Recently, I was in Barnes & Noble here in town and spotted this table as soon as I entered the store. A display near the front.I stood in front of it for awhile, fighting back s wave of rage that our governor’s only agenda is banning books , discriminating against trans people, and all people of color. Abortion here is now banned at 6 weeks. So, basically, DeSantis is banning everyone except white men.
When my rage passed, I felt like doing a happy dance that B&N had put up this exhibit.
Now just take a look at the books on that table. I mean, Naked Lunch? The Handmaid’s Tale? Flowers in the Attic? Anne Frank? This is just a handful of the books this guy considers too dangerous for young mind, adult minds, anyone with a mind. They might give them, well, you know, ideas and insights into how we humans have inflicted horrible crimes on our fellow humans. It might, you know, inform people about history.
The saddest part is this guy is now a candidate for the presidency and has promised to govern the country the same way he has governed Florida so that all the states are as free as this one! Oh Yipee. What a wonderful event to look forward to! Florida was so free during Covid – no need to wear masks, guys, and not to worry about getting vaccinated, they’re just chipping everyone. He appointed a dermatologist as his Covid medical advisor, who had never worked in a public health crisis.
The dermo sounded as ill-informed and absurd as DeSantis. Both of them considered Fauci and the CDC policies a major problem. As a result, 87,141 people (at least) died of Covid in Florida during the pandemic.
On top of it, DeSantis refuses to answer questions from the press. Tht’s probably why he announced his candidacy on Twitter. He is considered not too likeable and completely lacking in social skills.
Uh-uh, Ronnie boy. Good work. If you’re elected, it really would be time to leave the state and the country.The U.S. would lose all semblance of democracy. Trump did a good job of fracturing democracy, but Ronnie boy would collapse it. And oh, your kids would be a lot more ignorant. But maybe that’s the goal, huh?
Did y’all see (I forgot) where a parent complained to remove the Bible from the schools in the area because of too much violence and sexual content. . Gotta love it.
I saw that and cracked up!!
I’m reading a book at the moment called ‘1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die’ and I’m trying to read them (the ones that I want to that is and can find a free or a cheap copy of, usually in the public domain) in chronological order.
The last one I read was ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ which I was surprised was banned in some parts when it came out, and of course you have WOKE people trying to ban today it because of the word “nigger” appearing in the book about as much as swear words are heard in the soundtrack of the QT movie ‘Pulp Fiction’.
I mean I get it from a modern-day PC thing about using the word today, but that book was written in the late 1800s, and if I read a book, I want to read the book that was written at the time it was published warts and all, not some PC watered down version of the book.
I think most of the 1001 books in this book would have been banned (or tried to be banned by their detractors) if you let the critics have their way.
The front cover of the book has a picture of the artwork from the book ‘American Psycho’ by Bret Easton Ellis, which was banned over here in Australia more or less with the proviso of being sold wrapped up and not for sale to minors … which to me is fair enough, as from what I hear it is a sick book which has influenced a number of sick people to commit horrible crimes.
It’s not one of the 1001 books I plan to read.
That said, I don’t believe in banning books altogether, but books like that one I do agree should be restricted to minors, like the Australian R rating (or X rating in America) for movies screened in cinemas restricts children seeing inappropriate movies … although that system seems rather useless when a child can turn on the TV and watch HBO and such nowadays.
I’m now listening to a free public domain reading of ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’, which the authorities of the time tried to ban and preach sermons against.
According to the book’s Wikipedia page –
“As Stevenson’s biographer Graham Balfour wrote in 1901, the book’s success was probably due rather to the “moral instincts of the public” than to any conscious perception of the merits of its art. It was read by those who never read fiction and quoted in pulpit sermons and in religious papers.
By 1901, it was estimated to have sold over 250,000 copies in the United States”
I’m surprised to see ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ on that table of banned books in that Florida bookshop, having some Jewish family history myself.
I thought Floridia had a rather large Jewish population, as far as minority populations go in that state?
I don’t think they would be happy about seeing that book on the table.
Ban history. Don’t let kids know about the holocaust. Or about slavery.
I wouldn’t have known about the sad history of the town of Cairo, Illinois, if I hadn’t have read the book ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ and then watched the 1974 musical of the same name where they sing about the town –
https://brizdazz.blogspot.com/2023/06/cairo-illinois-is-real-place.html
Ironically, the actor Paul Winfield who played Jim in that 1974 movie , was a Gay man.
DeSantis is just as big an ass as Trump. Banning books is the end of civilization. Just one of my favorites in this group is the Sherman Alexi one – every one should read that.
He’s a dangerous ass, Adele. & I agree about the banning of books.Haven’t read that one. Will check it out!