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DeSantis vs Newsome

Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by jjgator55, Nov 30, 2023.

  1. mdgator05

    mdgator05 Premium Member

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    That is not an accurate portrayal of what has been done. Clay County, for example, removed a list of 177 books from all school libraries, not simply elementary school libraries. For example, Beloved by Toni Morrison, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, was removed from high schools. Why should high school students be banned from such a book?
     
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  2. GatorRade

    GatorRade Rad Scientist

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    Indeed, I think the right’s motivation of response is under appreciated by the left. Unfortunately, it will be the case that the left will probably try to respond as well. Somehow the cycle needs to be broken.

    I am not in favor of regulating the speech of the platforms themselves, but I am 100% on your side about federal interference. The stuff I recall seeing on the Biden administration was perhaps just subtle enough to be slimy without necessarily becoming overtly illegal, but I still don’t like it. That more people don’t care about this kind of thing drives me nuts.
     
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  3. gator_lawyer

    gator_lawyer VIP Member

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    You can spare me the inane talking points. If you don't want your children accessing materials you consider "inappropriate," you can restrict or deny them access to their school library. What you don't have the right to do is determine what's "inappropriate" for every parent's child based on your own ideology or "morality." You and the rest of the book banners don't get to take away everybody else's freedoms. You hate other parents and children having choice. It's repulsive.

    We have librarians, principals, superintendents, and school boards to ensure that age-appropriate material is in the libraries. And they do a fine job of it. When somebody in that chain falls short, there are numerous mechanisms to resolve the issue, without needing to involve the freedom-hating nanny state.

    So yes, you are right about one thing: I think any person who is seeking to ban award-winning novels---novels that the librarians and principals deemed age appropriate---from school libraries is deplorable. They have every right to decide what sort of access THEIR child has to that material. Nothing more or less.
     
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  4. gator_lawyer

    gator_lawyer VIP Member

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    Because it's "pornography." Durrrrrrrrrrr.
     
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  5. HeyItsMe

    HeyItsMe GC Hall of Fame

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    Pretty sure high school students have already seen and read way worse by that point in their lives. Lol.
     
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  6. swampbabe

    swampbabe GC Hall of Fame

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    This book was challenged in Collier county because of “pornography”

    upload_2023-12-1_12-41-19.jpeg
     
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  7. mdgator05

    mdgator05 Premium Member

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    The GOP chair story leads to an interesting thought:

    Pornography is defined as something that is sexually exciting. Are these folks trying to ban books like this admitting to being sexually excited by illustrations like that?
     
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  8. Sohogator

    Sohogator GC Hall of Fame

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    My reasonable take. High school kids are under a lot of pressure. It’s tough to be that age. Why should we begrudge them a little pornography?
     
  9. tampajack1

    tampajack1 Premium Member

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    I started reading one of my kids’ school books recently. The following were passages in the book (the quotation marks are added for emphasis):

    “I” woke up this morning and looked outside. The weather “sucked.” I put “on” some warm clothes. My daughter wasn’t feeling well, so I looked in on “her.” I am such a “boob.”

    There is no way I want my kids reading a book like this. Not when it says “ I sucked on her boob. “
     
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  10. gatorjd95

    gatorjd95 GC Legend

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    There's the point you refuse to appreciate - no one is preventing or banning "other parents and children having choice." They can access anything they want. Parents, like me, don't attend classes with the children or go to their library where, if you and your compatriots control, our children will, or potentially will, be exposed to materials that we deem unfit and inappropriate. Thus, the choice has been taken away from us horrible moralistic parents. ; ) But, you're fine with that.

    We have a national ranking of movies/entertainment to assist parents in determining what may or may not be appropriate. Do you have a problem with that? Based upon your writings, I would guess you don't see a problem, because the parents and children have the choice to pay for/rent/download whatever film they want. No different with schools. If parents and children want to read any book (including Toni Morrison), they have the choice to do that also - regardless whether any book is available at the school library (note: school libraries don't stock every book ever written, so I guess the exclusion of any fan's favorite book is censorship, right?). On the flip side, school boards and teachers have become increasingly hostile to the luddite parents who didn't deign to obtain a Masters in Education and thus don't know what is best for the children. Thus, those racist/homophobe parents must simply accept that the school will present books and other materials that they would not otherwise choose to expose their children to. Yeah, freedom for me but not for thee.
     
