Monday, May 22, 2023

They just can't wait to throw the book at'em...*

Another reason not to live in Oklahoma.
You know, along with the crushing emptiness.
Yeah, this again. Did you read about this? I'm only reading about this now and goddamn. What am I on about? This. You can click, but there might be a paywall, so I'll sum up. Half a dozen state legislatures (so far), specifically those controlled by Republicans, have passed laws in the past couple of months that hold librarians and teachers personally accountable for distributing obscene texts. Accountable as in massive, (like tens of thousands of dollars) fines and--get this--prison. Educators can go to jail for handing kids books that someone objects to. In Oklahoma, if can be for up to ten years. 

Alright so obviously, librarians and teachers shouldn't be distributing porn and the good news is, they don't. So what the actual is up with these laws and their draconian punishments? Right-wing politicians pandering to white-victimhood/MAGA hat crowd, that's what.
So we're still not doing anything about guns? Nothing at all. Just books? Ok...


The Republican Party: working tirelessly
to fill America's many dangerously
under-populated prisons.
I mean, has this or has this ever been a thing? Is there now, in American schools, an epidemic, nay, a porndemic? I mean, I'm sure someone, somewhere has done it, and I sincerely hope they lost their job, but this isn't about porn, or protecting children, this is more fascist horseshit from the people who bring you bathroom bills and abortion bans. The bills say things like obscene, or offensive material, and "community standards" but don't really tell you what that means because the people who write this nonsense in to law want it to mean whatever they want it to mean. 

"Educators should stick to the basics. Topics
like the Bible and how great Ronald Reagan was."
-Republicans
If they, whoever they are, personally object to sexual education in schools, then anything that refers to the idea that babies result from sex is out. If they don't like queer people, then books with queer themes are obscene. If they're uncomfortable with the fact that America has a horrifying history of enslavement whose repercussions reverberate down to this day, then books about slavery are obscene. And I say "if" before these things, but really it's exactly this. It's their way of trying to silence discussions about sex, queer issues, and racism.

Three things the political right--in order--can't handle, don't want to handle, and think were solved because we had a Black president that one time. And you know, I feel like I'm just running out of ways to articulate how infuriating I find the naked, flailing fascism of one half of our two-party system right now.  
Look! That librarian is inspiring a love of reading in children, get her!

*I think I owe you an apology for the title. Owe, but don't offer.

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