Complete headline: A Texas lawmaker is targeting 850 books that he says could make students feel uneasy
Christ on a cracker. Oh, I’m sorry-- did that make anyone feel uneasy?
God forbid students should feel uneasy about anything and especially in school! Why don’t we just do away with school and keep students at home in undecorated rooms with no access to TV or the internet. Because if they feel uneasy they might… well, might what???
A Texas state lawmaker is asking schools statewide to tell him whether they currently hold any of around 850 books on a list he’s compiled, explaining that he is targeting materials that “might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex.”
The inquiry by state Rep. Matt Krause, a Republican, quickly set off alarm among the books’ authors and the state teachers association. The unusual request, which was first reported by the Texas Tribune, also triggered confusion in school districts over how to comply with such a wide-ranging query.
Krause sent a letter on Monday to the Texas Education Agency and superintendents of school districts around the state, asking each official to confirm whether their schools possess any book on his list, along with a detailed accounting of where they are and how much money was spent on them.
The lawmaker did not explain what the next steps might be, but his request mentioned several recent pushes to remove books from libraries and classrooms if they center on issues from transgender identity to critical race theory. He gave the officials until Nov. 12 to reply.
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My bold.
This jerk makes me feel discomfort, anguish, and a whole boatload of psychological distress-- I say we banish him!
I’m a little uncomfortable that the article doesn’t mention anything about the consequences for giving him the appropriate response of go jump in a lake.
ETA: Which I REALLY hope everybody does.
ETA: ETA: I would also be okay with go fuck yourself.
Where on earth that doofus got some of those titles in that list baffles me. I get how anything involving sex, abortion, birth control, LGBQT+ anything, race, ethnicity, gender, genocide etc. is an instaban from that doofus’s perspective.
But what on earth could be his objection to, for example, Avoiding Bullies? Skills to Outsmart and Stop Them, I can’t fathom. Is Krause worried that bullies might feel discomfort or guilt about bullying people? Can’t have that, I guess?
There’s an alternate world out there where Mitt Romney is now a former president. In this world he is reviled by his own party now so it is only natural he would find common ground with someone increasingly despised within the other party. Bipartisanship!
I’d go with, “Dear ‘sir’: We currently have none of any of the books that have so disturbed your calm, but rest assured, we’re in the process of buying multiple copies of each.”
I think they all need to be rounded up and put on a shelf in a relatively secluded portion of the library with a big sign reading “Forbidden Books.” so as to discourage young impressionable minds from seeking them out.
When I was a kid in Catholic high school, there was such a thing as the “Index of Forbidden Books.” There were some of them in the school library, but not where any kids could get their hands on them. And instead of a Dewey Decimal number on the spine, they had an “X”! <shudder> The list was discontinued in 1966, the year I graduated.
I have a feeling the books on the Church’s list were boring old theological treatises and not any where near as interesting as the ones on Krause’s list.
Notably, the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal ran Trump’s compendium of lies without any remark or notice to the effect that it is, you know, a compendium of lies.
Don’t bother pointing out the hypocrisy in the situation. Hypocrisy is not something they feel the least bit of shame for-it is merely an effective weapon. It means no more to them than if you accused them of wearing belts.
Likewise, the Library of Congress had its Delta collection – that’s Δ, not d-e-l-t-a so items in the collection wouldn’t be accidentally alphabetized – that was likewise restricted until 1964. “Registered members” of the public – any bets representatives were automatically registered? – could view materials from the collection by requesting a specific title from the librarian, but there was no public list.
Have you had to implement vaccine checking at your place of work? How has it gone, any incidents?
Since COVID, I’ve tried to limit my trips to the grocery store, so usually once every two weeks, and every now and then to the hardware store. Since the mask mandate has ended here, there haven’t been confrontations, but while it was active, at least a quarter of the time I went, there was a heated argument between a maskless customer and the poor person at the door.
I doubt people are going to be any more rational about being asked to provide proof of vaccination.
Oh, I’m sorry-- did that make anyone feel uneasy?
