# Librarian rejects books donated by First Lady **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 28, 2017, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548 "2017-09-28T22:02:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/1 "2017-09-28T22:02:52Z")
Can’t even do something nice now-a-days… :rolleyes: Story here: [http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/librarian-explains-why-she-rejected-books-donated-by-melania-trump/ar-AAszTty?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp](http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/librarian-explains-why-she-rejected-books-donated-by-melania-trump/ar-AAszTty?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp) Dick Move, if you ask me. No fan of “those people”, but just shut the fuck up, take the books with a forced smile and send them across town the less stuck-up school. Pretty obvious political statement, and pretty shitty. I’d laugh if this special person wound up Night Manager at a Domino’s Pizza. I have a feeling where this is going to go, so why just start it there… ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/2 "2017-09-28T22:11:47Z")
From link: ““Why not go out of your way to gift books to underfunded and underprivileged communities that continue to be marginalized and maligned by policies put in place by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos?” she wrote.” I’m not sure how this school was chosen, or if Meliana Trump is just on a book donatin’ spree, but the quoted part seems like a good question to me. I don’t know- this sounds like one of those stories featuring a whole lot more than meets the eye. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/3 "2017-09-28T22:17:28Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > From link: > ““Why not go out of your way to gift books to underfunded and underprivileged communities that continue to be marginalized and maligned by policies put in place by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos?” she wrote.” > > I’m not sure how this school was chosen, or if Meliana Trump is just on a book donatin’ spree, but the quoted part seems like a good question to me. It does sound like a good question? But those same communities were presumably underfunded and underprivileged during the eight years Arne Duncan was the Secretary of Education. Ms. DeVos has been in office for less than 8 months; Mr. Duncan had eight years. Why do you think the question is “good” when it suggests that DeVos bears primary responsibility for this state of affairs? Is there any chance you just think it’s a good question because it slams Trump administration officials? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/4 "2017-09-28T22:17:33Z")
Already one in Cafe Society. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=837526](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=837526) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/5 "2017-09-28T22:17:39Z")
[Existing thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=837526). I’m pretty sure that she’s [Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With at a Party](https://www.google.com/search?q=girl+you+wish+you+hadn't+started+a+conversation+with+at+a+party). ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/6 "2017-09-28T22:19:44Z")
If it were a copy of _Mein Kampf,_ that would be one thing. But this is just straight-up ad hominem. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/7 "2017-09-28T22:20:31Z")
I’m a liberal who thinks that Donnie Boy is a font of all things awful, but even I think that ways to protest go this is pretty weak. I would be surprised if Melania any thought at all one way or the other into the schools or books chosen, and the fact that the protest included a complaint about the free Seuss books being “a bit of a cliché” shows that she was clearly reaching. Not all forms of liberal protest are great and not all liberals are on an even keel. (Yes, I know this will be taken as me saying that no forms of liberal protest are valid and that all liberals are deragned, but what can I say? Weak protest is weak.) ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/8 "2017-09-28T23:19:07Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > It does sound like a good question? > > … Yeah, why not? If the question is why the books didn’t go to the less priviledged, I think it is a good, valid question. > [@Bricker](#): > > … > Is there any chance you just think it’s a good question because it slams Trump administration officials? No, but believe me, I’ll slam those bastards any chance I can. I just wonder if this is a book tour, a one-time donation, or what have you. Why this school? Why not another? As I mentioned, I am fully prepared for there to be much more than meets the eye here. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/9 "2017-09-28T23:52:27Z")
Fake news. Melania actually sent Dr. Zlobec books. > [@](#): > > Getting fake tits and snagging a wealthy, serial adulterer is most important and wondrous opportunity of your young lives," Trump said in a letter to the children who will be receiving books. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/10 "2017-09-29T00:06:36Z")
What an extremely ignorant librarian. She brags about her education but I’m not impressed. Why didn’t she say thank you for the books and find a school that does not have a 9,000-book library and pass them on? Miss Manners could explain to her how rude it is to reject a gift. I don’t think anyone could explain to her that her dislike for the Trumps should not cause her to throw a gift in the face of the giver. I don’t like the Trumps either but right now I think this librarian came off worse. I’m glad the school had the good sense to say that she had no right to refuse a gift of books. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/11 "2017-09-29T00:22:09Z")
