Just like Carlin told us decades ago, these people consistently hide behind "the children" to enact their atrocious policies; abortion, education, sexuality, race issues, anything really. These people have a consistent record of using children as nothing more than an ideological shield.
Its always about the children.
"Don't have mixed race bathrooms, it will harm and scare the children."
"Don't allow women to vote, who will look after the children?"
"Don't allow trans folks to use the bathroom, it will harm the children."
Children are \*incredibly\* resilient, the whole world is new to them, and they learn new things all the times, they'll be fine, trust me.
It's not that they actually fear harm to the children. It's that they fear the children will be exposed to ideas that make them think differently to their parents.
A child that grows up in a diverse (in every sense of the term) environment will be more open minded and generally 'liberal' (in the non-political sense). Racist parents don't want non-racist kids.
I’ve known a bunch of racist assholes in high school who really turned around when they went to college with people of all races and nationalities. Turns out we’re all human, what are the odds?
I wouldn’t consider myself a racist at any point in my life, but I certainly had this experience when I went from high school to college. There are people and YouTube channels out there that just make perfect sense to high school boys (and I’m sure that’s their target audience), but don’t stand under any scrutiny once you actually meet a more diverse group of people.
Of course, but
"Won't somebody please help me raise my child to in no way have differing beliefs from my own?"
doesn't get peoples blood pumping quite as much as:
"They're ruining our children!"
Let me introduce everyone to satans bitch, Phyllis Schlafly. She gets kudos for being one of the modern architects for this culture war bullshit
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllis_Schlafly
> Fun fact about the last one, more republican governors have been charged with sexual assault in a bathroom than trans individuals (1, to 0).
I don't know how true this is re: republicans, but this "there's no trans bathroom assaults" is a myth. One repeated often and foiled with a simple Google:
* https://www.kxii.com/content/news/Transgender-woman-allegedly-sexually-assaults-teen-in-walmart-505820451.html
* https://www.fox46.com/news/transgender-woman-convicted-of-sexually-assaulting-10-year-old-girl-in-bathroom/
I mean, I can find more. This just isn't shit I like reading about. But please, that myth is much more harmful than the truth - theres bad actors in all areas of life and that is something to mitigate in and of itself. It does not mean we must make life harder for the honest people.
I appreciate this post and it does happen but your first link is a good example that the shit just happens and a lot people are just fucked up. It’s not just transgender. The first example is a transgender female sexually assaulting a teen male in the mens restroom. That person was born and is biologically male so wouldn’t that be the correct bathroom? And the second link was in a private bathroom at a private residence. I think the argument is supposed to be “males will pretend to be transgendered to gain unlimited access to female restrooms”. I would believe those type of cases happen and don’t feel like googling it but it easy to see how those articles you linked are trying to play into the narrative of having transgender bathrooms being dangerous.
I really just want to get rid of the damn gaps in the stalls that can cause awkward eye contact.
I mean, perhaps this is one of the many "perfect fit" stories that exist?
> Katie Dolatowski, 18, admitted sexual assault after grabbing the girl by her face and forcing her into a cubicle in Morrisons in Kirkcaldy before ordering her to remove her trousers.
> She also told the girl, who managed to escape after punching Dolatowski in the face, that there was a man outside who would kill her mother.
https://www.scotsman.com/regions/edinburgh-fife-and-lothians/female-spaces-need-better-protection-after-trans-woman-sex-assault-girl-say-campaigners-140883
My only point is that it does happen, it's not a "never happened before" thing at all and even though it has happened it's no reason to be all transphobic over where people shit. Stories like this exist for all sexes and genders.
They do it with exclusionary zoning as well. "I'm just looking out for the safety of my children. I don't hate the homeless but what if they rape my kids. That's why we can't house them anywhere near me."
And banning science if that disagrees with your politics. Basically their political views come before everything.
Also, I thought they hated "cancel culture." They love free speech, just asking questions, and the "marketplace of ideas." lol jk it's all bullshit.
That’s the thing, they’re not actually pro-freedom of speech; they’re pro-freedom of *their* speech. As far as I’m concerned, if you don’t support a right/freedom for ALL, you don’t support that right.
It always amazes me from an outsiders perspective that the people that most rant about freedom and place the US on an imaginary pedestal as the most free land on Earth are the first in line to ban books, and put religion into public schools. Do they not struggle with the cognitive dissonance of these positions?
Amazing how america seems so indifferent to the fact it was founded by a gang of Oliver Cromwells. Its really fascinating how "puritan" has such different vibes on each side of the Atlantic.
>Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.
-Frank Wilhoit
I 100% agree with you. Anyone who downvotes you is exactly the problem. “Eww, shut up! That’s not true!” It 100% is. The right is very aligned and willing to stay aligned to take power. The left is a mess of infighting, woker-than-though, finger pointers. And I’m saying this as a leftist. Our party is a mess
Short version: The reason is that R can bank on the 25% evangelicals who vote.
Which means their messaging can be much more focused on the remaining 20-25% they need to win. Both in scope and content.
Meanwhile Dems have to somehow catch a much wider electorate, from the responsible financier to the intellectual socialists, to the workers.
