4 ms·

Without the banning method this is just click bait to sell books. Every book on a ban list is still easily available. It would be weird for something as expli

Without the banning method this is just click bait to sell books. Every book on a ban list is still easily available. It would be weird for something as explicit as a kama sutra book to be found in an elementary school library. It might be appropriate at a high school library. But any kid at any time can go to a public library or book store and find just such a book. The parents get to decide when sexually explicit material is appropriate for their children. Schools do the same by proxy. There is nothing wrong with this setup.

6510 10mo ago
1984
- tastyfreeze 10mo ago
  Not sure what your point is. 1984 is available at my middle school, high school and public libraries and every book store. Not available at elementary schools because it is generally above grade level.
  - beardyw 10mo ago
    I don't know what the poster's intention was but perhaps "Fahrenheit 451" would have made the point more clearly?
    - tastyfreeze 10mo ago
      Nobody is going around hunting for banned books in all formats and destroying them let alone a government agency for that purpose.
      - 6510 10mo ago
        True but the internet is scrubbed all the time and we will never know how many people know not to mention things.
  - 6510 10mo ago
    The purpose of the ministry of truth was to redact and rewrite history. Shape peoples thoughts, their vocabulary and show them how good they have it compared to their primitive ancestors. (Those naked bare foot people who build all those megalithic structures, castles and cathedrals) History should of course have a carefully engineered list of banned books. The work is never done, after removing the books with practical tutorials, blue prints and historical revisionism you always continue to have a candidate at the top of the list. The work that remains now are all fictional books that portray an uncomfortable reality. After those are all gone the new reality will again have a most terrible book. The work is never done.
UncleMeat 10mo ago
The most targeted book in america is Looking For Alaska. You and I have a very different understanding of what "sexually explicit material" means if you think that this book is erotica. Remember that the parents are deciding for other parents what appears in libraries.
- LexiMax 10mo ago
  Conversations like these are so immensely frustrating to have on Hacker News. This thread is full of people falling over themselves trying to convince you that a book ban isn't actually a book ban, and whatever it happens to be isn't that big of a deal. If the banning of books from libraries isn't a big deal - why is it being done in the first place? Is it just virtue signaling, or does it have a specific objective? If it has a specific objective, isn't that objective worth interrogating instead of brushing off as not a big deal because the book is still available through other means?
  - UncleMeat 10mo ago
    The objective is a foothold in culture war stuff, largely around LGBT people but about other things too. The ultimate goal is to re-establish a culture where gay people are unable to be out in public, especially in places where there are children. This means no gay teachers. No gay characters in media. Websites with LGBT content being treated as pornographic and requiring age verification. The narrative is "look at these liberals forcing sex on children." Parents go to school board meetings and read passages ripped from context as lurid eroticism to rile up their neighbors. If normies go along with this "think of the children" stuff then it becomes a foothold to the next steps. We've seen this trans people, where bigots have successfully converted "this is about girl's sports" into policies banning healthcare and safe bathroom use.
    - TheOtherHobbes 10mo ago
      At this point it's extremely clear - objectively, by counting criminal convictions - which demographic is a real danger to kids, not just sexually but in many other ways. And it's very much not the writers of books with LGBT content. I can understand why the real culprits might want to deflect attention from their moral failings onto others, and why pointing out the facts might make them very, very angry. But it's going to have to be done at some point.
ModernMech 10mo ago
"The parents get to decide when sexually explicit material is appropriate for their children." It's always strange to me when the concern is "sexually explicit material" and not "violently explicit material".

6510 10mo ago

1984

tastyfreeze 10mo ago
Not sure what your point is. 1984 is available at my middle school, high school and public libraries and every book store. Not available at elementary schools because it is generally above grade level.
- beardyw 10mo ago
  I don't know what the poster's intention was but perhaps "Fahrenheit 451" would have made the point more clearly?
  - tastyfreeze 10mo ago
    Nobody is going around hunting for banned books in all formats and destroying them let alone a government agency for that purpose.
    - 6510 10mo ago
      True but the internet is scrubbed all the time and we will never know how many people know not to mention things.
- 6510 10mo ago
  The purpose of the ministry of truth was to redact and rewrite history. Shape peoples thoughts, their vocabulary and show them how good they have it compared to their primitive ancestors. (Those naked bare foot people who build all those megalithic structures, castles and cathedrals) History should of course have a carefully engineered list of banned books. The work is never done, after removing the books with practical tutorials, blue prints and historical revisionism you always continue to have a candidate at the top of the list. The work that remains now are all fictional books that portray an uncomfortable reality. After those are all gone the new reality will again have a most terrible book. The work is never done.

UncleMeat 10mo ago

The most targeted book in america is Looking For Alaska. You and I have a very different understanding of what "sexually explicit material" means if you think that this book is erotica. Remember that the parents are deciding for other parents what appears in libraries.

LexiMax 10mo ago
Conversations like these are so immensely frustrating to have on Hacker News. This thread is full of people falling over themselves trying to convince you that a book ban isn't actually a book ban, and whatever it happens to be isn't that big of a deal. If the banning of books from libraries isn't a big deal - why is it being done in the first place? Is it just virtue signaling, or does it have a specific objective? If it has a specific objective, isn't that objective worth interrogating instead of brushing off as not a big deal because the book is still available through other means?
- UncleMeat 10mo ago
  The objective is a foothold in culture war stuff, largely around LGBT people but about other things too. The ultimate goal is to re-establish a culture where gay people are unable to be out in public, especially in places where there are children. This means no gay teachers. No gay characters in media. Websites with LGBT content being treated as pornographic and requiring age verification. The narrative is "look at these liberals forcing sex on children." Parents go to school board meetings and read passages ripped from context as lurid eroticism to rile up their neighbors. If normies go along with this "think of the children" stuff then it becomes a foothold to the next steps. We've seen this trans people, where bigots have successfully converted "this is about girl's sports" into policies banning healthcare and safe bathroom use.
  - TheOtherHobbes 10mo ago
    At this point it's extremely clear - objectively, by counting criminal convictions - which demographic is a real danger to kids, not just sexually but in many other ways. And it's very much not the writers of books with LGBT content. I can understand why the real culprits might want to deflect attention from their moral failings onto others, and why pointing out the facts might make them very, very angry. But it's going to have to be done at some point.

ModernMech 10mo ago

"The parents get to decide when sexually explicit material is appropriate for their children." It's always strange to me when the concern is "sexually explicit material" and not "violently explicit material".