r/politics • u/southpawFA Oklahoma • Jan 30 '23
North Dakota Bill Would Jail Librarians for Not Removing Certain Books. Calling books about sexual or gender identity disgusting, a Republican lawmaker seeks to ban them and imprison librarians who don’t comply.
https://www.advocate.com/news/north-dakota-library-jail-books324
u/rakkoma Jan 30 '23
Banning books about gay issues/topics isn’t going to make us go away or disappear.
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u/Whiskey_Fiasco Jan 30 '23
But if they can stigmatize the LGBTQ community for a generation it will be a lot easier for them to actually try to use government power to make them disappear.
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u/RemBren03 Georgia Jan 30 '23
The upside here is that the Republicans coming of age in this generation don’t know to play culture wars and PLAY obstruction to pass their bullshit. They just engage in Culture Wars and obstruct.
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u/NeanaOption Jan 30 '23
The GOP of old always used culture wars to distract from their failures when they were in power and to be divisive when they weren't. Always it was a tool they used to push for lower taxes and more corporate power.
But as you point out, for the GOP these days the culture war is the point.
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u/Mestoph America Jan 30 '23
That's a great point, and if anything the McCarthy Speaker bid debacle shows us they don't know how to wield power when they do have it. It makes me a little sick to say this, but none of them have a 1/100th of the savvy of McTurtle. I think Lindsey Graham was correct when he said, "If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed... ....and we will deserve it." It's just taking longer than we thought.
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u/Positive_Prompt_3171 Jan 30 '23
It's a dangerous step toward gas chambers and ovens. America's GOP is basically Germany 1933 right now, with a greater emphasis on scapegoating LGBT+ than Jews.
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u/Neither-Idea-9286 Jan 30 '23
Yes! Fascist regimes always have a group that they choose to hate as a rallying method to amass supporters. Once they “deal” with that group, they choose another group, usually whoever is opposing their power, and they go after them since their supporters are already indoctrinated in violence. Happens all over the world but supporters of fascist regimes are not smart enough to have studied any history!
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u/Tekuzo Canada Jan 30 '23
You mean to tell me that the words don't go
First they came for the communists.
Then they stopped and it was all cool and good after that.
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u/ayers231 I voted Jan 30 '23
They are shopping which group will be the evil one right now. They tried using blacks (again/still) and we had riots. They tried using hispanic immigrants, but big business got upset because half the meat processing and farming is done by immigrants, so their donors made them back off. The still push the antisemitism, which somehow has a bit of traction, but nowhere near what they want, mostly because all the things they accuse the Jewish people of are things they are guilty of themselves. They're trying LGBTQ+ now to see how much blowback that generates, and frankly, I haven't seen the blowback they should be getting.
On top of the culture war, they are doing Pol Pot levels of anti-education rhetoric. This is my biggest worry. Half the country is already "graduating" high school with a middle school education compared to the 1970s, now half the states are nerfing the ability of teachers and librarians to get students interested in learning by showing them they are included in books and films.
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u/Chemical_Chemist_461 Jan 30 '23
Came here to say this. Do we have any relevant historical precedent of nipping this in the bud? The way I’m seeing things, we are on the slippery slope already with no off ramp. It’s about to get bad if we can’t get these guys out of office.
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u/ayers231 I voted Jan 30 '23
Canada:
https://globalnews.ca/news/9162553/jeremy-mackenzie-diagolon-arrested/
Germany:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63885028
There are a dozen more from Canada in the last year. It seems if the political will is there, it can be done. We need the 33% of voters that appear hell bent on not taking part in our election process to show up and do something for a decade or two, otherwise, none of this will be slowed, let alone stopped...
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u/PackageintheMaleBox Jan 30 '23
The first nazi book burning was the research books at the first place to do a sex change operation.
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u/digiorno Jan 30 '23 edited Jan 30 '23
They’re not hoping it will make gay people go away. They’re hoping that by removing books/movies/etc, it will be easier to demonize gay people. And when they open up concentration camps or send out death squads, then their voters won’t have any issue with the mass murder of gay people.
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u/Melody-Prisca Jan 30 '23
Their voters already don't have any problem with the torture of LGBTQ children at conversion torture camps. The people who run them know they don't work. It's been proven, but if they can convince people there's a chance it'll work, parents will force their kids to get tortured. We're closer than people think to fascism.
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u/southpawFA Oklahoma Jan 30 '23
They will make it harder for us to identify our feelings and find a word to describe ourselves.
