>

Wow.  Unfathomable intelligence levels just seeping from your comments
I would like to not only have a list of approved books. But a list of books that do not meet approved standards. And they should have this list on a publicly accessible website. 
So everyone can "know" which books are so subversive. And have them listed by catagory and topic. And let the Streisand effect take place. >

😁 pretty sneaky. And it would work, too. >

I love libraries and book stores that have a banned book section. >

TEACHERS IN FLORIDA:
Washington state has a teacher shortage.
We have liberal areas and conservative areas.  We have urban areas and rural areas.  
We even have conservative urban areas and liberal rural areas.
Florida is a beautiful state, with dolphins and manatees.
Washington is also beautiful with orcas, rain forests, and skiing.
And most of the state is well above sea level.  I can see the Puget Sound from my window and have never been in a flood.
We have no state income tax. >

For the Florida teachers who don't wish to abandon their students or can't move for any reason:
OpenLibrary.org is a free, digital, public lending library completely online.  Now might be a good time to introduce your students to it.
You might not be able to give them books anymore, but that doesn't mean they can't get their own. >

Just wait until Ronny starts to demand ISPs in Florida begin to filter such websites. >

I think they'll find that forcing ISP's to block websites is much more difficult than bullying teachers. >

Okay. But is it harder than overseeing torture of innocent people in an offshore US military prison? >

Either I don't get your joke, or else your tinfoil hat is too tight again. >

Jesus. So he oversaw/prescribed torture for detainees in one place and then was sent to another to be in charge of making sure their human rights weren't violated? I already despised this sick shit and knew he was dangerous but that's just more proof.
Sad thing is is that there's a ton of Florida voters who would be happy to hear about his work at Guantanamo. I can just hear them now: "those terrorists deserve everything he gave them and then some!" Never mind that there are people being held there that have never actually been charged with a crime. >

Am I the only one picturing "Manatee Teachers"? >

Lmao. Me too for a half-second. Not knowing that is a place, and knowing Manatees are pretty intelligent mammals, I was like...'they have teachers? Is 'classroom' some related term to 'school' for aquatic mammals versus fish?.......[reads more] oh...that makes more sense.' >

Who's the hero putting up "Little Free Libraries" all over the Florida suburbs? >

Republicans: Remember kids be a free thinker and don't trust the government, but do what we say and always comply with the government because the government is your friend. >

I can't imagine being a parent, or a teacher in Florida right now, much less a student.  What a horrific environment to try to navigate with your kid(s). >

The party of "small government", yet they tell you what books you can or cannot read, what you can or cannot teach in school. They're telling you how to raise your own children. >

And they're telling you what's normal, and what's not.  As a government, they're telling kids who they have to be to fit in, and who must be shunned because they don't fit the rigid guidelines established by Republicans.
It sounds like a dystopian novel. >

Exactamundo. 
And they're always the ones crying about "indoctrination". >

They're trying desperately to reach the kids while they still have time because the younger voters are destroying them at the polls. And it's only gonna get worse for them. This is the repubs last ditch effort to save themselves from the inevitable future... >

I guarantee that the bible isn't on any of the banned lists in Flordystopia, regardless of all the "not age appropriate" crap that's in it.
Aside from their smooth brained base, do they really think anyone is buying the "for the children" bullsh*t? >

Florida teacher here. Several excerpts from the Bible are in my public school curriculum. >

Wtf. >

The Bible is a very important part of Western literature. It absolutely should be taught in public school. Nobody questions the appropriateness of learning Greek mythology and it hasn’t lead to an epidemic of Zeus worshipping. 
Knowing what the Bible says and being required to believe it are two completely different things. >


Knowing what the Bible says and being required to believe it are two completely different things.

