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Libraries and schools have been adopting books that depict graphic sexual acts. These books are targeted at minors and parents are demanding their removal. Righ

Libraries and schools have been adopting books that depict graphic sexual acts. These books are targeted at minors and parents are demanding their removal. Rightly so

usr1106 3y ago
I saw graphic sexual acts in schoolbooks and children books at the age of ten 50 years ago. In Europe, not US. I doubt that it has impacted my mental health, my development or anything else. It's a fact that the US has more teenage pregnancies and more porn production than most European countries. It appears to me that the "Me too" problem is bigger in the US. So parents asking for removal of such books don't do anything good for their children or the society they grow up in.
- Minor49er 3y ago
  [dead]
- throwaway2990 3y ago
  I had books at school teaching sexual education but nothing like the explicit pornographic stuff they have now. Nothing teaching anal sex or male/male or female/female. Nothing trying teaching kids to hide things from their parents. Some of the books today are absolutely disgusting. The old books are tame.
  - Macha 3y ago
    Why is male/male and female/female in a sex ed book explicit but male/female is not?
    - throwaway2990 3y ago
      [flagged]
      - throwaway2990 3y ago
        [flagged]
    - Minor49er 3y ago
      You're asking about this, but not about sexual content being shown to grade school children or the fact that teachers are trying to hide it from the parents?
- mcpackieh 3y ago
  > I saw graphic sexual acts in schoolbooks and children books at the age of ten 50 years ago. In Europe, not US. How would you feel if American values were imposed on your European community? And how do you think Americans would feel if your European values were imposed on their community? These libraries and schools are funded at a local level, so it is locals who get a say in how that funding is used or the conditions under which it may be withdrawn. Incidentally, a public library is not necessarily publicly funded (a public library is a library that is open to the public, not necessarily funded by the public); they are free to seek private sources of funding and thereby free themselves from local democratic influence. You could organize Europeans and likeminded Americans to pool your money and fund these libraries against the wishes of the local community, but would that really be a good idea?
  - Kim_Bruning 3y ago
    I'd argue that freedom of speech and freedom of access to that speech is -in fact- a role that is essential to democracy. This is true on both sides of the Atlantic. If the opposing party(ies) have the power tell librarians to only show people materials in favor of their political position(s), then they can use that power to distort the truth and corrupt the vote, as happens in totalitarian countries. This is one reason why it's important for libraries to be able to give a person access to all the materials they want access to, and not to distort or censor that access.
    - mcpackieh 3y ago
      I think the meaning and implications of the ostensibly shared principle to which you appeal are not quite as universal as you suggest, but leaving that aside for the moment (unless you choose to press this point), as codified in US law it does not entitle libraries to receive funding from local governments. I agree that libraries should have the right by law to lend any book they please, and in fact they do have that right. But they aren't entitled to public funding; on the contrary, such an entitlement would strip the community of their right to democratically determine where their tax dollars are allocated. The simple fact of the matter is that nobody's legal rights are actually being violated when a local government votes to discontinue their funding of a local library because they don't like books. They aren't banning the possession, sale or distribution of these books, they're only taking away public funding for it, doing so with normal legal democratic means. If this is something you feel strongly about, you and others can organize to provide private funding for these libraries, and then there would be nothing locals could legally do to stop it. They could try passing laws banning the possession, distribution, etc of these books, but such a law would not stand up to legal scrutiny. The principle to which you appeal guarantees you the right to lend any book you like, but it doesn't entitle you to receive public money for it, against the wishes of the community from which that money is to come.

Libraries and schools have been adopting books that depict graphic sexual acts. These books are targeted at minors and parents are demanding their removal. Rightly so

usr1106 3y ago

I saw graphic sexual acts in schoolbooks and children books at the age of ten 50 years ago. In Europe, not US. I doubt that it has impacted my mental health, my development or anything else. It's a fact that the US has more teenage pregnancies and more porn production than most European countries. It appears to me that the "Me too" problem is bigger in the US. So parents asking for removal of such books don't do anything good for their children or the society they grow up in.

Minor49er 3y ago
[dead]
throwaway2990 3y ago
I had books at school teaching sexual education but nothing like the explicit pornographic stuff they have now. Nothing teaching anal sex or male/male or female/female. Nothing trying teaching kids to hide things from their parents. Some of the books today are absolutely disgusting. The old books are tame.
- Macha 3y ago
  Why is male/male and female/female in a sex ed book explicit but male/female is not?
  - throwaway2990 3y ago
    [flagged]
    - throwaway2990 3y ago
      [flagged]
  - Minor49er 3y ago
    You're asking about this, but not about sexual content being shown to grade school children or the fact that teachers are trying to hide it from the parents?
mcpackieh 3y ago
> I saw graphic sexual acts in schoolbooks and children books at the age of ten 50 years ago. In Europe, not US. How would you feel if American values were imposed on your European community? And how do you think Americans would feel if your European values were imposed on their community? These libraries and schools are funded at a local level, so it is locals who get a say in how that funding is used or the conditions under which it may be withdrawn. Incidentally, a public library is not necessarily publicly funded (a public library is a library that is open to the public, not necessarily funded by the public); they are free to seek private sources of funding and thereby free themselves from local democratic influence. You could organize Europeans and likeminded Americans to pool your money and fund these libraries against the wishes of the local community, but would that really be a good idea?
- Kim_Bruning 3y ago
  I'd argue that freedom of speech and freedom of access to that speech is -in fact- a role that is essential to democracy. This is true on both sides of the Atlantic. If the opposing party(ies) have the power tell librarians to only show people materials in favor of their political position(s), then they can use that power to distort the truth and corrupt the vote, as happens in totalitarian countries. This is one reason why it's important for libraries to be able to give a person access to all the materials they want access to, and not to distort or censor that access.
  - mcpackieh 3y ago
    I think the meaning and implications of the ostensibly shared principle to which you appeal are not quite as universal as you suggest, but leaving that aside for the moment (unless you choose to press this point), as codified in US law it does not entitle libraries to receive funding from local governments. I agree that libraries should have the right by law to lend any book they please, and in fact they do have that right. But they aren't entitled to public funding; on the contrary, such an entitlement would strip the community of their right to democratically determine where their tax dollars are allocated. The simple fact of the matter is that nobody's legal rights are actually being violated when a local government votes to discontinue their funding of a local library because they don't like books. They aren't banning the possession, sale or distribution of these books, they're only taking away public funding for it, doing so with normal legal democratic means. If this is something you feel strongly about, you and others can organize to provide private funding for these libraries, and then there would be nothing locals could legally do to stop it. They could try passing laws banning the possession, distribution, etc of these books, but such a law would not stand up to legal scrutiny. The principle to which you appeal guarantees you the right to lend any book you like, but it doesn't entitle you to receive public money for it, against the wishes of the community from which that money is to come.