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  11. gatorjd95

    gatorjd95 GC Legend

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    Not to mention the use of binary pronouns. Ban that book!!! ;)
     
  12. ursidman

    ursidman VIP Member

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    Bug Tussle NC
    I think he is an AI version of a human
     
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  13. tilly

    tilly Superhero Mod. Fast witted. Bulletproof posts. Moderator VIP Member

    Pretty sexist remark. Using a feminine name as a burn. I've heard my own daughters try that to their brother and told them that femininity should never be used as a criticism or "gotcha". I assumed progressives would agree.
     
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  14. gator_lawyer

    gator_lawyer VIP Member

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    No, they won't. You can restrict their access to the library. You can also deny them access to the library. You have full control, no matter how you try to evade that point. That means your support of banning books is fully to deny other people's children access to material you think is "inappropriate" based on your own "morality," regardless of what the other parents think.

    Yet again, you evade the point that the racist/homophobe parents can restrict their children's access. The rest of your points ignore that it is the librarians' job, under the supervision of their school and the district, to determine which books should be in the library, including on the basis of what's appropriate.
     
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  15. gatorjd95

    gatorjd95 GC Legend

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    Wow, I have the control to keep people out of libraries and to keep them offline. Who knew? Not to belabor the point, there is no BAN. Get your book somewhere other than a kids' library and you'll be just fine. If the books you think are so important and valuable and unavailable in a school library, why not buy them in bulk and open a store where you will no doubt make a huge profit providing the unheard of service of lending or selling books to anyone. No doubt the public libraries and Amazon will pay you a fortune for that novel idea.

    And, you actually evade the point that the parents don't get to restrict access, as you suggest, once the kiddies are dropped off at school. Kinda the whole debate issue, if you weren't aware of that yet.
     
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  16. Gatoragman

    Gatoragman GC Hall of Fame

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    You should be careful crossing the poster you are debating with. Quick to block those that don't agree with him. Haven't seen his posts in couple years. Based on response though I know who it is. Kinda weird though on a political debate forum if you don't agree just block!!
     
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  17. gator_lawyer

    gator_lawyer VIP Member

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    School libraries are the most convenient place for children to access books, particularly children who have very limited access to reading materials at home. Seeking to ban these kids from accessing books you don't like because stopping your kids from having access isn't enough for you is deplorable.

    Yes, they do. The fact that I've told you multiple times exactly how they can do that and you still don't get it is mind-blowing.

    I have a job, and I have zero desire to try and profit off of the government stripping people of their freedoms.
     
  18. gatorjd95

    gatorjd95 GC Legend

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    This is fun.

    Going by the MOST convenient standard, I concede you have a point that children have easy access to the limited selection of books available at school libraries (again, putting aside this "ban" debate, school libraries are generally small and typically focused on reference materials and the number of copies of any particular book is often one or two). But, fear not. Guess what else is close to most schools - public libraries. It is almost as if someone years ago had this brilliant idea to put public libraries near schools and the communities they serve. I have my own experience to know this is true, but anyone can google a county library system and confirm that libraries are generally located close to schools - thank you Andrew Carnegie.

    In regard to the second reply, I don't know what public (or even private) school you imagine, but even if you have a scheduled meeting with a teacher, department head, principal or other staff member, you are not welcome to sit in on classes or even be on campus without a guide (athletic and academic competitions being the exceptions). Whenever my wife and/or I visited our children's schools (both public and private), we were required to schedule the visit and certainly could not sit in on classes other than at designated times. That held true even for the private school when I was Chairman of the Board of Trustees - and I agree with that policy to be certain for a number of reasons. In any event, the only time a parent will potentially learn about what is being presented in the classroom will be after the fact. I'm curious to learn how to restrict/prevent something that occurs in the past.
     
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  19. duggers_dad

    duggers_dad GC Hall of Fame

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    I wonder how many of our Founding Fathers would have been elected, if they’d had TV back then, because they lacked a sense of timing and warmth ?

     
  20. UFLawyer

    UFLawyer GC Hall of Fame

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    out of curiosity…can you define the term banned for me. I don’t think you and I use that term the same.

    I had to look these facts up. An average school library holds about 13,000 books. Public libraries, on average, stock about 100,000 books. There has been about 130 million books printed since the printing press, to date… so a library holds .0001% of books if my math is correct. Are you arguing that Desantis has banned 129,987,000 books?

    Do you know you can buy almost any book on Amazon? Your book is 10 bucks over there. Anyone can buy it.

     
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