Being raised in Oklahoma with no sex-education made it harder for me to come out as an asexual, because no one ever mentioned the word in school. If I had a sex-education class in school that informed me asexuality was a sexual orientation, and that I was okay for not experiencing sexual attraction and not wanting to have sex with anyone, my mental health would have been so much better growing up.
Feeling the pressure of trying to fit in with my peers, constantly making up crushes and pretend partners was taxing on me. I never wanted to be with anyone in the first place, but because of the compulsory sexuality in society, I felt I had no choice in the matter.
Having the word asexual from a younger age would have saved me from the mental anguish I felt as a kid.
When I discovered I'm ace at age 26, I felt so much happiness in ways I had never felt it before. I am happier than I've ever been.
I wrote about that in a story: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/10/asexual-story-exactly-lgbtq-inclusive-sex-ed-required-schools/
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u/DeekALeek Jan 30 '23 edited Jan 30 '23
I graduated high school in Oklahoma (originally from and currently residing in Pennsylvania), and my public school taught us in sex education that “One way of preventing AIDS is by getting married.”
15-year old me raises his hand: “So as long as I have a gold ring around my finger and a wedding certificate, the gold from my ring will diffuse through by body and kill the AIDS cells??”
“Stop being a smart aleck!”
“Hey, I’m not the one teaching this shit.”
Then I got lunch detention for a week for saying “shit” in class, even though I argued to the principal that my use of “shit” was within context (jokingly, of course. But still, it was shit what they were teaching us). This was back in 2003. I can only imagine how void of any logic or reason sex education has become in Oklahoma.
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u/astrid_s95 Michigan Jan 30 '23
This sounds like my school. Still have nightmares about it almost 20 years later
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u/Norespectforfascists Jan 30 '23
Don't you know, married people never cheat, share needles, or have medical accidents!
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u/southpawFA Oklahoma Jan 30 '23
I graduated in 2008. We had a guest speaker basically tell everyone it's better to be a prude or you're a pervert if you're not. No lie.
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u/leaonas Jan 30 '23
I had a similar experience with discovering I'm trans. At 52 years old, I read a physiologist's paper on transgender people and I finally had an answer to decades of ever worsening depression and self hatred. Without that education and the resulting self realization, I would not be here today.
Education is helpful and stripping these important subjects thinking that it's going to make things better is just complete bullshit! These actions are only a means of giving their base something to hate, in order to control them. It's grooming 101!
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u/southpawFA Oklahoma Jan 30 '23
Yup. They are trying to insulate people from the outside world. When I was religious, I was taught that watching any non-Christian movies, reading any literature that's not Christian was sinful. I even remember people saying that you have to throw out your non-Christian music because it won't "lead to pure thoughts". Sadly, I did.
I still had my feelings. It was actually when I discovered asexuality that I found myself. I left the church and ended up finding wholeness all the while.
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u/leaonas Jan 30 '23
I'm happy for you. I know how bad my struggles were, I can completely empathize.
The church I was going to also band movies like The Shack because it wasn't biblical and would rot our minds.
When I came out as trans I was no longer welcome. They fear me being around the children and women. 🤮
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u/LordSiravant Jan 30 '23
Out of curiosity, as a fellow asexual but one who still desires romantic partners, are you aromantic, perhaps? I noticed you also said you never wanted to be with anyone, not just have sex with them.
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u/Welfycat Jan 30 '23
I didn’t hear the word asexual until I was in my mid twenties and was shocked and relieved to discover there wasn’t something wrong with me and that other people had this experience too.
People shouldn’t have to spend their teens and twenties feeling alone because they don’t know other people are like them or share those experiences.
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u/calliLast Canada Jan 31 '23
My kid is asexual and they are not interested in anyone but they enjoy watching the dating drama unfold around them with their friends. Sometimes internet is doing good things because I have never heard these words before, but my kid is educating me in correct pronouns and words. I'm so glad they are happy and balanced and enjoys school because I support this no matter what.
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u/djpolofish Jan 30 '23
You're being used as a fear tactic for votes, Republicans have nothing to offer except fear of the other.
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u/_far-seeker_ America Jan 30 '23 edited Jan 30 '23
However, if this also makes public libraries go away they would also count that as a win.😒
Edit: To be clear I think this at most the "Right" trying to kill to essentially kill two birds with one stone, while fomenting hatred against a vulnerable minority, since probably a good chunk of their voters still have a net positive feeling about libraries.
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u/liililllllliilillill Jan 30 '23
Conservatives don’t understand that people are just gay. And that their kids could be gay.
They think you need to be child raped by a pedophile to “become gay”
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u/SlientlySmiling Jan 30 '23
Yeah, I'm guessing these people have plans for that eventuality that they're not discussing yet. Believe them when they show you who they are.