Technically, sure.  But I'll bet you $5 that when the bible is covered in public schools in Florida it isn't described as "Christian Mythology" akin to "Greek Mythology." >

So are you saying that we shouldn't teach an important part of Western culture and literature because people might take it as public schools endorsing religion? >

Teach it along other texts for the sake of history, fine. But I doubt they are teaching along side the Koran or Torah…….which is precisely what my liberal as fuck school did when teaching the history of the Middle East. >

451°f >

I get the feeling, someone was bullied by the nerds as a child and is now waging a war on education >

Not really. They are doing what has always worked before. They are using apolitical children as political tools. Fabricating an existential threat to children in order to cause a fear based response of things that are different than what your comfortable with that can be easily defeated with the amount of power they currently already wield. Thus their strawman evil was stopped in its tracks and those innocent children will not be tainted by exposure to reality. Critical thinking being struck down is more or less the extra benefit on the side to them. But that's long term and not as important as reminding the people why they need you to protect them from "the other". >


"They can be charged with a third-degree felony,” said Patricia Barber, the president of the county’s teachers union.

I would absolutely love to see that challenged. >

Which person on a teacher’s income is ready to volunteer to spend a few hundred thousand dollars in legal bills and risk having a felony on their record (which means they will never work as a teacher and possibly any other job more lucrative than “gas station attendant” ever again)? >

A teacher near retirement with the backing of some first amendment rights group (if not the teachers union itself). Similar to how the NAACP selected Rosa Parks to sit in the front of a bus. >

This is just downright scary. Not to mention this guy (Desnatis) is going to run for president. >

Unless the Democrats can get their shit together, he’ll win. >

I agree, and it is very scary >

Democrats don’t realize they have become the conservatives. Not “conservative” as in right wing, but “conservative” as in defending the status quo, risk averse, and defending the interests of the current elites. 
Republicans are the populists looking to overthrow the old regime. The populists already overthrew the old Bush/McCain/Romney GOP without much of an effort. That their program is reactionary doesn’t mean they aren’t radicals. 
The problem for the Democrats is that the status quo is a sure loser, but given the choice between radical left wing change and radical right wing change, the American people will choose the latter every time. Both going center and going left are losing propositions, but for completely different reasons. 
We romanticize Revolution because of 1776, but not all revolutions are progressive or good. Sometime the people just want to watch the world burn. >

Since the parents can come in the classroom just to look at the books for their approval - let them teach their kids home. Fuck all this censorship. Keep tying the hands of our teachers and we won’t have any left. >

I mean, that’s the end goal for the assholes making these laws. >

Close the public schools and make the only choice private schools where they can force their white supremacy views >

Florida's kids are going to be the most out of work, imprisoned welfare dependent generation in history.  They are going to be to stupid to work anywhere but the church as all they will know is warped religious history. >

Going to be?  Have you ever been to Florida??  They have been intellectually starving their kids for generations now and this is not a surprising consequence. >

I've often thought of Florida as my Plan B if I need to find another place to live with my fourth grader. DeSantis is for sure giving me reason to reconsider. >

The entire state is going to be underwater in a few decades and gets hurricanes? What's plan A?! >

Is there a contest going on for who can be the most shit hole state in the country or something? >

I think I preferred it when the school motto wasn’t ‘knowledge is dangerous’ >

“A parent has a right to search and know what books are in their child’s classroom,” 
Therefore- cover them up!  Problem solved /s >

If the parent is such a Karen that they need to know the names of every book in the school library then they really ought to be homeschooling their kids. They can't keep their kids as sheltered as they want and send them to a public school >

But then they won’t have control over other people too. >

That is a big part of the appeal, isn't it. >

Words and pictures = Woke propaganda >

Someone needs to make a case for the first amendment and sue the florida government >

They will, but until that happens in a few months/years its the law and regular people will be crushed by the fascists while they wait for legitimate courts to hear the cases. >

The goal is to destroy public schools. They’re getting you all fired up about the implementation details so you overlook the ultimate goal. >

How do we make this comment louder? >

Is “The Christians guide to slaughtering non-believers” still allowed? >

Most people aren't going to go through the hassle of combing the library of books they own and provide free of charge to students/districts. They're just going to stop providing any books. Enter the companies that can now sell the needed approved books to districts. >

