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“In what context is a strap-on d***do acceptable for public school?”
Moms for Liberty Co-Founder Tiffany Justice posed this question to MSNBC host Joy Reid this week, and she didn’t have much of an answer.
I’d ask anyone defending a book like All Boys Aren’t Blue, which describes an adult raping a child, incest and more: Why should any child have access to this at school?
Joy Reid claimed that conservatives take parts of books “out of context,” but there truly is no context for an 8th grader reading about **al rape.
Or to view the pornographic depictions in books like Genderqueer, another fake “banned book” that I see prominently displayed in the young adult section of my local Barnes and Noble.
Can we stop with the banned books lie? There have always been books that are inappropriate for public school libraries. Not sure how we disagree that graphic rape scenes and pornographic material have no place there.
“BANNED” makes it sounds like they aren’t allowed to be printed and sold. If anything is even fake “banned,” it’s a book like Ryan Anderson’s When Harry Became Sally, which Amazon (largest bookseller by far) refuses to sell.
If a book is truly banned, it’s illegal to own, publish or sell it. You be jailed for doing so. That’s not a thing here in the US of A.
Example: Mustafa Akyol’s book Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty was released in Malaysia. He was arrested by the “religion police.”
Or Animal Farm, which is still banned in Cuba today.
Yet, libraries and bookstores are marketing “banned book” sections, creating a false impression of rebellion if you dare to read them. In reality, it’s a slick marketing ploy to sell books and well, it’s working.
An NPR piece last year said that “some activists are finding creative ways to make banned books available to young readers anyway.”
As David Harsanyi writes:
“‘Activists; buying books at a local Barnes & Noble, where an endless supply exists, and handing them to other people’s children against the wishes of parents isn’t so much ‘creative’ as it is creepy.
NPR makes it sound as if these people were risking their lives trading samizdat one step ahead of the Secret Police. Any dope with a car, a bus pass, a bicycle, legs, or an internet connection can hand some impressionable kid softcore porn. Because there are no banned books.”
People looooove to hate Moms for Liberty. They’re regularly called racists, fascists and bigots. There’s a TikTok hate account ragging on the group in my town. They were blamed for the resignation of the school district’s first Black superintendent, as if they helped elect conservative school board members for racist reasons.
Guys, not everything is racist. Believe it or not, we vote on policy not skin color. I voted for those school board members because I wanted more parental rights and transparency in education. I didn’t think twice about what color the superintendent was.
I joined the local chapter just to see what it was all about (though I admit I’ve not made any meetings or done anything yet.) I will say, the group is more politically-motivated and “red meat” than myself. I prefer to ground myself in more faith-based initiatives, but when I heard them called “terrorists” or a “hate group,” I have to laugh. You might not like what they have to say, but let’s be realistic.
Moms for Liberty seemed to rise out of nowhere a few years ago and has exploded in popularity since, boasting over 100,000 members and counting. These aren’t “fringe” crazies. They’re understandably concerned mothers. I guess people are annoyed they keep disrupting school board meetings and asking hard questions.
Well, she persisted — I guess ;)
One member was removed from a school board meeting because the material she read aloud was “too explicit” for the adults in the room, yet the book remained on library shelves for children.
Even Joy Reid’s show wouldn’t write out the actual text of what Justice said of the content in the book. But…kids should read it for sure.
And I get there are obnoxious people (and stupid ones that I’ve heard stories about), but that doesn’t define the group as a whole. You’ll find those in every cause.
Books I Wouldn’t Pull
Now, I have seen a few books on lists that I wouldn’t take out of the library. For example, I’ve read The Perks of Being a Wallflower (which is not explicit) and The Bluest Eye (which I was surprised to see on the list) and do not think these books should be removed. But, let’s not forget progressives who wanted to remove Of Mice and Men and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn!
I’m guessing “book ban” haters don’t mind bios about Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the library, but would they be cool with one about Clarence Thomas or Amy Coney Barrett? Hard to say. Would they be okay with books that describe traditional marriage or explain the values of limited government?
Of all the books to choose to represent this conversation, Joy Reid chose All Boys Aren’t Blue. If a child “feels seen” in a book about child rape (as Reid said), we have a far bigger problem than a book. We need CPS to get involved.
The main books we see paraded about in this faux “banned books” charade are the explicitly LGBTQ-focused ones that include the graphic sex lives of young teens. There’s plenty of time to learn about these things in adulthood (or heck, just outside of school during “family time” if that’s how you wanna roll).
Just like I would say, why would you bring your 5-year-old to watch something like this — why would you want your 14-year-old reading about that? #NormalizePornForTeens? Yikes…
You don’t have to agree with Moms for Liberty on politics to admit have a point that pornographic material shouldn’t be in public schools. And if you think it should, I have to wonder why that is.
POST-SCRIPT: As you may know, I encourage respectful public discourse. You’re welcome to comment, but keep it kind.
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Drawing attention to the "banning" in this matter is right on point! There is a short piece at The TransAtlantic on this very interview. I am sure it will be of interest to readers here that feel strongly about this topic....
"Literacy or Ideology: What Are Our Educational Priorities?"
https://thetransatlantic.substack.com/p/all-boys-are-not-blue-even-the-title
Thanks for this Ericka! It’s so infuriating the broad brush assumptions about a group...usually based on what some rando had said about the group, all because they think they align ‘politically’. It’s also infuriating when people think all books should be available to all kids regardless of how repugnant and graphic tye scenes are. Keep fighting!!!