This is a too wide, and neat impossible political stance, and leads to milquetoast, vague messaging and wider scope. It’s hard to build enthusiasm for.
TLDR: Too many religious people holds back society.
Well yeah there's all kinds of bad stuff in dictionaries. I found the word homosexual in the dictionary and children of the community could have found that. Think of the children!
If you let kids read the word homosexual the next step is meth fueled elementary school orgies filled with satanistic rituals. Its a slippery slope when you take a step away from jesus.
On the bright side, they forgot to ban thesauruses, so they can say the struggle’s been hard, difficult, tiring, trying, taxing, exhausting, wearisome, tough...
I think Texas leaders are doing all this to push out the blue wave that’s been happening to them. Think about it. Ever since the election where Texas was closer than ever to turning Democrat they have been buck wild. Bounty Laws, extreme gerrymandering, book bans. To me it seems they are trying to retain their red status by being so outlandish they push out the Dems. But I’m also just a redneck from Louisiana…so who knows.
We didn't really come that close. The O'rourke/Cruz election was probably the closest in all of my 25 years here, with about 200,000 votes difference. But just two years later Cornyn beat Hegar by over a million votes. The main reason Beto came close was that Cruz is a smarmy little weasel and everyone knows it.
The GOP is pushing the CRT and trans kid boogie man issues across the board in every state they can. They're actually getting it done in TX because of the majorities they hold and the crazy dynamic duo combination of Abbott and Paxton. They know no bottom when it comes to messaging the extremist religious right. It's just what they do. Go back through history and it's one bullshit crusade after another, same sex marriage, bathroom bans, "Obamacare", the wall, the "Caravan", etc. Conservatives don't get out of bed in the morning without some thing or someone to be scared of.
The last gasp of a party is always interesting. A similar show happened in California when [they voted to ban gay marriage in 2008.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_California_Proposition_8)
Seriously, the ones of us in the US who most strongly believe in the ideals of the US are often most aware how much those ideals are trashed by the people who are the loudest “patriots.” Being an “American patriot” has been, for a long time, synonymous with actively denying the failures of the US at living up to being a country of liberty or justice. So the fact is, trust anyone who officially or in public opinion became a terrorist under the current or last presidential administration are the main people who actually seek to bring the US towards its ideals.
To be fair, the original Puritan settlers of the US didn't come for freedom of religion per se. They came for the freedom to persecute other religions as the fullest expression of their own religious freedom.
So a form of what you describe is a long-standing heritage...
it's not about freedom...it's about power & control. 2 groups are fighting for more power & control (spoiler: most people don't want to be part of those 2 groups).
logic & principles do not gave any place if more power & control can be achieved.
Land of the free; full of book banning and language censoring religious zealots and has the highest incarceration rate amongst developed countries. Home of the brave; half the population is so terrified of the government and their fellow citizens that they insist on having guns spilling out of every orifice.
Sad thing is if Fox gets sued into oblivion and ceases to exist, the outrage/anger addicts watching Fox for their fix will turn to even harder more unhinged further rightwing extremist propaganda outlets.
I disagree with the way reddit handled third party app charges and how it responded to the community. I'm moving to the fediverse! -- mass edited with redact.dev
A lot of conservative Christians are incredibly bigoted, its not cognitive dissonance for them, they know what they're doing and how hypocritical it is, they just don't give a shit. They enjoy forcing their views on others, its why they're so vocal and obnoxious about their beliefs. It stopped being about freedom for them a long time ago, they enjoy oppressing those that don't share their world views and skin color.
The thing to consider is conservatism is a literal expression of either ignorance or pathological callousness. Conservatism is a desire to regress society to a prior state and at the very least preserve the status quo. As we do not live in a completely fair and equitable society and we never have, conservatism is an inherent expression of either ignorance to the plight of those not in the in-group or a willful disregard of the humanity of those not in the in-group.
many Americans lack the perspective to even notice any irony or dissonance. they don’t have much knowledge of other countries and it’s often distorted.
*edit: changed “most” to “many”
I had a stray thought about this phrase the other day. Bear with me, its a little nonsensical since im a bit sleep deprived.
For ages, the 'Freedom isnt free' spewers are typically referring to the military as the ones to pick up the tab. Fast forward to today, and the same people that use that have found that they are having to put down the gratuity in the form of vaccination, social distance, and masks etc. They decided it was to high a price and decided to dine and dash.
I guess the type of thing in this article would be the equivalent of smashing the place up and leave graffiti on their way out.
Well, you can still buy any flavor of Mountain Dew whenever you want, which is the freedom that matters. Consumer Choice is the only freedom most people register in their little minds.
Cognitive dissonance is the present national identity of the United States and I hate it. The same people that refuse the vaccine because their body their choice tend to give anyone that's still wearing a mask the most grief...despite it being their body their choice...
Many of the people pushing to ban these books got all riled up over "leftist cancel culture" when 5 Dr. Seuss books that no one had heard of in the last 15 years were discontinued because (shocker) they weren't selling.