GOP or the Party of short sighted knee-jerk identity politics.
Red states seem to be actively working to reduce the average IQ of their populations, it wont be long before they have multiple generations who's problem solving abilities rival that of a smooth rock and who knows what will happen when one of them is put in charge of something critical... >

Perfect! The rapturing is what they've always wanted. >

This is some scary shit. >

Did you bother to ya know, maybe click the link and read? >

When my son went into 7th grade we went to back to school night and his English teacher, a very energetic young woman in her 2nd year teaching took questions. There were some about what they'd read, and she carefully navigated that topic. Afterward I went up to her and said 'All of the books you mentioned were banned books, is that a coincidence?' She gave a little smile and said, yeah, that's the district-wide standard. The majority of books they'll read until grade 12 are or were on someone banned book list. I gave her my full support for that idea. It's still like that. 
Understand, this is one of the most highly regarded school districts in the state. People move here constantly just to get access to the schools (also one of the more expensive cities in the state, so we're talking real money). That reading list is a part of why students do so well. Hard to teach critical thinking if you aren't reading things that need to be explored critically. 
My background is in college admissions. Worked on applicant selection at a major university. Florida is putting their students at a real disadvantage and really doing tremendous harm to their university systems and eventually their economy. >

My library did an display of banned books. Really good idea! How better to increase reading then say "this is what they don't want you to read!" >

My librarian did that, too.  And she supplied cookies and hot cocoa and cider non-stop during banned books week.
That's how I discovered Harry Potter, actually.  Goblet of Fire had just come out and it was the largest book on the "Banned Books" display.  I hadn't really heard of the series at that point and when I told Mrs White that she handed me a copy of Sorcerer's Stone.
She had a personal vendetta about Banned Books.  She'd come to the school after leaving a public library where the library board restricted certain books from their shelves.  As the librarian of my school, when funds were released to buy books, she always bought off the banned lists first. >

You have a good librarian, treat her right. >

I did.  this was twenty years ago and she's long-retired now.
Sadly, none of the librarians I know now are anywhere near that cool. >

I know you did. If you noticed her actions and commented here favorably, I know you treated her right. >

the most oniony part is i didn't know about the city and i read this as "manatee teachers..." >

To be fair the quotation is a sentence so “Manatee teachers…” is completely fair game. >

Got a few years left in me as a Florida teacher (about  enter year 4) and already desperately looking to switch careers. Between this and DeSantis not allowing us to call students nicknames different than "the gender related to their name" in the system without parent permission. I have a traditionally male name and not a guy, so this is especially stupid/funny to me.
So either I have to deadname kids or out them to their family, ban books from being read in the classroom, and am expected to make sure they learn not to question these laws or authorities to own the libs or whatever the hell. Get me out!! And the pay still sucks!! >

Viktor Orban said they had to go.  Desantis is a Nazi in training. >

This brand of fascism is coming soon to the entire country of voters don’t get their heads out of their asses. >

Taliban time. >

The problem with laws like this is that there are people, maybe mentally stable, maybe not. Who can then spend all their time challenging books and causing problems that just wastes the time of educators and tax payer money. This is just insane >

It's folly to think that parents can control what their kids are exposed to. You'd have to homeschool them and never let them leave the house. Otherwise, they could hear the neighbor swearing. Public libraries still exist and a lot of things are available on the Internet. >

So teachers aren't trusted professionals employed to educate. They are on the level of random strangers out in the wild. You really don't think we should expect teachers to maintain a classroom to the standard set forth by their districts and behave like professionals. When they find out the district banned a book maybe don't rush out to add it to your personal classroom library. 
Since when do school libraries have real books and not abridged versions or picture books. I always had to go to the actual library to find anything not made and watered down for children. >

My grade school in the late 70s had actual books and not abridged. The had every Presidential autobiography and I read every one. Your high school had picture books and Reader's Digest versions? I highly doubt that. I also don't think any books should be banned. Sure, curated to be age appropriate, by I don't want a politician deciding what kids can read. >

No my high school had real books, I was talking about elementary school. I thought this whole issue was about k-3 classrooms. 
Do you count the school board as politicians? >

That's why I mentioned my grade school had actual books. If they are making decisions based on politics, they are politicians. >


Photos of Manatee County classroom libraries have gone viral on social media after a report of the school district asking teachers to remove all unapproved books per a new Florida law. 

