103 Comments
May 8, 2023·edited May 8, 2023

I would love to simply call out DeSantis as an idiot chasing the vote of people who do not or refuse to know better. But of course it’s worse than that: HE does know better and has sold his soul to the lowest denominator for the votes and amplified ignorance as a badge of honor. Hope like crazy his skulduggery catches up with him and bites him all over. Until then, all believers in the power of books to educate, comfort and make aware need to vote and to show up at the crazy meetings where the book banners behave badly.

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"Jalani and the Lock" is "pornography" because it recognizes the role slavery played in the building of America? Guess anything you don't like is considered obscene or pornographic.

Brussels sprouts? Pornographic. Turtleneck sweaters? Pornographic. Waiting in line at checkout? You better believe that's pornographic.

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To see a great book like The Kite Runner on the list tells me everything I need to know about DeSantis. He’s dangerous.

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founding

This book banning brings these words to my mind: zealotry, fascism, danger.

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I wonder about the last time DeStupid visited one of his public beaches. Now, by his standards if banning books from the sight of children, every beach in the state would be closed. The nudity on the Florida beaches is far more explicit than any of these books on this list.

No, what DeStupid, and his minion legislative body are trying to do is turn Florida into an authoritarian state. One step away from full communism. Sad thing about this is the people in Florida are allowing it to happen. They seem to not care.

DeStupid is now touting that Florida is the “Blueprint for the United States”. People, I say to you right now. If we allow this character anywhere near the White House, this is exactly what he will be doing with the country.

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So, to be clear, books that show buttocks are NOT okay; but let's make sure that no one is ever prevented from having an assault rifle. EVER.

Our country is just so broken.

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How much of a disgusting perv do you have to be to look at any of those pictures and think "pornography"? Sure seems like the dangerous ones are the people who look at those and think they're sexual. Maybe Ron has a problem and he's telling on himself.

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The Grundys have been around my whole life, and though I am a retired librarian, I have never been able to understand these censors and what motivates them: meanness? control freak? fear? bad religion? over-weaning hang up with “innocence”? I was a curious toddler with intelligent parents who encouraged reading. I pity those who don't have such guides.

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Wow. This list of "banned" books is going to become the books most sought by high school kids. DeSantis, of course, has no idea that he has created in students a deep desire to find out what's so hot about these books. It comes back to bite you, Ronny!

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So people are mass murdered and they pass open carry laws, but the Queen's buttocks viewed from afar are banned in a book. The resident at Mar-A-Lago grabs women by the p*ssy, but they want to make him president again. Anti abortion laws are rampantly threatening the well being of Floridian women, but they can bus immigrants up north because they care so much about the born. Disney has brought fistfuls of money into the state over 50 years, but the Gov wants to bring Mickey down because "don't say gay." I could continue to paint the accurate picture of conservative Florida or the rest of Red GOP US, but you already know what it looks like.

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Didn’t see the Bible in there.

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As a former high school librarian and longtime lover of all things books and libraries, I feel devastated and angry that politicians think they have a right to decide what books are placed on the shelves of libraries, or what is "appropriate" for kids.

I believe DeSantis knows exactly what he's doing here, he's not as stupid as he sounds, but I'm not sure why he and other Republican politicians are focusing so hard on the fringe extremists of their conservative voting base, when they should really be focusing on becoming more moderate to appeal to young voters—a generation, which I am on the elder cusp of, that is largely tolerant of marginalized populations of all kinds, and more of us are part of those populations than any other generation.

They are increasingly socially liberal but dislike how pervasive our government as a whole is in every aspect of our lives. But Republicans like DeSantis would rather focus on blaming things like teachers, books, and drag queens for Gen Z's tolerance, queerness, and tendency to vote left, as though these are traits that are pathological.

I'd much rather DeSantis read over the CDC's Youth Risk Behavioral Survey for the years 2011-2021. In 2021, 22% of high school students seriously considered attempting suicide, and 42% of high school students felt so sad or hopeless for 2 weeks or more that they stopped doing their usual activities. He should talk to adolescents and young voters and actually ask them why.

Part of the reason is the hopelessness we feel for the future when politicians like DeSantis condemn human rights, or deny science and facts that which we know to be true.

It's cold of DeSantis, aware of kids' poor mental health, to knowingly pointing fingers at the wrong things—books and democrats—when he should really just be pointing at himself and the rest of the GOP. But the GOP is too proud and cowardly: they would never admit to being wrong, or democrats being right.

So mark my words, young people will vote as many out of office as we can, and they can point and kick and scream all they like or cry election fraud, but their downfall will have been caused by ignoring what young adults and kids have to say in favor of never admitting they were wrong.

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I'm 58 years old. When I was in elementary school (K-8), one of my friends brought Forever to school and read it out loud to us at the lunch table. A teacher came by and took it away! I don't remember if my friend got the book back, but I do remember going to the local bookstore not long afterwards, with my own money, to buy my own copy!

The number of parents who want their children to have less 'freedom' than they did is astounding to me. Between the parents who track their kids on Life 360 to being ';scared' of Big Cities to saying 'I am afraid of what you might learn that is the opposite of what I am telling you', it's sad for these kids, who have access to the Internet and will eventually figure out what is going on.

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May 8, 2023·edited May 8, 2023

All the books banned by De Santis and crew contain potentially weighty subject matter intended to engage the mind and stimulate reflection and introspection, not to mention empathy and passion for reading.

The books are for people not robots. So what is the end game for De Santis and his Hateful Crew?

(rhetorical question)

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Unfortunately, this is linked to the toxic politics of DeSantis and his quest to be king of the MAGAs. Why is there no mention of what is online or in the movies? Why only the books. Based on what I notice with my own grandchildren, they are online or watching the TV more than they are reading.

There are critical shortages of teachers across the Country in States that don’t have such “laws”. Where I live, teachers would be welcome.

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founding

Just read through everyone's comments.... Maybe it's time to question, just what is CIVILization. I think that when extreme rules govern nations, many people suffer, and ending the suffering is an extraordinarily difficult challenge (seemingly impossible). Examples: Wahhabism in the Middle East, Orthodox Judaism in Israel, the Roman Catholic Church--all of these distort people's inner moral compass in favor of obeying external doctrine and strict rules. Then, we have Stalin's Soviet Empire of totalitarianism via intense police terrorizing, and other offshoots such as the Xi Jinping total and arbitrary rule over one billion and a half human beings.

Our amazing nation emulated the cultures of Europe in its high degree of development in the arts and literature--but, reading has grown less popular, and digital art invites a new style of artistry. The totalitarian rulers seem to have very little appreciation of any of the arts or of literature. Artists recognize the truth of this lack.

What to do? First, describe and point out exactly what is going on to threaten and depreciate what has made our civilization so appealing to so many all over the world. Judd and his team are doing just this! Thank you!

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