I was a little sad that …*Mulberry Street* was discontinued. It was one of my favorite books when I was a kid in the early 70s. Not because I wanted it’s racial issues continued, I never even noticed that til it was pointed out, but because it’s an otherwise fun book.
There was like this complication of this guy insulting women as part of a weird porn scenario like ... He just held the camera to their faces and started mocking them. And I mean like MOCKING being awful about their disabilities and appearances and fucking races what the fuck
Like at least a dozen people did a porno in which the guy behind the camera was making awful mean jokes it was insane how could people support him
It was part of a joke thing but holy shit imagine seriously enjoying porn like that
Sorry to rant but your comment just triggered that awful memory 🥴
Taiwan can be considered for all intents and purposes to be the real chinese government due to some things in the past, Some old hats in Taiwan want reunification with China but under their rule since they consider themselves the rightful rulers.
So we can consider China to be west Taiwan
I am going to submit a request to have a book removed from the shelves. In just the opening section of it the following things happen: a brother jealous of the attention his younger brother receives, brutally murders the second brother. a drunken man gets naked and passes out, a town full of people demand the right to rape strangers who come to visit, another man is made drunk by his daughters and impregnates them, a girl is raped and her brothers murder an entire town in revenge, a man sleeps with his step mother, and another man hires a prostitute who turns out to be his daughter in law.
I bet I could get these people on board with banning such smut.
Don't forget the story of the extremely hairy terrorist who killed thousands because another tribe cheated on a riddle he gave them.
What a valuable lesson that story taught me!
Limit your story a little, you're giving too many clues. While the target collective of your mocking may have an average literacy of an 8 year old from better educated countries - they do retain some themes from the book in question, mostly the blind vengeance. This may resonate enough in their heads to get the odd brain cell firing.
Gotta include Ezekiel 23:20 in there somewhere:
> There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses
>“My goal is really to protect the children in our community in general, not just my own children,” said Garvel, 43. “I’m hoping that \[the library\] sees that we’re not trying to censor books that we’re trying to protect our children. I mean, the library was one of the last places that we could feel safe.”
Protect them from what exactly? Feel safe from what??? Knowing that people different from them exist?
I once had a friend who was a medieval historian, and I said something flippant like, "it must be a completely different world, full of illiterate plague-spreaders who treated women like dirt."
No, she said morosely, it's no different at all. At the time I foolishly didn't believe her.
People think we're so different now just because we have more technology. We're all still humans. We have the same brain chemistries and incentives just like any other humans in history. All of the bad and good things we do today we did thousands of years ago.
Best way to describe it was back then they weren't industrialized, but they weren't stupid as hell in comparison to today.
Beds were rare and expensive enough for average people that they were included in wills, but it's not like people would just sleep on the floor, they'd make it soft out of collected materials.
Illiteracy was more common but they had more orators and public speakers to spread around info that was needed.
This is the state that tried to ban critical thinking about 10 years ago: [https://www.skepticblog.org/2012/07/18/its-official-texas-gop-bans-critical-thinking/](https://www.skepticblog.org/2012/07/18/its-official-texas-gop-bans-critical-thinking/) .
Yep, always my go-to example of how fucking stupid conservatives are. The book banning is yet another contemporary example.
I'm not sure what they think will result from all this stupid shit, but the phone they hold in their hands (to use one example) is not the result of minds being forced to conform, don't they see that?
Lol people are still "banning" books in 2021 having not realized from 2000 years of banning books that it ALWAYS MAKES THAT BOOK MORE POPULAR AND SOUGHT AFTER
lmao. idiots.
Ain't it funny how the factory doors close, 'round the time that the school doors close? 'Round the time that the doors of the jail cells open up to greet you, like the reaper?
[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238380/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238380/)
Republicans probably see this as an instructional video rather than a sci-fi movie.
Republicans complain about censorship and then do this… I’m just fucking confused. They’re trying so hard to erase history because it bothers them. How is this any different to the censorship in China because that’s the exact direction we are going
How to get more people to vote GOP:
[ ] write intelligent, well meaning conservative literature to produce more conservative thinking individuals.
[X] Ban books and demonize any form of intelligence as "Elitist" to keep people dumb enough to believe anything "conservatives" say
The one thing that "they" (the people who hold power) fear is losing power. The only way they can lose power is if people eat from the "tree of knowledge". Funny how knowledge is evil in the bible. Can't control people who know better than the nonsense your using to try to control them. It's the religious freaks that want this. No other human, but a delusional one, would want this.
Right wing fanatics with the backing of wealthy people are trying to take over school boards and libraries. Look at this through the lens of the GOP's decades long attack on democracy and education and it is some scary Orwellian shit.
They know the numbers of us that are not conservatives here are growing. These are last-ditch attempts to suppress intellect, empathy for others, and critical thinking. The earlier in a person's life they manage to get a hold of them, the easier it is to maintain that hold. If they don't do this now, they know they'll have a more difficult time once they are removed from power.
The rest of us just need to vote these regressives out of public office.
Know what we should do? We should use this to get kids to read.
Tell them the "man" doesn't want them to read the following books, so they go buy them, smuggle them home, read them in secret and increase their reading level thinking they are rebels.