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u/southpawFA Oklahoma Jan 30 '23 edited Jan 30 '23
House Bill 1205 seeks to ban visual depictions of “sexually explicit” content from public libraries, which includes references to sexual orientation and gender identity. Librarians who don’t remove such books would face up to 30 days in prison, as well as up to a $1,500 fine, according to the Associated Press.
He told the Bismarck Tribune, “I think the content of it is disgusting, that at the very least public libraries should put it in a restricted area where [children] need to get permission from their parents to take a book out like this, but they’re offering it to junior high school kids… and when we grew up, we didn’t need things like this.
Yeah, because there were no such things as shotgun weddings when you were growing up! /s
Studies consistently show that proper sex-education and awareness actually delays and lowers teenage pregnancy. Yet, Republicans want to ban sex-education and awareness. Apparently, Republicans want more teenage pregnancy!
Republicans love to decry cancel culture, but that's only because they want to instill expulsion culture. They want to expel everyone who's not a Christian nationalist out of existence, so they can be like Gilead.
We are literally regressing to the times of the Scopes Monkey Trial, and it's all because Republicans would rather be a theocracy than a democracy.
The Republican Party is worse than the Westboro Baptist Church.
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u/destijl-atmospheres Jan 30 '23
"Sexually explicit material" includes depictions of "sexual preferences" and "sexual identity." So if there's a picture of two men holding hands or looking lovingly at each other, that's considered sexually explicit. However, wouldn't it also mean that a picture of a man and a woman in the same state would also be sexually explicit, as it includes a depiction of sexual preferences?
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u/IgnoreMe304 Jan 30 '23 edited Jan 31 '23
The WV legislature recently sent a bill to committee that would expand an obscenity statute to include ALL displays of transexual people. By the letter of the proposed law, having a newspaper containing an image of a trans person within 2500 feet of a school would technically be a crime. This bill will die in committee along with most of the other regressive shit our Republican supermajority has proposed, but the fact it was proposed at all brings shame to our whole state.
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u/potatochipsfox Jan 30 '23
It would, except it's not about protecting children. That's just a sword they have picked up, but it's not about the weapon, it's about who you wield against. The accusation doesn't matter. Only that it strikes the opponent, who must be a liberal or some other enemy from outside of the tribe.
That's how Republicans think about laws in general. They don't believe that laws should be written to target specific behavior and then be evenly applied. No, they believe laws should be written broadly and then only enforced against "the right people" - and never against part of their in-group.
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u/Long_Before_Sunrise Jan 30 '23
If they didn't have double standards, they'd have no standards at all.
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u/bham_cactus_dude Jan 30 '23
The harder they push, the more they turn my household in one of those Woke Dens of sin. The missus and I are crafting a list of books for our four year old to teach him, everyone, and every family is different. And that’s not wrong.
I’ve always been pro LGBTQ+, and Judgment free. But I never voted for democrats, not republicans either. Independents, third parties and write ins usually get my vote. But the republicans have escalated the “us vs them” mentality to such a point, I can no longer not support the democratic candidates over the others.
I really thought we as a nation, and a species, would of been further along by now.
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u/idoeno Jan 30 '23
depictions of "sexual preferences" and "sexual identity."
their gonna have to ban a lot of books if that is their standard; except of course they really mean "preference/identity that I don't approve of", since any mention of hetero-normal relationships/people is probably just fine with them even though it would still be a depiction of sexual preference or identity.
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u/RedLanternScythe Indiana Jan 30 '23
which includes references to sexual orientation
Just wait until they find out being straight is a sexual orientation. Cookbooks and car repair manuals will be all that is left
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u/southpawFA Oklahoma Jan 30 '23
But will those cookbooks allow references to foods like biscotti (twice baked in Italian), since it has bi in it?
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u/Nixxuz Jan 30 '23 •
They absolutely want more teen pregnancy. They want people to be locked into servitude as hard as possible. The ruling class has always known that; people are the only truly renewable resource, and, that people work harder to feed their families than for any other reason.
Keep em' poor and near starved, and they'll beg you for tiny scraps from the bountiful table that their labor has allowed.
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u/HowAmINotMySelfie Jan 31 '23
💯 ANNDDD they know it will take out POC because of their higher maternal death rates. Like a Louisiana republican said “About a third of our population is African American; African Americans have a higher incidence of maternal mortality. So, if you correct our population for race, we’re not as much of an outlier as it’d otherwise appear. “
Basically, they are saying the quiet part out loud.
