Free-Speech Group: Right Wing Now Targeting Public Libraries, Books for Adults

[Nevilledog]

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Matthew Sheffield
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Aug 21, 2022
@mattsheffield
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Replying to @mattsheffield
In addition to using government officials to censor authors, a far-right Catholic group launched a "Hide the Pride" effort to check out all LGBT related books from libraries to prevent the public from accessing them.

tyt.com
Free-Speech Group: Right Wing Now Targeting Public Libraries, Books for Adults
Right-wing book censors are expanding from school libraries to public libraries and trying to ban even books meant for adults.

Matthew Sheffield
@mattsheffield
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According to @PENamerica, between July 1, 2021, and March 31 of this year, there were 1,586 books that were banned across the country. Of those titles, 197 were banned from public libraries. Many of them are titles for adults, not kids.
12:15 PM · Aug 21, 2022

https://tyt.com/stories/16AJOKzVziKkKMUmsIUqMY/0e98604340be93839


Emboldened by many successful efforts to censor books in schools, Christian-right activists are expanding their efforts to target public libraries, according to research by PEN America, an organization that promotes free expression and literary human rights.

The subject matter discussed in the books being banned typically includes sex, racism, or LGBTQ issues.

“I am quite convinced that this really did begin with school libraries and then kind of made a jump to public libraries, but there has been a contingent out there who's been attacking public libraries for a long time,” Jonathan Friedman, PEN America’s director of free expression and education programs, told TYT.

In a new analysis, PEN America found that censorship activists had managed to ban 1586 different books across the country between July 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022, including 197 titles that were banned from public libraries.

According to the report, 41% of book bans originated with government officials. The report calls that number “an unprecedented shift in PEN America’s long history of responding to book bans, from the more typical pattern in which demands for book removals are initiated by local community members.”

*snip*

[CrispyQ]

1. They're going to go after everything they disapprove of. -nt

[GuppyGal]

2. The more these crack pots make a stink about these books the more people will want to read them

[mopinko]

3. have they run out of stooges? they have to do it themselves?

jeeeebus.

[cbabe]

4. Catholic seal of approval

https://www.goodreads.com › list › show › 116181.Books_That_Carry_an_Imprimatur

Books That Carry an Imprimatur (8 books) - Goodreads

Imprimatur, (Latin: "let it be printed&quot , in the Roman Catholic church, a permission, required by contemporary canon law and granted by a bishop, for the publication of any work on Scripture or, in general, any writing containing something of peculiar significance to religion, theology, or morality