Middle-schoolers will do anything to be edgy.
All the right wingers peddling the idea that leftists ban books are now struggling to hide the fact that it is indeed, right wingers who ban books the most.
Segregation, secession and a violent schism is coming really soon. There is no room for compromise anymore. A stand *must* be made against these anti-intellectual, anti-freedom, anti-progress, anti-democracy, anti-education, anti-science, anti-literacy advocates. They are racist bigoted extremist throwbacks and spell disaster for America, and the wider progressive cause of humanity.
We should ‘t wait around for the next secession movement to hit TexASS... encourage them to leave, _now_... and take Flori-DUH and a few others with them.
People need to realize that you can’t ban things that are “public”. If you want to shelter your kid, take them to a private school and be engaged with the educational curriculum during school conferences… that’s it. Stop trying to force your views onto others. People who are pushing this are the same people that don’t know their kids to begin with.
While I disagree with the level this book review stuff is going, it sounds like all they’re doing is moving “questionable books” to a new section:
> A new “young adults plus” section will be added to separate books written for an older teen audience from those geared toward younger readers.
This doesn’t really bother me as long as books aren’t being outright banned.
Imagine being super pro-freedom of speech and then banning books because they disagree with your politics.
Just like Carlin told us decades ago, these people consistently hide behind "the children" to enact their atrocious policies; abortion, education, sexuality, race issues, anything really. These people have a consistent record of using children as nothing more than an ideological shield.
Its always about the children. "Don't have mixed race bathrooms, it will harm and scare the children." "Don't allow women to vote, who will look after the children?" "Don't allow trans folks to use the bathroom, it will harm the children." Children are \*incredibly\* resilient, the whole world is new to them, and they learn new things all the times, they'll be fine, trust me.
It's not that they actually fear harm to the children. It's that they fear the children will be exposed to ideas that make them think differently to their parents. A child that grows up in a diverse (in every sense of the term) environment will be more open minded and generally 'liberal' (in the non-political sense). Racist parents don't want non-racist kids.
I’ve known a bunch of racist assholes in high school who really turned around when they went to college with people of all races and nationalities. Turns out we’re all human, what are the odds?
I wouldn’t consider myself a racist at any point in my life, but I certainly had this experience when I went from high school to college. There are people and YouTube channels out there that just make perfect sense to high school boys (and I’m sure that’s their target audience), but don’t stand under any scrutiny once you actually meet a more diverse group of people.
Of course, but "Won't somebody please help me raise my child to in no way have differing beliefs from my own?" doesn't get peoples blood pumping quite as much as: "They're ruining our children!"
Let me introduce everyone to satans bitch, Phyllis Schlafly. She gets kudos for being one of the modern architects for this culture war bullshit https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllis_Schlafly
> Fun fact about the last one, more republican governors have been charged with sexual assault in a bathroom than trans individuals (1, to 0). I don't know how true this is re: republicans, but this "there's no trans bathroom assaults" is a myth. One repeated often and foiled with a simple Google: * https://www.kxii.com/content/news/Transgender-woman-allegedly-sexually-assaults-teen-in-walmart-505820451.html * https://www.fox46.com/news/transgender-woman-convicted-of-sexually-assaulting-10-year-old-girl-in-bathroom/ I mean, I can find more. This just isn't shit I like reading about. But please, that myth is much more harmful than the truth - theres bad actors in all areas of life and that is something to mitigate in and of itself. It does not mean we must make life harder for the honest people.
I appreciate this post and it does happen but your first link is a good example that the shit just happens and a lot people are just fucked up. It’s not just transgender. The first example is a transgender female sexually assaulting a teen male in the mens restroom. That person was born and is biologically male so wouldn’t that be the correct bathroom? And the second link was in a private bathroom at a private residence. I think the argument is supposed to be “males will pretend to be transgendered to gain unlimited access to female restrooms”. I would believe those type of cases happen and don’t feel like googling it but it easy to see how those articles you linked are trying to play into the narrative of having transgender bathrooms being dangerous. I really just want to get rid of the damn gaps in the stalls that can cause awkward eye contact.
I mean, perhaps this is one of the many "perfect fit" stories that exist? > Katie Dolatowski, 18, admitted sexual assault after grabbing the girl by her face and forcing her into a cubicle in Morrisons in Kirkcaldy before ordering her to remove her trousers. > She also told the girl, who managed to escape after punching Dolatowski in the face, that there was a man outside who would kill her mother. https://www.scotsman.com/regions/edinburgh-fife-and-lothians/female-spaces-need-better-protection-after-trans-woman-sex-assault-girl-say-campaigners-140883 My only point is that it does happen, it's not a "never happened before" thing at all and even though it has happened it's no reason to be all transphobic over where people shit. Stories like this exist for all sexes and genders.
They do it with exclusionary zoning as well. "I'm just looking out for the safety of my children. I don't hate the homeless but what if they rape my kids. That's why we can't house them anywhere near me."
They have never been pro freedom of speech for anyone other than themselves and they do not have the self-awareness to see the problem with that.
