It would be one thing if the publisher just stopped printing them. As pointed out in the article they were banned from eBay (a dubious honour achieved not even by Mein Kampf), and removed from libraries.
In terms of giving these to children - I'd argue that this is the parent's decision to make and that there are far worse things we are seem to be ok exposing children to, like advertising or social media.
It is weird how children apperently need protection from books but not from exploitation. For the richest nation in the world that is just a sad state of affairs right now.
Agree that it spreads FUD, but I mean it won't work as children can still trivially access banned books if they desire. The much greater threat to children's reading comes not from the particular books available in their school classroom, but from other factors: parental literacy and reading habits; literacy of child; number of books in household, literate culture of child's milieu.
> These are some children's books that contain illustrations that some people find offensive and the publisher (and sellers) are deciding they no longer want to be associated with and sell to children. There are internet forums where the images are available and people can view them without the police knocking your door down, and I'm sure these are available in 2nd hand bookshops.
"The Pico case is only part of a pattern of intense local battles erupting around the country as opposing forces arm themselves for what could become a destructive war over books in America’s schools and school libraries. The insurgents, whose ideological supply lines extend deep into the right wing and its quasi-religious satellites, are well organized; and the advocates of civil liberty in the nation’s schools are reading reports from the front with alarm. “The community of the book,” as Random House vice president Anthony Shulte calls it, is beginning to prepare for a long struggle whose outcome is by no means clear."
...
"Unfortunately for the nation’s authors, their publishers, and readers, the AAP report understates the magnitude of the movement to ban books. Ira Glasser, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), calls the proliferating challenges to books “an epidemic of future shock” among individuals who “have little more in common than insecurity and fear of a world they can no longer understand.” Judith Krug, director of the ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee, is alarmed that the number of reported incidents of attempted book censorship in school and public libraries ballooned immediately after the Nov. 4 election of Ronald Reagan, and has continued at a record rate along with the rising fortunes of the new right."
[p.s. I'ts even better than I thought. I missed the sidebar on the above 1981 page on Seuss:
I’m confused by your framing, how is banning book bans outsourcing the job of socializing children? What role do potential book bans have on children’s social development?
I’m also a bit curious why a child’s right to access certain literature can’t be specified in a “Bill of Rights”.
I'm disappointed in the low quality of your arguments here. They border on bad faith, but, in truth, are probably simply lazy.
I googled "new law prison time for school librarians banned books" and the following was the top result: "School librarians face prison time for distributing banned books" (actual title slightly different)
In keeping with the ethos and guidelines of Hacker News, please apply the principle of charity and do a bit of research before doing a low-effort takedown of someone you disagree with.
We certainly wouldn’t want to permit the trafficking of underage words! Seriously, this is an ugly, puritanical step back for a country that makes quite the show of free speech. If nothing else, censoring books should be a great big red flag for anyone wondering about the impact of FOSTA. Unless the book is a kidnapping manual, this is worrisome.
Do you mean banning books containing well-researched facts, which is commonly practiced in silence, or promoting fantastical fiction books about your political agenda by convincing kids that the evil censorship boogeyman is after them?
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