Florida, thanks to its Republican governor and legislature has been transformed from a democratic state to a fascist anocracy. Its public schools are being transformed into indoctrination centers, its colleges are losing faculty, its healthcare has seriously degraded, people can walk around with guns with no training, or license, and 40% of the book banning takes place in Florida. Meanwhile, nothing consequential is being done about climate change, and about 40% of the state is projected to become submerged by sea rise, home insurance is becoming frighteningly expensive or impossible to get. Here is what the Republicans are doing about book banning. It is straight out of the Nazis playbook.
American Library Association revealed that the number of book challenges in 2022 was nearly twice the then-record total from 2021 and by far the most since the ALA had begun keeping data 20 years ago. Credit: Flickr
In May 10, 1933, the German Student Union organized a nationwide day of book burning to incinerate all books deemed incompatible with Nazi ideology, including titles by Jewish, half-Jewish, communist, socialist, anarchist, liberal, pacifist and sexologist authors. This history has never been more relevant than during the current Banned Book Week, an annual event sponsored by dozens of organizations committed to the free access of information, from the American Library Association to the National Council of Teachers of English.
This is no ordinary Banned Book Week. In the past, Americans typically lamented scattered examples of small-town libraries and prudish school boards banning books like “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Those numbers now feel quaint. Between July 2022 and July 2023, according to a startling new report by PEN America, 3,362 instances of book banning took place in U.S. […]
Terri Quint
on Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 5:25 am
Living in Jacksonville, FL, I am appalled at what is going on in so many aspects of this state, but having been an English Speech teacher, nothing makes me angrier than book banning! They can’t even teach Shakespeare now!!! What is happening to counter this is a lot of groups forming book clubs with these wonderful, banned books that are part of American life! The majority of people in Florida are not nut cases, just the governor and the legislature, so a lot of work needs to be done to clean house in the legislature and elect an intelligent governor. Can you imagine—Matt Gaetz thinks he’s good quality for the governorship!!!!???? Terri Quint
Albus
on Sunday, October 8, 2023 at 8:22 am
There has never been a time in History when the book banners were the good guys.
Living in Jacksonville, FL, I am appalled at what is going on in so many aspects of this state, but having been an English Speech teacher, nothing makes me angrier than book banning! They can’t even teach Shakespeare now!!! What is happening to counter this is a lot of groups forming book clubs with these wonderful, banned books that are part of American life! The majority of people in Florida are not nut cases, just the governor and the legislature, so a lot of work needs to be done to clean house in the legislature and elect an intelligent governor. Can you imagine—Matt Gaetz thinks he’s good quality for the governorship!!!!???? Terri Quint
There has never been a time in History when the book banners were the good guys.