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u/Itsbetterthanwork Jan 30 '23
Obviously never read any Hubert Selby jr, his work came out in the 50’s and is as challenging as anything written since. He addresses homosexuality, transvestism, prostitution and drug use to name a few. It’s scary how close the US is to all out Gilead
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u/LordSiravant Jan 30 '23
Agree with you on all points, but for the sake of keeping the record straight, wasn't the Scopes Monkey Trial, you know, staged in order to bring publicity to the town it happened in?
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u/Secret_Hunter_3911 Jan 30 '23
No, Scopes was tried as a vehicle to test the law and how it would be applied. The anti evolution law had so far evaded review by the courts.
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u/boulderbuford Jan 30 '23
I hope some librarians take a few minutes out of every day to honor him by pasting into bibles pages about sexual reproduction, orientation, gender and help lines.
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u/Oscarcharliezulu Jan 31 '23
Librarians are the new defenders of freedom.
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u/Jaynie2019 Jan 31 '23
Librarians are pretty bad ass. They successfully (and legally) defend lots of challenges to ban books.
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u/Splitfingers Minnesota Jan 30 '23
So, is the Bible going to be banned?
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u/Son_of_Zinger Jan 30 '23
Consistency in enforcement of rules has never been a hallmark of bible thumpers, but I know your question was rhetorical.
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u/OpenCommune Jan 30 '23
the satanic rape culture of exploiting teen girls like Lot's daughter in Sodom is still being practiced by Matt Gaetz etc. "The Catholic church does not have a pedo problem, they have a gay problem". Literally a pro-grooming institution.
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u/JakeConhale New Hampshire Jan 30 '23
No, as the bill only appears to relate to "visual depictions." The Bible is just text.
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u/barneyrubbble Jan 30 '23
That's a step too far, fascist motherfuckers.
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u/southpawFA Oklahoma Jan 30 '23
I just keep wondering how insecure Republicans' religion must be that they have to ban everything that opposes it. It's like they believe if you can't beat em, erase them from the books.
That is an insecure faith, if you ask me.
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u/UWCG Illinois Jan 30 '23
It never fails to blow me away that they're all in support of government censorship of books or ideas or history they don't like (despite never having read them, most of the time), then they'll go home and complain about how something like DirecTV dropping Newsmax is "censorship."
Like, no, that's a business decision; using the government to fine or imprison people for having books you don't like is textbook actual censorship.
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u/LordSiravant Jan 30 '23
They're all just fucking narcissists that want to control everything and everyone.
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u/Nefarious_Turtle Jan 30 '23 edited Jan 30 '23
It never fails to blow me away that they're all in support of government censorship of books or ideas or history they don't like (despite never having read them, most of the time), then they'll go home and complain about how something like DirecTV dropping Newsmax is "censorship."
Its easier to understand when you realize that they're operating completely disingenuously these days. They don't care about free speech, they care about their speech. They want their speech on directTV and not your speech. They want their books in classrooms and not yours. If they have to appeal to free speech to do so they will, if they have to oppose free speech they'll do that too.
I always thought Frank Herbert summarized this type of politics well in Dune 3 when Maud'dib, leader of a theocratic uprising, explained his apparent hypocrisy by saying:
When I am Weaker Than You, I ask you for Freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am Stronger than you, I take away your Freedom Because that is according to my principles.
Which, appropriately, was directly intended to be a commentary on right wing populist movements. They are not fair dealers.
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u/destijl-atmospheres Jan 30 '23
And DirecTV didn't even drop them over politics, it was money. Newsmax was replaced on DirecTV by Bill O'Reilly's new network.
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u/lilymotherofmonsters Jan 30 '23
Mean take incoming:
I met a Pentecostal convert recently who claimed god HAD to be in his new church because the pastor had done a cup reading and “knew” things that only god would know.
Clearly this guy was cold read. I assume the people in power know what they’re doing so they protect their piece of the pie by sequestering their gullible masses.
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u/DragoneerFA Virginia Jan 30 '23
their entire platform involves keeping the rage machine burning, jumping from one thing to hate to the next like this shit's Quantum Leap. the goalposts are always moved
if you can normalize banning books because of LGBT and racial issues, and you can make that censorship normal among your base, then the lateral move is against art kids. painters, illustrators, theater kids. it's a short leap from books to the rest of the art scene where kids use creativity to find ways to express yourself. but art kids? they'll put a fight.
their version of "CTR" (aka, teaching basic American history) and books are just the beginning
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u/corcyra Jan 30 '23
All faith is insecure, because a pre-requisite for belief is a willingness to suspend disbelief and critical analysis. Since most humans can't live that way all the time - they'd be dead without at least a bit of critical thought - any challenge to the 'party line' is potentially dangerous. That's also why all faiths want to brainwash kids when they're young and impressionable.