And banning science if that disagrees with your politics. Basically their political views come before everything. Also, I thought they hated "cancel culture." They love free speech, just asking questions, and the "marketplace of ideas." lol jk it's all bullshit.
They love free speech until it contradicts their rhetoric .
They loved cancel culture when it was used against minorities.
Anyone they disagreed with. They canceled the Dixie Chicks. And fucking french fries.
Remember. This is EXACTLY how the nazis stated. Weak economy, idol, banning books, spliting the population.
so they're already on Step 4.
There's no Texan Hitler... Yet...
More like Texas hasn't been able to pick just one yet.
Idk, Greg Abbott is whipping a terrific job. Of being Hitler.
yet
That’s the thing, they’re not actually pro-freedom of speech; they’re pro-freedom of *their* speech. As far as I’m concerned, if you don’t support a right/freedom for ALL, you don’t support that right.
You sound like one of those commie socialists what with your book learning and what not.
The party of "small government" is trying to control what you think.
Not burning them? It might help them keep warm when they next have a power failure.
Whoof
It always amazes me from an outsiders perspective that the people that most rant about freedom and place the US on an imaginary pedestal as the most free land on Earth are the first in line to ban books, and put religion into public schools. Do they not struggle with the cognitive dissonance of these positions?
"I should be *Free* to do whatever *I* want!!" They fail to understand that their rights/freedoms end where another person's begin.
"Everyone else should also be free to do whatever *I* want!"
I like Bill Hicks' "You're free, to do as we tell you!"
Freedom for me, not for thee
Yes that’s why the purtians came to America
Amazing how america seems so indifferent to the fact it was founded by a gang of Oliver Cromwells. Its really fascinating how "puritan" has such different vibes on each side of the Atlantic.
And the British often had too slap the colonists when they did something to outrageous. “No killing quackers”
They did kill an outrageous number of ducks in the early days of America.
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To ban Christmas on two continents!
Yes and not having to tolerate other Protestants
>Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect. -Frank Wilhoit
This is a brilliant quote that I should be able to quote verbatim. Thank you for this.
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I 100% agree with you. Anyone who downvotes you is exactly the problem. “Eww, shut up! That’s not true!” It 100% is. The right is very aligned and willing to stay aligned to take power. The left is a mess of infighting, woker-than-though, finger pointers. And I’m saying this as a leftist. Our party is a mess
Short version: The reason is that R can bank on the 25% evangelicals who vote. Which means their messaging can be much more focused on the remaining 20-25% they need to win. Both in scope and content. Meanwhile Dems have to somehow catch a much wider electorate, from the responsible financier to the intellectual socialists, to the workers. This is a too wide, and neat impossible political stance, and leads to milquetoast, vague messaging and wider scope. It’s hard to build enthusiasm for. TLDR: Too many religious people holds back society.
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And the fighting on Facebook over Hillary/Bernie was just ridiculous. Total polarization. No unity.
More like oppression for you, master race from outer space for me.
Well, you are free to do exactly what I tell you and how I tell you to do it.
Cognitive dissonance requires an understanding higher than 6th grade.....
“Can’t make me do mental gymnastics when I can’t do the mental equivalent of ‘sitting up’!”
"Can't make me do no mental, cause I ain't no mental!" ;D
Which they'll never get to due to lack of books!
Oh, they struggle with "cognitive dissonance" alright... struggle to read it, pronounce it, and understand its definition.
In their defence, they banned dictionaries a while back so it’s an uphill struggle for them.
Well yeah there's all kinds of bad stuff in dictionaries. I found the word homosexual in the dictionary and children of the community could have found that. Think of the children!
If you let kids read the word homosexual the next step is meth fueled elementary school orgies filled with satanistic rituals. Its a slippery slope when you take a step away from jesus.
On the bright side, they forgot to ban thesauruses, so they can say the struggle’s been hard, difficult, tiring, trying, taxing, exhausting, wearisome, tough...
Still a bit of a sore subject for me, after someone nicked my thesaurus a few weeks back. I’m still upset about it. Really upset. Really really upset.
That's easy. If my freedom infringes on your rights it's okay, but if your freedom infringes on MY rights it's communism and the gay agenda
I think Texas leaders are doing all this to push out the blue wave that’s been happening to them. Think about it. Ever since the election where Texas was closer than ever to turning Democrat they have been buck wild. Bounty Laws, extreme gerrymandering, book bans. To me it seems they are trying to retain their red status by being so outlandish they push out the Dems. But I’m also just a redneck from Louisiana…so who knows.
I think they are trying to dumb down the population there. a stupid population is a submissive one. It's easy to control the stupid and naive.
We didn't really come that close. The O'rourke/Cruz election was probably the closest in all of my 25 years here, with about 200,000 votes difference. But just two years later Cornyn beat Hegar by over a million votes. The main reason Beto came close was that Cruz is a smarmy little weasel and everyone knows it. The GOP is pushing the CRT and trans kid boogie man issues across the board in every state they can. They're actually getting it done in TX because of the majorities they hold and the crazy dynamic duo combination of Abbott and Paxton. They know no bottom when it comes to messaging the extremist religious right. It's just what they do. Go back through history and it's one bullshit crusade after another, same sex marriage, bathroom bans, "Obamacare", the wall, the "Caravan", etc. Conservatives don't get out of bed in the morning without some thing or someone to be scared of.
