📖 Books saved! Hundreds of Spotsylvania Va. parents reverse Board ruling (Book burning nonsense)

[underpants]

After public backlash, Spotsylvania school board will NOT remove 'sexually explicit' books from libraries



https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/virginia/spotsylvania-school-board-reverses-decision-remove-sexually-explicit-books-libraries/65-7a77eb49-94e9-49c0-8fcd-12485ca0407d

SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. — The Spotsylvania County School Board voted Monday night to reverse its decision to remove "sexually explicit" books from school libraries after hours of public comment.

Two board members even advocated for burning the books, with one calling them "sickening."
Since the vote, the board's attorney said the decision was unconstitutional.
Hundreds have also publicly condemned the board, with a large group showing up at Monday night's meeting to do just that.

“I cannot believe that I’m standing here tonight at a school board meeting in America in 2021 and having to talk about school books being banned," one librarian said."This entire concept is so ridiculous.”

[North Shore Chicago]

1. More dangerous than being "ridiculous"

Quite Fahrenheit 451 of them.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Nazi Book Burning

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goebbels-burnings/

On May 10, 1933, university students in 34 university towns across Germany burned over 25,000 books. The works of Jewish authors like Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud went up in flames alongside blacklisted American authors such as Ernest Hemingway and Helen Keller, while students gave the Nazi salute. In Berlin 40,000 people gathered to hear German Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels give a speech in Berlin's Opera Square. He declared "the era of extreme Jewish intellectualism is now at an end. ... The future German man will not just be a man of books, but a man of character. It is to this end that we want to educate you. ... And thus you do well in this midnight hour to commit to the flames the evil spirit of the past." Radio stations broadcast the Berlin speeches, songs, and ceremonial incantations to countless German listeners. Widespread newspaper coverage called the "Action against the Un-German Spirit" a success. The Nazi war on "un-German" individual expression had begun.

Destroying Ideas
As early as two weeks before, American organizations like the American Jewish Congress knew of the planned book burnings and launched protests. With her books slated for the bonfires, Helen Keller confronted German students in an open letter: "History has taught you nothing if you think you can kill ideas. Tyrants have tried to do that often before, and the ideas have risen up in their might and destroyed them. You can burn my books and the books of the best minds in Europe, but the ideas in them have seeped through a million channels and will continue to quicken other minds." Similarly, novelist Sherwood Anderson, best-selling author Faith Baldwin, scriptwriter Erwin Cobb, and Nobel laureate Sinclair Lewis declared their solidarity with the banned writers and publicly protested the book burnings. Many writers called to mind the prophetic observation by 19th century German writer Heinrich Heine that "where one burns books, one will soon burn people."

[Kid Berwyn]

14. Tears just flew straight out of my eyes.

“History has taught you nothing if you think you can kill ideas. Tyrants have tried to do that often before, and the ideas have risen up in their might and destroyed them. You can burn my books and the books of the best minds in Europe, but the ideas in them have seeped through a million channels and will continue to quicken other minds.” — Helen Keller

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Those books will become the most popular

Everyone's curious now. Thanks MAGA-Nazis!

[Takket]

4. The Nazis are here but nice to see us clinging, even if precariously, to our ideals

[OldkySoul]

5. The knuckle

draggers are more afraid of a kid reading a book than a kid with a gun.

[liberalla]

9. + 1000

[llmart]

11. +1000

[babylonsister]

6. So happy to read this; sanity prevailed, I hope. nt

[hlthe2b]

7. IGNORANCE--thy name is MAGA (and most Republicans today)

We never learn. If anyone watches old tv (like the very old original western series, Death Valley Days or old movies), these lessons and the ignorance (and racism) associated have been depicted for many decades in ways that should embarrass ANYONE trying to bring this crap back today. And THOSE lessons date back a century before that.

It is Progress v Regression. And damn if the most vocal aren't regressionists.

[AverageOldGuy]

8. True story

I'm a retired Army officer, wife a retired high school English teacher. She was able to teach in various school systems as we moved around the US and the world.

In one place, the local book-banners grabbed headlines with their list of books to be banned. In English classes all over the county, teachers posted the list with instructions to the kids: UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ARE YOU TO READ ANY OF THESE BOOKS.

You know the rest.

[twodogsbarking]

10. Catholic church used to publish such a list, movies too.

Made choosing easier.

[The Jungle 1]

12. These book burners are supporting and encouraging fascism.

A lot of Americans fought fascist and we will do it again if you morons do not stand down.

[vlyons]

13. Yes, but what about the stash of Hustler magazines in the Dad's closet?

What teenager hasn't found where Dad hides his porno?

[Joinfortmill]

15. Thank God! I'll refrain from stating the obvious Nazi Germany analogy and instead say this:

My daughter was an avid reader when she was young. She wore a leg brace and was teased a lot. Books became her friends. I never stopped her from reading any book that was in my house or that she could get from the school or town library. Instead, I told she could read what she wanted, but if she had concerns or questions, she should come to me with her questions/concerns. Was I too liberal/free with my stance on her reading habits? Maybe. But today she is is a high school guidance counselor much loved by the students.

[LunaSea]

16. Good for you

We didn't have a lot of books around our house but as soon as I could read
my mom took me to the library, signed me up and turned me loose.
Best thing that ever happened to me.

Every book is a childrens book if the kid can read.

[Withywindle]

18. My parents used the library as a babysitter from time to time

Which is not a complaint! I loved it. Put a book in my hand and I would be quiet and content for hours. No restrictions. My dad had some Beat Generation lit and some sci-fi novels from the 60s and 70s, and I started reading that as well as works meant for younger audiences.

I have a love of reading to this day, and a BA in Creative Writing/Literature.

[TrogL]

17. I read everything in the Children's section so they gave me adult card

Nobody challenged what I was reading, just answered questions if they could.