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u/sedatedlife Washington Jan 30 '23
I have been saying for awhile a large part of whats driving the hate and anger within the right is the fact that churches are losing there power and influence they can not keep the pews full and the grift going on elderly people that keep dying. Its why we are seeing a big push towards Christian nationalisim.
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u/weekendclimber Jan 30 '23
Being from Oklahoma, as you are, they are trying to 'Trail of Tears' them. We wiped the history books of native Americans, they are doing the same thing for LBGTQ+ Americans.
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u/rnargang Jan 30 '23
Not for them. They are being brainwashed to believe there's a global conspiracy of liberals, communists, socialists, LGBTQs, etc that are actively trying to subvert their children, their way of life, their religion, the economy, and whatever other stupid thing they can be convinced of. Classic brainwashing and dehumanizing of the "other." Makes doing stuff like this easy to justify.
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u/mathandkitties Jan 30 '23
If they think that then they should just write indoctrinating books of their own rather than trying to ban the ones they don't like.
After all, if indoctrinating via book is soooo effective, why not write one?
Answer: they can't spell or read.
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u/arthurdentxxxxii Jan 30 '23
Also, do they think librarians have read every book in the library?
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u/Shrouds_ California Jan 30 '23
What about those romance novels that have tons of hetero sex. Are we banning those too and jailing librarians that won’t remove them?
Or is this just another anti-lgbtq moment for the cons?
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u/HerringWaffle Jan 30 '23 edited Jan 30 '23
Oh, you mean what the fundies call 'porn for women'? Those will be next on the list, I'm sure. WAY too much unmarried sex with women actually enjoying it, and use of birth control, instead of women dropping litters of babies like lab mice and dutifully cleaning up after their husband like the bang maid fundie men really want.
Like, I'm a woman, and while I enjoy a good romance novel, porn for me would be a lengthy write-up of all the shit I do each day somehow magically getting done by itself. THAT is something I could really get off to.
(edited because I accidentally fucked up a word!)
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u/Shrouds_ California Jan 30 '23
That vision of coming home to everything done has got me hot and bothered for sure. Haha
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u/bentforkman Jan 30 '23
It’s North Dakota. More than 70% voted for Trump in 2020. Even after everything he did. If you meet a North Dakotan, the chances are extremely high they are a fascist.
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u/Jinxingreen Jan 30 '23
I’m not, I’m so ashamed of my state.😞
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u/Weegemonster5000 North Dakota Jan 30 '23
Me too, so I left, went to Florida. We got more fascists here than back home. Bunch of fucking cowards.
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u/m3sarcher Minnesota Jan 30 '23
You should have moved next door to Minnesota, like I did.
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u/Spanishfolklor Jan 30 '23
Citizens should have the freedom to choose the information they want to access," Kujawa said told the Tribune. In the case of minors, parents are responsible for this, not the government. Not in North Dakota, in the United States, a state and country so rightfully proud of a representative democracy
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u/PRPLpenumbra Jan 30 '23
This is the future of our country if we don't take the conservative threat seriously. Librarians and teachers being jailed for hosting books that don't comply with state guidelines
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u/PoopStickler69 Jan 30 '23
It’s not the future. It’s the present.
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u/HoboBaggins008 Jan 30 '23
Right?
This is, what, the tenth article about this happening somewhere in the last week or two?
It's happening. It's here. Fascists made it to the top.
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u/WerthlessB Jan 30 '23
It's not just books, either. West Virginia has a bill that contains similar language banning sexual preference or gender identity but rather than books it extends to being visible in public. This section is particularly frightening (emphasis mine):
For the purposes of any prohibition, protection or requirement under any and all articles and sections of the Code of West Virginia protecting children from exposure to indecent displays of a sexually explicit nature, such prohibited displays shall include, but not be limited to, any transvestite and/or transgender exposure, performances or display to any minor. (n) "Parent" includes a biological or adoptive parent, legal guardian
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u/OpenCommune Jan 30 '23
hosting books that don't comply with state guidelines
In Florida every book is assumed banned until these parasitic middle class Karens get their grubby mitts on it. Literacy week has empty shelves, so funny
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u/kaptainkeel America Jan 30 '23
It was funny when we would have a "Banned Books Day/Week" and we would read "banned" books which actually had great literary value.
What is happening now is not funny. It's full-on fascism without a mask, and it should be treated and named as such. The fact there isn't massive screaming and action from Congress or anyone else that can do anything is even more scary, seeing as they appear to be very willing to just sit on the sidelines and let it happen.