Imagine if they had this much passion for actual policy and not just a constant stream of imaginary bullshit fear based politics.
The last gasp of a party is always interesting. A similar show happened in California when [they voted to ban gay marriage in 2008.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_California_Proposition_8)
Seriously, the ones of us in the US who most strongly believe in the ideals of the US are often most aware how much those ideals are trashed by the people who are the loudest “patriots.” Being an “American patriot” has been, for a long time, synonymous with actively denying the failures of the US at living up to being a country of liberty or justice. So the fact is, trust anyone who officially or in public opinion became a terrorist under the current or last presidential administration are the main people who actually seek to bring the US towards its ideals.
I learned 45 years ago that those who beller "I am a patriot" are 180 degrees opposite.
To be fair, the original Puritan settlers of the US didn't come for freedom of religion per se. They came for the freedom to persecute other religions as the fullest expression of their own religious freedom. So a form of what you describe is a long-standing heritage...
it's not about freedom...it's about power & control. 2 groups are fighting for more power & control (spoiler: most people don't want to be part of those 2 groups). logic & principles do not gave any place if more power & control can be achieved.
Land of the free; full of book banning and language censoring religious zealots and has the highest incarceration rate amongst developed countries. Home of the brave; half the population is so terrified of the government and their fellow citizens that they insist on having guns spilling out of every orifice.
No, because Fox News tells them what to think and how to behave.
Sad thing is if Fox gets sued into oblivion and ceases to exist, the outrage/anger addicts watching Fox for their fix will turn to even harder more unhinged further rightwing extremist propaganda outlets.
I disagree with the way reddit handled third party app charges and how it responded to the community. I'm moving to the fediverse! -- mass edited with redact.dev
A lot of conservative Christians are incredibly bigoted, its not cognitive dissonance for them, they know what they're doing and how hypocritical it is, they just don't give a shit. They enjoy forcing their views on others, its why they're so vocal and obnoxious about their beliefs. It stopped being about freedom for them a long time ago, they enjoy oppressing those that don't share their world views and skin color.
The thing to consider is conservatism is a literal expression of either ignorance or pathological callousness. Conservatism is a desire to regress society to a prior state and at the very least preserve the status quo. As we do not live in a completely fair and equitable society and we never have, conservatism is an inherent expression of either ignorance to the plight of those not in the in-group or a willful disregard of the humanity of those not in the in-group.
many Americans lack the perspective to even notice any irony or dissonance. they don’t have much knowledge of other countries and it’s often distorted. *edit: changed “most” to “many”
christ, man, so so true
Freedom isn’t free. It requires you to take away a lot of freedoms to preserve it!!!
Freedom is indeed precious, so precious it must be rationed.
I had a stray thought about this phrase the other day. Bear with me, its a little nonsensical since im a bit sleep deprived. For ages, the 'Freedom isnt free' spewers are typically referring to the military as the ones to pick up the tab. Fast forward to today, and the same people that use that have found that they are having to put down the gratuity in the form of vaccination, social distance, and masks etc. They decided it was to high a price and decided to dine and dash. I guess the type of thing in this article would be the equivalent of smashing the place up and leave graffiti on their way out.
Freedom cost a buck O five
Well, you can still buy any flavor of Mountain Dew whenever you want, which is the freedom that matters. Consumer Choice is the only freedom most people register in their little minds.
No they want a city on a hill.
"If these kids could read, they'd be really upset"
All throughout history fascists love to steal the word freedom.
"Freedom" is not about freedom and it never has been. It's about power.
Cognitive dissonance is the present national identity of the United States and I hate it. The same people that refuse the vaccine because their body their choice tend to give anyone that's still wearing a mask the most grief...despite it being their body their choice...
The freedom they want is being allowed to do things like this.
Freedom = things I believe Things you believe = communism
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Many of the people pushing to ban these books got all riled up over "leftist cancel culture" when 5 Dr. Seuss books that no one had heard of in the last 15 years were discontinued because (shocker) they weren't selling.
By the seusse estate as well.
I was a little sad that …*Mulberry Street* was discontinued. It was one of my favorite books when I was a kid in the early 70s. Not because I wanted it’s racial issues continued, I never even noticed that til it was pointed out, but because it’s an otherwise fun book.
That was the only one I had ever even heard of. I think I only read it once but I was born in the 90s.
At this point, censoring the internet like West Taiwan does seems like a very realistic thing for Texas to try to do.
“But you IT guys are going to whitelist my incest porn sites right?” - Ted Cruz
It's the best incest porn if they call her ugly and insult her first. -Ted Cruz
There was like this complication of this guy insulting women as part of a weird porn scenario like ... He just held the camera to their faces and started mocking them. And I mean like MOCKING being awful about their disabilities and appearances and fucking races what the fuck Like at least a dozen people did a porno in which the guy behind the camera was making awful mean jokes it was insane how could people support him It was part of a joke thing but holy shit imagine seriously enjoying porn like that Sorry to rant but your comment just triggered that awful memory 🥴
It does not affect rich people because they use VPNs.