Man that's dystopian as fuck. I live in Florida (for now), and I often wonder if DeSantis realizes he's the bad guy. >

As someone who grew up in Florida in the 90s, I am REALLY glad by kids aren’t growing up in and being educated in 2020s Florida. >

Can we leave copies of the forbidden tomes at schools and bus stops or nah? >

You can donate to OpenLirary.org so they can make more copies available online for free to everyone.
They're 501(c)3 certified. >

I would say that Floridumb just got stupider. But that is not even possible. >

Ron DeSantis: "Hold my beer"...
Matt Gaetz: "Hold my teenager"... >

Let's break public education to prove it doesn't work. >

Are they going to replace it with a rack of assault rifles? >

Its ironic that the crowd screaming about censorship, and freedom of speech and 1984 are recreating Fahrenheit 451 irl. I mean it's not shocking bigots are against books and facts and true information but damn, it really feels like we are going backwards. >

Sorry, no porn fo kids >

Book Burqas are going to haunt Americans for years to come. We are getting really good at self-inflicted wounds. >

Florida and Texas are in a race to the bottom ..... I'm not sure there is a bottom >

Anybody planning any protests we could support? >

I suggest donating to OpenLibrary.org so they can buy and make available more digital copies for everyone, everywhere to read any time the like.
They're a 501(c)3 organization, too, so your donation is tax deductible! >

Thanks, I will!  I’ve donated to Freedom to Read Foundation as well.  Do you know anything about that one? >

I do not, but I will be Googling it shortly! >

😀 >

Effing nazis >

Manatee teachers are hired from a pool. That's what I heard. >

Oh hey my hometown...
Oh... >

What's next, they gonna start selling indulgences out the back of a Pinto in Jacksonville? Oh wait no, I know, they're gonna pass a swearing tax!
Remember, kids: if you want your mind to grow, get the hell out of the south. >

Doesnt this violate the first amendment? >

Wonder if they considered a book burning in the town square like Hitler did?  Slowly losing freedoms. Floridians beware. Sounds like a dictatorship is afoot. >

F'n HATE shameless trumpublican morons >

Just because the teachers are overweight, that doesn't make it ok to call them manatees. >

Dang dude, I don't know if I should downvote you cause that was mean or upvote you cause that was funny.
Upvote it is, cause that's what the title said 😁. >

Ron the nazi. He'll never be President. >

We just had a Nazi in office. >

Wonder if the Cubans there find this familiar somehow. >

So the law says that the books can't have pornography and the library had to shutdown WTF is going on in USA >

Florida isn’t going to like it when they find out kids can access pretty much anything on their iPads. 😅 >

Oh goody. We’re at the making lists part. 
FREEEEEEEDDDDDDDOOOOOMMMM >

There are thousands of great kid’s books that nobody is going to do anything about available for a classroom library. It’s a non-issue. >

Manatee's can read books? Hmm, you learn something new everyday I guess. >

I was trying to figure out what the hell a Manatee teacher was. Bit harsh to call a teacher I thought.
Then I see in the article that's the name of a county. Oof. >

As a teacher from a first world country I cry about the shitshow that;s going on in the US. Get the fucking pitchforks people, this is not okay. >

This is so fucking upsetting. How is this ok? The government needs to step in and take states rights away to do this detrimental shit. I know states rights are important but stopping the destruction of the country is a little more important.
However, I hope for once tiktok is flooded with useful stuff, like convincing the kids to read all of the banned books. But I bet TT is just gonna praise the far right’s crackdowns >