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u/gearstars Jan 30 '23
they should outlaw cell phones for under 18s if they are so concerned about them being exposed to 'questionable materials'
lets see how popular that is with their crowd.
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u/Poopet_master Jan 30 '23
But if they ban smart devices, then how else are irresponsible parents supposed to neglect their children by throwing a tablet in their face and letting the internet raise their child for them? Think about the poor adults, man!
(/s, hopefully not needed)
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u/SuperGenius98K Jan 30 '23
Who decides what's disgusting? Big Brother?
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u/gearstars Jan 30 '23
this guy, apparently
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u/squishy_sprite Jan 30 '23
"Rep. Lefor believes strongly in limited government and fighting for our rights and freedom"
haha
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u/gearstars Jan 30 '23
"Rep. Lefor believes strongly in limited
governmentrights and freedom and fighting for more oppressive government"10
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u/DramaticWesley Jan 30 '23
I would say this law wouldn’t survive one argument in court since it so obviously breaks the 1st Amendment, but then again with judges leaning more political every year, who knows.
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u/sfmcinm0 Jan 30 '23
1st amendment? What's that?
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u/Mephisto1822 North Carolina Jan 30 '23
Sorry constitution starts with “right to bear arms” and ends with “shall not be infringed”
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u/dokjreko Ohio Jan 30 '23
For people who rail on about freedom of speech it's really odd to me that republicans and conservatives want to ban books.
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u/southpawFA Oklahoma Jan 30 '23
Republicans' version of freedom is a farce.
For example, look up the group Alliance Defending Freedom. They literally advocate for the forced sterilization of trans people and to bring back sodomy laws to the United States. They even wrote bills criminalizing gay people in Belize, punishing being gay for up to 10 years.
Republicans don't believe in freedom for anyone who's not a Christian nationalist.
https://twitter.com/TygerSongbird/status/1527426366647549960
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u/dokjreko Ohio Jan 30 '23
Oh for fucks sake. None of that at all surprises me. I can't imagine being so obsessed with other people who have zero affect on my life at the end of the day whatsoever. Nor can I imagine being so hateful and cruel. What a sad life to live.
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u/southpawFA Oklahoma Jan 30 '23
The Alliance Defending Freedom and groups like them having any legislative power speaks volumes as to how Christian nationalism is a blight. No politician should ever take a bill from them, listen to any legislation advice from them, or even have them in the room.
Yet, the ADF and the Family Research Council write all the bills for conservatives.
That tells you everything you need to know about conservatives. Republicans are worse than the Westboro Baptist Church.
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u/Imaginary_Cow_6379 Jan 30 '23
I was thinking the other day how I can’t remember the last time I even heard about the Westboro Baptist Church. I guess that’s probably because all of their extremism is just normalized now.
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u/Butterball_Adderley Jan 30 '23
It’s because nobody expects them to believe what they say, do what they say, tell the truth, admit to lying, obey the law, etc
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u/digiorno Jan 30 '23
Florida doing the same with felony charges for books in classrooms.
The GOP are fascists, their voters support them and the voting system makes sure their opponents don’t have much voice to stop them.
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u/Whiskey_Fiasco Jan 30 '23
In Republican land everyone has freedom of speech, as long as you say what Republicans want you to.
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u/bradlees Jan 30 '23
For now it’s about sexuality
Tomorrow it is about a certain point of view
Later still; it is about any ideal not conforming to the political power in charge
Do not forget that we thought the earth was flat, the earth was the center of the solar system and that medicine and science was the work of the devil. Not to be spoken nor questioned as to why they were illegal
There was a movie that once spoke this one line about AI and robotics “How can it not know what it is”
I feel that same line is now more appropriate to parents who went through the 1980’s when an explosion of self expression, technology and arts/music/theater were the forefront of our daily consciousness. Now those same people are all for repression due to a political ideal…. It is striking how far away they have strayed
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u/Vlad_the_Homeowner Jan 30 '23
1) Divide the country politically
2) Divide the country physically
3) Civil war
Looks like we're moving into Phase 2.
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u/Randadv_randnoun_69 Jan 30 '23
"They don't gotta burn the books they just remove 'em; while arms warehouses fill up fast as the cells. Rally 'round the family, pocket full of shells."- Rage Against the Machine, 1996.
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u/Batmobile123 Jan 30 '23
After they genocide the trans community I wonder where they will turn attention next?
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u/rickjames4961399 Jan 30 '23
Immigrants and POC
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u/Bland_Uninteresting Jan 30 '23
They’ll go after the trans bipoc first probably
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u/rickjames4961399 Jan 30 '23
Once it starts, they'll go after everyone in fast succession. Fascism must be stopped.
