George Orwell told us: 60 + books challenged in CB.

What’s this a photo of?

Or this:

Or this:

These are books in Florida schools, carefully chosen by teachers and librarians and in many cases paid for out of their own money, papered over so kids can’t read them. Or see them.

The fear of literacy is so great that Florida believes books pose far greater danger to kids than ignorance. And Florida has come to us. 

At the beginning of "1984," these words are presented as the official motto of the nation of Oceania:

War is Peace

Freedom is Slavery

Ignorance is Strength

— George Orwell, 1984

Thus spake “The Party”, to which Moms for Liberty owe their true stance on freedom.

Residents of Central Bucks, if you believed that the conflict over freedom in our schools didn’t matter much or would resolve itself, think again. As of today, more than 60 books in our libraries have been challenged, probably to be removed. Policy 109 gives such power to our admin and gives so little defense of any book, literally despite recognized literary merit, that they can ban anything they dislike.

And where are all these titles coming from? Likely “Moms For Liberty,” to whom liberty apparently means telling other families how to raise their kids.

Never lose sight of this: no family in CB ever needed to allow their child to read any book they disliked. Library books are chosen by kids. Parents have complete power to restrict any book from their own children.

This crackdown will determine what your kids can read, what books will be disappeared from library shelves.

And where do they appear to be getting the titles from? 

https://bookriot.com/moms-for-liberty-booklooks/

M4L have devised an “objective” ratings scale, according to which volunteers scour books for what they think are naughty parts, then they gather to vote on the ratings. (one finds a certain grim humor in the mental picture of a M4L, highlighter in hand, counting the number of times a book has the word “shit” in it).

The notion, the accusation, that there is “pornography” in our school libraries is absurd and ridiculous.  Have you met any librarians? They look like this:

 Or this:

They choose the books they do based on their knowledge of their students, their own reading (dozens and dozens of books per year), and professional reviews of new books. They care about kids. They have zero agenda other than to foster literacy and help kids flourish.

Pornography is in the minds of those who would ban books, not on the shelves of our libraries.

There is indeed some sexual content in books in our high schools. Many of our seniors are 18 years old when they graduate. Interest in sexual matters is a legitimate fact of being a young adult. We contend that kids have the right to read about matters relevant to their lives. 

Books are the safest place to find out about the world.

Who is more likely to recognize inappropriate sexual invitation: a kid who knows nothing or a kid who has read good books? Who is more likely to report such doings to a parent or other trusted adult?

We all want our kids safe from harm. We believe that good books help kids to be safe from harm and to process the harm that has occurred to them. 

So what will happen now? The books in question will be referred to committees, who will read them and discuss their appropriateness for their grade levels. All the teachers, librarians, and administrators will be paid for this work—more wasted taxpayer money. Then, whatever they committees recommend, someone (admin or school board) will probably rule against most of these books and they will be removed from the library.

This will put the fear into teachers, who have already removed books from their classroom libraries and will remove yet more, hoping to evade the Sauron-like eye of public scrutiny that thinks nothing of calling people out by name at school board meetings and accusing them of “grooming” for the sin of hanging up a quotation by Elie Wiesel.

M4L, hard at work.

Who would want to be a librarian in this district? Who would want to be a student in this district?

Note: 1984 will likely soon be banned. It’s one of the choices of core texts for grade 11 and it contains explicit nudity (Winston and Julia are naked when they’re arrested by the Thought Police), sexual situations (their affair and his paid sex with an elderly prostitute). And it’s required reading if teachers assign it. And when they ban it, which they pretty much have to, according to their own policy, won’t Orwell spin in his grave then.

Welcome to the future in CB.

Find a list of all the challenged books here.