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Monday, August 28th, 2023

Bad Takes: The Texas GOP’s book banning has nothing to do with protecting kids

Author:    
Source:     San Antonio Current
Publication Date:     Thu, Aug 24, 2023 at 1:39 pm
 Link: Bad Takes: The Texas GOP’s book banning has nothing to do with protecting kids
Stephan:  

Libraries have always been very important to me, and I think they are an important part in a civil democratic society. And they are under massive attack. As this article correctly describes, this is an attempt by the MAGAts, particularly in Red states, to control what people can know, and for the MAGAts to control that. Contact your local school board and tell them you do not want the library edited. You can even cite the Shakespeare deletion in Florida. This is North Korea stuff.

Unsatisfied with banning books from schools and prisons, the Texas Legislature and Gov. Greg Abbott in June passed House Bill 900, which will apply to any private bookstore that might sell to a school library. Credit: Shutterstock / Trong Nguyen

A year ago, a religious extremist stabbed Salman Rushdie multiple times at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. The attack occurred just as the world-renowned novelist took the stage to talk about how the United States represents a safe haven for exiled writers around the world. The wounds he suffered nearly killed him.

In May, during his first public appearance after an arduous recovery, he accepted the PEN America Centenary Courage Award. During his remarks, he didn’t hold back about the attack on free expression underway in a certain Southern state.

“The attack on books, the attack on teaching, the attack on libraries in — how could I put this? — Florida, has never been more dangerous, never been more important to fight,” Rushie warned.

We can only wish that what happens in Florida would stay in […]

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