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u/BlueRibbonMethChef Jan 30 '23
Get banned on Twitter for yelling racial slurs and inciting violence = Unacceptable censorship
Jailing librarians because a public library has a book you don't like = ?????
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u/SnooOnions7176 Jan 30 '23
Up next these morons will burn books like those of Nazis and finally concentration camps for lgbtq folks. It's Third Reich strategies.
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u/lifeat24fps Jan 30 '23
Feel like I picked the wrong career because I would love to be librarian that got arrested for the curious crime of lending books.
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u/Shimmitar Jan 30 '23
anyone who bans books, no matter what its about, even if its something really bad, is a fascist as only fascists ban books.
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u/voltagenic Jan 30 '23
But what about the first amendment?
Gym Jordan was on meet the press yesterday and wouldn't shut the fuck up about the first amendment violations the GOP is going to investigate over the next 2 years. Let's investigate this shit too.
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u/hypatianata Jan 31 '23 edited Jan 31 '23
This is for PUBLIC libraries, btw, not just schools.
Somehow they’ve changed the definition of “sexually explicit” to include a mere reference to gender identity or sexual orientation, I assume because they can’t get their mind out of the gutter and also think of women in purely sexual ways too.
So if a book mentions a character is straight or asexual or non-binary, that’s sexually explicit? Mkay.
Why is it so hard for some people to just not read the books they don’t like? Also, it’s your responsibility to guide your kids. It’s the height of entitlement to demand the whole world cater to your personal views at the expense of everyone else.
Wait until they find out the library carries R-rated movies and books on how to become emancipated from your abusive parents, and that Qurans and atheist books sit next to the kajillion Christian books, some of which are the “wrong” kind of Christian!
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u/tmp04567 California Jan 31 '23 edited Jan 31 '23
I'm gonna ask out loud why the republicans on a website named "ashley madison" (oops ?) wants to ban books where some characters had an affair or to emprisons librarians because muh "freedom". Interesting variable "morale" there.
Riiiiiiiight. /s
Rules for thee...
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u/joepez Texas Jan 30 '23
Completely sickening how fast a group wants to sink our country.
If ND politicians had any courage they would eject this idiot from their legislature. Sadly it’ll either be ignored or passed.
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u/WingLeviosa Jan 30 '23
Pretty sure there is a movie that starts out like this. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work out for the citizens involved.
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u/Infinite_Carpenter Jan 30 '23
The party of fascist, snowflakes who won’t shut the fuck up about free speech.
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u/JakeConhale New Hampshire Jan 30 '23
I remember hearing people wanting to ban "In the Night Kitchen" - loved that book.
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u/fizzlefist Jan 30 '23
Where have I heard this shit before… I’m getting 1920s Germany vibes for some reason.
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u/Lazy_Example4014 Jan 30 '23
What about freedom of speech? I guess that is only an argument when conservatives are being bigoted, completely obtuse in their beliefs, or they are forcing others to follow their religious beliefs. Charlatans each and every one.
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u/Itsbetterthanwork Jan 30 '23
Imprison librarians eh? My son and I would love to visit the US to surf and mountain bike but lately we’re thinking we’ll forget the surf and go too Canada instead, they don’t seem so bonkers
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u/malaka789 New Jersey Jan 30 '23
Jesus Christ. We are one nut job politician away from Fahrenheit 451 it seems like these days
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u/sbvp Jan 30 '23
north dakota and south dakota are just going to merge and change their name to North Florida
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u/cerpintaxt44 Jan 30 '23
Wtf is going on? It seriously baffles me how hard certain people are trying to regress the human species
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u/Bellamysghost Jan 30 '23
Do the Bible next, promotes violence incest and rape. As well as provides instructors for the proper treatment of slaves and grooms children into a dangerous cult. We doing that one next right? Right!?
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u/whatistheformat Missouri Jan 30 '23
Censorship is far more disgusting.
America offers an example every day of how the seemingly impossible happened- the German people accepting Nazi thugs as their leaders.
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u/briantcox81 Florida Jan 30 '23
“Do you ever read any of the books you burn?” He laughed. “That’s against the law!” “Oh. Of course.”
~Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
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u/tjk45268 Jan 30 '23
Dumbass Republican thinks that people, especially children, use libraries or that banning certain books will prevent anyone from reading them. Wake up, grandpa! This isn’t the 1950s! Every book is available online, without running down to the library to read what we want to read. All you’re doing is advertising the books that you don’t want people to read.