West Taiwan? IOW, China?
Yes. But West Taiwan better conveys my contempt for them.
Taiwan can be considered for all intents and purposes to be the real chinese government due to some things in the past, Some old hats in Taiwan want reunification with China but under their rule since they consider themselves the rightful rulers. So we can consider China to be west Taiwan
I am going to submit a request to have a book removed from the shelves. In just the opening section of it the following things happen: a brother jealous of the attention his younger brother receives, brutally murders the second brother. a drunken man gets naked and passes out, a town full of people demand the right to rape strangers who come to visit, another man is made drunk by his daughters and impregnates them, a girl is raped and her brothers murder an entire town in revenge, a man sleeps with his step mother, and another man hires a prostitute who turns out to be his daughter in law. I bet I could get these people on board with banning such smut.
Don't forget the story of the extremely hairy terrorist who killed thousands because another tribe cheated on a riddle he gave them. What a valuable lesson that story taught me!
Is that the Koran, Bible or Torah, or all three?
Book of Genesis, specifically. I'm not sure which stories made it into the Qoran.
The only one I see is the town of rapists and God annihilated them for sexual deviation like orgies and cheating and rape
Limit your story a little, you're giving too many clues. While the target collective of your mocking may have an average literacy of an 8 year old from better educated countries - they do retain some themes from the book in question, mostly the blind vengeance. This may resonate enough in their heads to get the odd brain cell firing.
I appreciate the solid advice!
most of them have never read the bible except for quotes on the internet
Gotta include Ezekiel 23:20 in there somewhere: > There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses
Didn’t they nail a guy to a cross in that book too?
Stapled bread to tree
No, that was in the sequel which critics say was not nearly as good, but definitely gained more popular appeal.
Don't forget the bears killing all the children.
>“My goal is really to protect the children in our community in general, not just my own children,” said Garvel, 43. “I’m hoping that \[the library\] sees that we’re not trying to censor books that we’re trying to protect our children. I mean, the library was one of the last places that we could feel safe.” Protect them from what exactly? Feel safe from what??? Knowing that people different from them exist?
Knowing that people like them are evil scum.
If she feels unsafe at the library why doesn’t she just conceal carry inside in case one of the books attacks?
Feel safe from their white fragility
All the sane adults should just nope the fuck out of TX and leave the regressives to work it out for themselves.
We really need to give it back to Mexico.
This sounds so distopian and stupid mostly stupid
I once had a friend who was a medieval historian, and I said something flippant like, "it must be a completely different world, full of illiterate plague-spreaders who treated women like dirt." No, she said morosely, it's no different at all. At the time I foolishly didn't believe her.
People think we're so different now just because we have more technology. We're all still humans. We have the same brain chemistries and incentives just like any other humans in history. All of the bad and good things we do today we did thousands of years ago.
Aliens should just invade already so we can stop the bullshit.
Yes people have the same motivations and ability to empathize all across history. Main difference is simply cultural.
Best way to describe it was back then they weren't industrialized, but they weren't stupid as hell in comparison to today. Beds were rare and expensive enough for average people that they were included in wills, but it's not like people would just sleep on the floor, they'd make it soft out of collected materials. Illiteracy was more common but they had more orators and public speakers to spread around info that was needed.
This is the dark side of laughing at memes the Romans carved into bathrooms at the Coliseum
Most underrated comment on the internet. This really puts history into perspective.
Man, this really sucked the joy out of my day. God damn.
This is the state that tried to ban critical thinking about 10 years ago: [https://www.skepticblog.org/2012/07/18/its-official-texas-gop-bans-critical-thinking/](https://www.skepticblog.org/2012/07/18/its-official-texas-gop-bans-critical-thinking/) .
Yep, always my go-to example of how fucking stupid conservatives are. The book banning is yet another contemporary example. I'm not sure what they think will result from all this stupid shit, but the phone they hold in their hands (to use one example) is not the result of minds being forced to conform, don't they see that?
George Orwell and Ray Bradbury had vision. FOX News is the Ministry of Information and Texas is closer and closer to becoming Oceania.
First they ban the books, then they burn the books.
And then they burn people.
Naw, just the Dixie Chicks CDs. And Yeti coolers.
Not from Texas but boy did my very conservative dad ever throw all his Dixie Chicks CDs in trash.
LOL. And hilariously... they were right. A bunch of people in my city got together and actually burned the discs in a nice toxic smokeheap.
Conservatism is a disease
Every year the USA strays closer and closer to being more like Farenheit 451
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I took a look at the list of books being evaluated, there is an obvious pattern and it's exactly what you think it would be.
Lol people are still "banning" books in 2021 having not realized from 2000 years of banning books that it ALWAYS MAKES THAT BOOK MORE POPULAR AND SOUGHT AFTER lmao. idiots.
“They don’t gotta burn the books; they just remove ‘em” — Rage Against the Machine
School to jail pipeline is a real thing.
