Threats

Last January I published some observations and statistics covering the rise in censorship and book bans in recent years.  At the time I figured I'd revisit the subject following sufficient passage of time.

According to the American Library Association 2023 delivered 4,240 books targeted for removal from libraries.  A new record high.  This is up from 2,571 titles in 2022.  It is likely these figures are understated as not every library, local school, college or university is scrutinized.

Nevertheless, now that last year's numbers are in, challenges targeting public libraries were up 92 percent in 2023 and challenges to school libraries were up 11 percent.  

The culture war has grown from a smoldering insurrection to all-out total war.

How do I know this?  The challenges are coming from well-funded and better organized groups with national reputations.  Well-funded and better organized groups with national reputations is nothing new.  The civil rights movement is evidence of that.  

However, in their quest for limiting your and my intellectual freedom and taking control away from local communities and school boards these groups have chosen to single-out individual librarians for harassment with threats of legal action, job loss or even arrest. 

I am mindful of similar attacks targeting local election officials and poll workers with threats of violence over the last four years.  All of these people are good and decent folks.  They are our friends and neighbors and live amongst us.  Violence is not right.

Has civil society lost its collective mind?

Five Finger Discount

At risk of appearing to be piling-on it would seem you cannot get enough of the ethical lapses from those Moms For Liberty mommas.

Keri Blair, former Tennessee school board member, and member of the book banning, Critical Race Theory conspiracy-mongering, COVID-denying and LGBTQ-hater organization - Moms For Liberty - was arrested on January 5th after allegedly shoplifting from Target on seven different occasions.  According to the Collierville Police Department Blair purportedly engaged in skip-scanning items at Target self-checkout stations seven different times between November 25 and December 20.

Collierville Police Department

The 43-year-old, self-described staunch conservative, was just over a year into her first term on the Collierville school board, resigned last Tuesday citing personal, family reasons.

Blair's departure follows Moms For Liberty-backed candidates being swept out of office late last year in Philadelphia's suburban Central Bucks and Pennridge school districts despite the group holding their annual conference in the Pennsylvania city.     

Listen-up moms, if you live in a glass house; don't throw stones.  And for the love of God and all that is holy, don't engage in retail theft.  Closed circuit security footage is admissible in court.

Sheesh...

Jihad On The Written Word

In case you missed this ongoing skirmish in the larger culture war there's plenty of folks working overtime to make sure they control what you and your children or grandchildren read. 

Beginning in July of 2021 PEN America began tracking public school book bans and has documented nearly 6,000 instances of banned books including 3,362 bans affecting 1,557 unique titles covering the 2022-23 school year.  This included 1,480 authors, illustrators and translators.

New Christmas Ornament for 2023

This represents an increase of 33% from the 2021-22 school year.  Having wrested the title from Texas, Florida now leads the nation in book bans.  

Drivers of these trends include vaguely-worded legislation, national advocacy groups pressuring local school boards with the threat of penalties, lawsuits and criminal prosecution escalating the book bans to record levels.

In the first nine months of 2023 the American Library Association reported more than 1,900 titles challenged, a 20% increase over the same period in 2022. 

Singled-out for particular attention are people of color or anything associated with the LGBTQ community.  When the final three months of 2023 are included the total will certainly rise.

Major findings:

• More than 40 percent of all book bans occurred in school districts in Florida.   Across 33 school districts, PEN America recorded 1,406 book bans cases in the sunshine state, followed by 652 bans in Texas, 333 bans in Missouri, 281 in Utah and 186 bans in Pennsylvania.

• Overwhelmingly, book bans target subject matter on race or racism or featuring characters of color as well as books with LGBTQ characters.  Banned books also include books on physical abuse, health and well-being and themes of grief and death. Notably, most instances impact young adult books, middle grades, chapter books, or picture books specifically written and selected for younger readers. 

• Punitive state laws, combined with pressure from vocal citizens and local and national organizations have created difficulties for local school districts forcing them to either restrict access to books or risk legal and financial penalties for educators and librarians.

In the face of this there is a small measure of poetic justice to be found between the pages of banned books.  Bridget Ziegler, book ban queen and Moms for Liberty member from Florida, and her husband Christian Ziegler, now former Florida Republican Party Chairman, have found themselves embroiled in the fallout from a police report of a consensual sexual threesome including sexual battery allegations against the deposed GOP chairman.

Sniff Sniff.  Do you smell what I smell?  I suspect it's a whiff of schadenfreude in the Florida air. 

A free people do not censor speech or ban books.