I’m usually down for any amount of anti-Trumpism, but I agree that this crosses a line. Melania is not Donald, has not shown any great enthusiasm for this administration’s policies, and was making a goodwill gesture with no political content. I could see a brief “Thanks, but as our school library already has copies of these books we will be donating them to a school district with greater need,” but anything more than that comes across as tacky and graceless, and feeds the Republican narrative that all liberals are humorless crusaders who go around arbitrarily declaring harmless things to be offensive. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/12 "2017-09-29T00:26:41Z")
Suess may have written some racist cartoons in his early career, but he spent the rest of his life writing books that were decidedly the opposite, teaching children the values of tolerance and environmentalism. Who the hell would have problems with “The Lorax” or “Horton Hears a Who”? The Grinch That Ruined the Library. (I loathe Trump with every fiber of my being, but WTF?) ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/13 "2017-09-29T00:27:11Z")
Eh, she probably did the right thing. The Trumps tried to use her for political purposes and she rightly rejected them. Plus the attention she got from her action probably resulted in more books being donated to more libraries than the Trumps would ever have given. Plus, if my understanding of Trump’s “donations” is correct, after the Trumps got praise for promising the books, they would never have actually sent them. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/14 "2017-09-29T00:35:16Z")
The librarian rejected The Cat in the Hat because Melania "selected one school per state by “working with the Department of Education to identify schools with programs that have achieved high standards of excellence, recognized by State and National awards and Blue Ribbon Awards…” She deliberately chose high performing and well funded libraries. It might have been better to seek out under funded schools. However, it was meant as a gesture and it was churkish to reject it in quite that way. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/15 "2017-09-29T00:42:33Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > However, it was meant as a gesture and it was churkish to reject it in quite that way. I think it’s duplicitous to accept a gift from someone you don’t like, especially if you know they’re giving the gift for their own benefit. If someone went to your house and slapped your kids, then offered you a token gift, just so that they could say later “obviously I’m a good person–look at this nice gift I gave raventhief.” You should probably reject the gift. If Trump actually cared about the books she should have given them anonymously. She only cared about the free press. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/16 "2017-09-29T00:47:28Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > I think it’s duplicitous to accept a gift from someone you don’t like, especially if you know they’re giving the gift for their own benefit. Maybe good advice for personal gifts. Not so good advice when you are representing an institution. Put you ego aside for a minute and do the right thing. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/17 "2017-09-29T00:50:54Z")
If you’ll read the article, the librarian had no authority to accept or reject said books. > [@](#): > > The Cambridge school system says the opinions in the editorial do not represent the district and released a statement, saying “the employee was not authorized to accept or reject donated books on behalf of the school or school district.” > > “We have counseled the employee on all relevant policies, including the policy against public resources being used for political purposes,” the district said. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/18 "2017-09-29T00:54:57Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Maybe good advice for personal gifts. Not so good advice when you are representing an institution. Put you ego aside for a minute and do the right thing. Fair point. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/19 "2017-09-29T00:58:53Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > I would be surprised if Melania any thought at all one way or the other into the schools or books chosen… I’m not even sure about that. According to the [_Washington Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2017/09/28/racist-propaganda-librarian-rejects-melania-trumps-gift-of-dr-seuss-books/) > [@](#): > > Melania Trump loved reading Dr. Seuss’s “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” with her son, Barron, when he was growing up. Granted, with this fucking administration you never can tell; some Trump PR flack may have made up the whole “Melania read Dr. Seuss to Barron” story out of whole cloth. But it’s not really that unbelievable–I have consistently heard that Melania Trump is actually involved in her son’s life and seems to genuinely care about him. So, anyway, pretentious douchette librarian, please get off of “my side”. This shit ain’t helping. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2017, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548/20 "2017-09-29T01:38:49Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > It does sound like a good question? > > But those same communities were presumably underfunded and underprivileged during the eight years Arne Duncan was the Secretary of Education. Ms. DeVos has been in office for less than 8 months; Mr. Duncan had eight years. Why do you think the question is “good” when it suggests that DeVos bears primary responsibility for this state of affairs? > > Is there any chance you just think it’s a good question because it slams Trump administration officials? Uh, no? It literally never entered my mind. It is a good question why they would give books to a school that doesn’t need it. A plaque, official recognition, sure. But then create a drive for books for people in need. It just makes sense. Why would you think that has to do with who is in office? Are you incapable of thinking about things without thinking about how the Democrats must be hypocrites? And perhaps you could stop asking leading questions? Are we being cross examined? Aren’t these things really annoying? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/librarian-rejects-books-donated-by-first-lady/797548.md?page=2)