was like close to 200). There was a police officer who attended, and who told people to quiet down or they’d get kicked out (because there were quite a few people who were yelling). There was also a lady who brought a blow horn and said blew it at the end of the meeting and said, “At the end of the day, Jesus has the last say.” According to my supervisor who attended, it seemed half and half…

We’re hoping things end up okay because this isn’t only personal to us as a library, but it’s personal in a way that makes you feel like you aren’t actually welcomed or that there is no freedom anymore.

We’re afraid because it’s a scary time, as people have lost their jobs over this. Our mayor isn’t happy about the situation, and not only is he on the board but he also is very conservative and is for the ban. But I’m hoping that the most people on our board is for keeping the books, like the chair of the board who is a librarian at the high school (and was actually at the Pride event).

What’s also even more infuriating is that all of these people who are for the ban keep saying that the writers of these books and the readers of them are pedos when our town is filled with actual sex offenders (most of whom are straight men) who are not in jail, and one of the guys who actually said this got married to a 15 year old when he was in his late 20s (my supervisor actually knew him).

[JojoDahlia]

It sucks that this idiocy has come to your doorstep. I hope it turns out okay. We’re living in a dystopia

[J.L.O]

Then they should have been read in front of the adults, at the meeting.

If there was truly something to object to in the specific books, they should be able to bring out the specifics. They wouldn’t have had a leg to stand on if it was in the adult section for anything (thereby making it unavoidable to read in front of adults at a meeting).

They are running this with “there’s actual sex in these books”, well, if it has actual sex in a kid’s section, a ban would win upon reading it publicly–that’s just reality.

If it doesn’t, then a public reading exposes hysteria. Your odds of getting a book banned go down when opening it up.

When both sidea refuse to open it and prove it, it’s a territorial thing, and not about the book itself, and in territorial fights, the ones who win are: 1 the loudest, 2 the ones with connections, 3 and the ones with the majority (depending on the system). This always leads to pendulum voting–banned one year, ok the next.

So, if no one got up and read and debated what was read, then it’s the failure of every single one who attended, and THAT will get what it’s earned.

[Churro]

Once they start banning the bible and other religious texts, people will start changing their tune.

[J.L.O]

Technically speaking, a full blown Bible (not just watered down bible stories) is banned from the children’s section and the teen section already. It’s banned from beining the fiction section, too. Lmao and I can’t remember the ladt time I found the watered down bible stories in the public library, really, but I havent atarted bringing my kids in yet.

[Akje]

So sorry this is happening to you, but I’m not surprised. If Ron DeSantis gets into the White House in the upcoming election, censorship will be the least of our worries. I hate to think what will happen to POCs and LBGT+ then. State sanctioned abuse will become the status quo. The only thing we can do is register to vote and try to prevent the coming apocalypse. (⊙.⊙(-̶●̃ₒ●̶̃)⊙.⊙)

[Churro]

Which version? KJV? Mormons wanted to ban that one in particular

[J.L.O]

I come from a sect that is heavily KJV-only. They hated tthe NIV with a passion until they met The Message. Its why I can read Shakespeare without thinking about peeling paint off the walls. Mormons have a big problem with anything that shows that the text states Jesus is God. They would like to throw out the first chapter of John, for that reason.

And really, divisions on what books count or should be banned goes back to Judiasm. Saducees only counted the first 5 books of the OT, and the Pharisees counted all the OT. Catholics have more books in their Bibles than Protestants. And it was all left in Latin because they didnt want the masses to read it. Also, when they translated it, they left certain words transliterated because they wanted the masses uneducated (we have the word baptism becauee no one wanted to offend the sprinkled crowd by accurately translating it to immersion).

And it happens in tons of religions.

People think banning doesnt hit IN THE FAITH a religious text comes out of don’t know their history. All sorts of religios texts have been banned or devalued by people within the religion since the dawn of man. Book banning is ancient.

[alenatenjo]

I really wish these people would actually just sit down and read all these “offensive” books but oh no that might mean theyll have to use their brains and admit theyre wrong! The bible is a hell of a lot worse than ANY of the books they want banned. As an author who apparently fits this new definition of “pedos” because i have gay characters and am queer, this is just ridiculous. I mean, seriously. So much of this could be sorted if they a) actually read the effing books they want to ban and b) actually had two brain cells to rub together.

If Jesus is real and actually watching this nonsense, he’d be ashamed at what these people are doing.

“Protecting the children” my effing arse.

I’m sorry you have to deal with such ignorant, narrowminded, [insert non-PG words here], little turds. No library should have to go this anywhere just because a few people cant see theyre wrong

[Churro]

@J.L.O

I come from a sect that is heavily KJV-only. They hated tthe NIV with a passion until they met The Message. Its why I can read Shakespeare without thinking about peeling paint off the walls. Mormons have a big problem with anything that shows that the text states Jesus is God. They would like to throw out the first chapter of John, for that reason.

And really, divisions on what books count or should be banned goes back to Judiasm. Saducees only counted the first 5 books of the OT, and the Pharisees counted all the OT. Catholics have more books in their Bibles than Protestants. And it was all left in Latin because they didnt want the masses to read it. Also, when they translated it, they left certain words transliterated because they wanted the masses uneducated (we have the word baptism becauee no one wanted to offend the sprinkled crowd by accurately translating it to immersion).

And it happens in tons of religions.

People think banning doesnt hit IN THE FAITH a religious text comes out of don’t know their history. All sorts of religios texts have been banned or devalued by people within the religion since the dawn of man. Book banning is ancient.

Yeah, I know right? The Passion is just fanfic when it comes to bible translations It’s even more further from a traditional biblical structure than The Message. You should hear KJV-only people talk about that “translation” (actually, it’s so controversial that even ESV-led pastors have their questions about it, and the translator and how it was conceived).

But yeah, Mormons do. So do a lot of Jews. They didn’t believe in Jesus as the messiah, and the Son. A lot of them still don’t, like the Mormons. There are even sects of Catholics that totally worship Mary > Jesus and don’t pay him much attention at all, if any.

And yeah, don’t start me on what’s canon, and what isn’t. Different sects have different books and bibles and OT, NT, and ‘extra books’. It makes your head spin when you try and think about it in depth.

Yes, I know right? Book banning and burning has went on for a long time, and now we are seeing the modern equivalent of it in schools, and libraries due to people “being offended” on both sides. It never ends, and never will in this world.

[J.L.O]

That’s why I said read it in public. If it contains something that belongs in a proper sex ed class and its ertlitten below the sex ed class’ level, it at the minimum needs to go to its age-appropriate level. The rest will sort itself out.

Thing is I was allowed to check out kids books without parental permission, but ai wasnt allowed in the library without parental permission until I switched to teen level, up north. I never saw that second restriction with libraries down here becuae I was too old for it, walked across the street from my highschool on my own, no parents. And until a cettain age, your parents have to sign off on you chwcking out adukt books. That was sogned wuickly because anything I read, mom would read in a 3rd the time. There’s not such thing as unsupervised reading with 2 college level readers for parents.

Some of this is parents not understanding a library system at all.