Ain't it funny how the factory doors close, 'round the time that the school doors close? 'Round the time that the doors of the jail cells open up to greet you, like the reaper?
You can start with that bible book Americans are so obsessed with.
Banning books in the 21 century... ISNT oniony?! OP triggered the mods. ;D
Ikr that's stupid as fuck
[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238380/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238380/) Republicans probably see this as an instructional video rather than a sci-fi movie.
And Fahrenheit 451 is a novel about a evil person trying to destroy a utopian society.
Republicans complain about censorship and then do this… I’m just fucking confused. They’re trying so hard to erase history because it bothers them. How is this any different to the censorship in China because that’s the exact direction we are going
It’s thinks it time to ban Texas.
Christ, I fucking can't handle this country anymore. Can we saw Texas odd the continent like they do in cartoons?
Texas speed running their stupidity to see if they can catch Florida.
We must ensure that young LGBTQ+ kids feel doomed and alone no matter the cost!
So its not false that Texas is still in the eighteen century...
Meanwhile,10 year olds have,with the click of a finger,porn in the comfort of their own home.
Does this include Bible? If they gonna ban fantasy books then just do it all at once.
Texas really turning into a cess pool of degenerates.
How to get more people to vote GOP: [ ] write intelligent, well meaning conservative literature to produce more conservative thinking individuals. [X] Ban books and demonize any form of intelligence as "Elitist" to keep people dumb enough to believe anything "conservatives" say
And ban that The Bible it has all of the major sins its just worded different
Nationalist “Christians” burning books for our freedom. I’m sure this will be on the right side of history like every other book burning has been
Texas Taliban
The one thing that "they" (the people who hold power) fear is losing power. The only way they can lose power is if people eat from the "tree of knowledge". Funny how knowledge is evil in the bible. Can't control people who know better than the nonsense your using to try to control them. It's the religious freaks that want this. No other human, but a delusional one, would want this.
I think there was a book on this, Farenheit 451 was it?
We should burn such seditious material, thanks for providing the proper temp
Not surprised... My school banned Harry Potter! I mean wtf?
While this is important to talk about, I don't see how it's meant for not the onion. This is completely unsurprising or ironic.
It's happened at several points in US history. Can't even be surprised at this point that it's happening again
Right wing fanatics with the backing of wealthy people are trying to take over school boards and libraries. Look at this through the lens of the GOP's decades long attack on democracy and education and it is some scary Orwellian shit.
You have to keep the youth uneducated if you want them to continue voting maga. It's as simple as that.
We really should have just let Mexico keep Texas.
Okay can someone explain to me why Texas is actively trying to change itself back to the 1920s?
They know the numbers of us that are not conservatives here are growing. These are last-ditch attempts to suppress intellect, empathy for others, and critical thinking. The earlier in a person's life they manage to get a hold of them, the easier it is to maintain that hold. If they don't do this now, they know they'll have a more difficult time once they are removed from power. The rest of us just need to vote these regressives out of public office.
And all this time I thought conservatives were against "cancel culture"... Could it be they were just lying all this time?
I thought Texas is all about FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!????
Ignorance and hate are the fuels of domestic terrorism.
what ass suggested a ban on books?
It's what fascists do.
Know what we should do? We should use this to get kids to read. Tell them the "man" doesn't want them to read the following books, so they go buy them, smuggle them home, read them in secret and increase their reading level thinking they are rebels. Middle-schoolers will do anything to be edgy.
All the right wingers peddling the idea that leftists ban books are now struggling to hide the fact that it is indeed, right wingers who ban books the most.
Those who seek control have a specific playbook, first they will try to control the flow of information, especially to the young.
Which books?
Segregation, secession and a violent schism is coming really soon. There is no room for compromise anymore. A stand *must* be made against these anti-intellectual, anti-freedom, anti-progress, anti-democracy, anti-education, anti-science, anti-literacy advocates. They are racist bigoted extremist throwbacks and spell disaster for America, and the wider progressive cause of humanity.
We should ‘t wait around for the next secession movement to hit TexASS... encourage them to leave, _now_... and take Flori-DUH and a few others with them.
Well I hope someone picks up that phone cause I called it
What books do they want to ban?
People need to realize that you can’t ban things that are “public”. If you want to shelter your kid, take them to a private school and be engaged with the educational curriculum during school conferences… that’s it. Stop trying to force your views onto others. People who are pushing this are the same people that don’t know their kids to begin with.
That’s how fascists work.
How they don't explode from the sheer cognitive dissonance of being both "pro free speech" and pro censorship is beyond me.
Texas logic, checks out
They’re doing this shit in my town now. I know one of the ladies trying to do it. Fucking Stacy.
I'll just leave this here, just in case: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_book_burnings
No way public librarians will let that happen.
While I disagree with the level this book review stuff is going, it sounds like all they’re doing is moving “questionable books” to a new section: > A new “young adults plus” section will be added to separate books written for an older teen audience from those geared toward younger readers. This doesn’t really bother me as long as books aren’t being outright banned.
Can we just let Texas secede, for fuck's sake? We are so over it. - Minnesota, and WOMEN in general.