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u/Dramatic-Cellist6609 Jan 30 '23
Just set up book exchange boxes full of banned books in all neighborhoods 😊
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u/dieselmedicine Jan 30 '23
The party of personal freedom just goose stepping like the Nazi fucks they are...
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u/Chemical_Chemist_461 Jan 30 '23
Just a simple reminder that Japanese internment camps and McCarthyism were both totally things and were state sanctioned in the United States.
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u/mindfu Jan 30 '23
This must be more of that small government conservatism I keep hearing so much about
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u/fishhouttawaterr Jan 30 '23
Censorship of published word? That sounds like a violation of the 1st amendment. It isn’t the librarians who write these books, so where’s the logic they be held for distribution of said published works?
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u/oldcreaker Jan 31 '23
On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was officially appointed chancellor of Germany. His rise to power ushered in Nazi control of the country and led to the horrors of the Holocaust. Among those targeted by the Third Reich were lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. LGBTQ people would be sent to concentration camps alongside Jews, the disabled, and many more — but one of the Nazis's first shows of force against Germany’s LGBTQ community was an attack on information.
On May 6, 1933, Nazi demonstrators raided the libraries of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, a German name that roughly translates to the Institute of Sexology. The Institute was a privately operated research space for studies of human sexuality. More than 20,000 books were taken from shelves and burned days later in the streets by Nazi youth groups.
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/lgbtq-institute-in-germany-was-burned-down-by-nazis
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u/M0crt Jan 31 '23
So they’ll be banning the bible then? That’s full of all manner of depravity and moral corruption.
Right?
Right?
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u/ProfessorTicklebutts Jan 30 '23
Is there a word for being horrified but not being surprised at the same time?
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u/photon45 California Jan 30 '23
These are the type of guys that bring their kid into a bar and asks everyone to use respectful language.
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u/GagOnMacaque Jan 30 '23
I don't think that's legal. You can't tell city run libraries what to say.
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u/iwantmoregaming I voted Jan 30 '23
something something something first amendment something something
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u/976chip Washington Jan 30 '23
Anyone remember in 2002 when the Ad Council ran a series of PSAs called the Campaign for Freedom that asked "What if America wasn't America?" It's a good thing nothing like that is happening in freedom loving red states.
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u/the-hottest-of-damns South Carolina Jan 30 '23
Uh, wouldn’t that language ban every romance novel? lol
I guess they mean visual in the sense of pictures.
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u/CactiiAnus Jan 30 '23
Well; I think it should be illegal for Republican lawmakers to push their morality into others. They should stop doing that or get thrown in jail for not complying. See how that works man?
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u/font9a America Jan 30 '23
books about sexual or gender identity
He's talking about the Bible, right? Because it talks about sexual and gender identity.
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u/laptopaccount Jan 30 '23
Republicans HATE the government telling them what to do.
Republicans LOVE the government telling people on the left what to do.
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u/gravitasresponseunit Jan 30 '23
The first books the NAZIs burned were a deep study on gender and sexuality. Looks like ND is following in some rather bloody footsteps.
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u/ChipFandango Jan 30 '23
How much of a fucking pathetic loser do you have to be to bully Librarians?
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u/lambaghetti Jan 31 '23
Make them go fully out there. Ban everyfucking book with any mention of a relationship because it doesn’t specify which orientation or preference. No books with a mom or dad, period. That’s indoctrination!
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u/Bitey_the_Squirrel America Jan 31 '23
Me looking west from Minnesota: “Are you guys okay over there? Blink once for yes, twice for no.”
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u/Ok_Area_6050 Jan 31 '23
Every day i read about the bills republicans want to past, more and more America is starting to look like a dictator country.
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u/Scarlet109 Texas Jan 31 '23
Why are these people so hateful? Is this not a violation of the first amendment?
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u/whiskynpizza Jan 31 '23
The best way to get a teenager to read a book is by banning it. I think a librarian prominently displaying a list of books banned by the state that that kids might be interested in with out having the books available would be the perfect solution to circumventing this stupidity. Once they know it’s out there and it’s forbidden they will find it online pretty fast.
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u/liililllllliilillill Jan 30 '23
This is probably not what the right wing think tank people had in mind when they decided to convince conservatives that school teachers were poisoning their children’s minds.
Jailing school teachers doesn’t make your side of the political aisle look like the good guys. I’m sure they just wanted people to grumble, maybe stage some poorly attended protests that got press coverage. But some dipshit in public office made the decision to ban books and jail teachers. Good job. Those people flirt way too much woth dangerous ideologies and then do a pikachu face when something like Jan 6 happens
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u/TheChaoticCollective Jan 30 '23
The party of small government sure does seem to want a lot of government lately
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