Time for the teacher's union to strike. If the FL government wants to overreach, they should have to deal with the fallout of suddenly having no support for their children for as long as it takes. Suddenly millions of parents need to call out of work to watch their kids, and the FL economy is crippled immediately. >

Moved from Florida to California last May with two elementary school kids.  Best. Move. Ever. >

Dayum! They sure don't like teachers and education much in floriduh, do they? >

Meanwhile Manatees themselves going extinct because of assholes in propeller boats. >

The guidelines seem pretty common sense to me. Free of pornography. Suited to student needs and ability to comprehend. Age appropriate. Come on. >

Ok, who decides what "pornography" is?   
Who decides what a "students needs and abilities" are? 
Who decides what is "age appropriate"?
Big Brother? >

So you're saying the guidelines shouldn't even exist because human discretion has to be used at some point? I thought the article made it clear that this is so parents have a better understanding of what materials their children are given. And if they feel something is pornography they can challenge it as such and then the principal or the school board can hear them out.
I think the real question is who has the final say in how children are raised--the parents or Big Brother? >

And you're study with Big Brother! You know Berke Breathed would hate you, right? >

He'd probably make fun of both of us, which is fine. I don't think it's outrageous to say that parents should have the final say in raising their children and the state ought to think long and hard about the circumstances under which it usurps that authority, even if the parents are idiots. >

If flat earther parents complain and say "We don't believe in physics classes, take physics out of the curriculum," should we take round earth out of classrooms? What about the other parents that WANT round earth in classrooms?
I don't understand "parents get the final say." Which parents? >

The parents of their own children. If you want to say banning pornography is like banning physics, I'd disagree. >

Not everyone agrees on what "pornography" is. >

That's true. >

So returning to my point. My point is that parents do not agree on what should be taught in schools. This is true on many subjects. So what do you think schools should do when parents don't agree on what should be taught?
It's easy to say "parents should get to decide what's taught in schools!" but "parents" don't all want the same thing and some parents are idiots. >

Ron is likely our next POTUS. The all out media assault against him and Florida just proves how worried the left is about this. >

Nah, don't think so. We have a lot of stupid people in our country, but I refuse to believe more than half would be that stupid. But you never know. >

DeSantis could be president if Trump dies before the next election. But as long as Trump is alive he will shit on every candidate whose name isn't Trump and divide the GOP vote. >

Nah, Trump left a lot of his faithful idiots when he advocated the suspension of the Constitution. I was wondering what the line was, and that was it for many. Sadly, not the line for all. He should be polling way worse than he is. But I don't think he actually wants to win, I think he is just running as political cover for his crimes. No way he wins the primary. >

I like how you call  Trump's people "idiots" and here you are a DeSantis stan. Desantis the man who dick rides Trump all day. >

Right, anything other than total rejection of someone must mean your a Stan for them. Grow up. >

to a degree, im not against this. i think it's fair for parents to have peace of mind that their children arent being exposed to smut novels, guides on making weapons or drugs, or being recruited to fringe groups like isis. idk how i feel about books tackling trans issues specifically. im hoping the young ones can navigate that on their own with a little help from the older generation. it's what we did with the internet. >

But the bible is okay, I'm guessing? >

Did i mention religious text at all? Fuck outta here with that weak ass bait. >

I'm guessing that's a yes >

So the law was passed in March, they schools did nothing until literally the day it came into effect(*) nine months later, and what they've done is complain, hand wave, and make theatrical gestures.
This all seems on the level.
(*)This may not be literal, but it seems to fit the story. >

Locally, FL Panhandle, the censorship started with the new school year in August. The local BOE is scared to death of being sued by a misnamed "Mom for Liberty." >

So they only did nothing for six months rather than nine?  Is that the point?  The article states all that is required here is to put a list of what's available online or otherwise make it available to parents, after removing the objectionable stuff such as pornography or age-inappropriate material.  I'm sure the latter term there could be better defined, but there's some serious pearl clutching going on here amongst the other theatrics. >

The point, Einstein, is that they've had plenty of time to deal with it.  It passed in March and it's mid-January now, and in the entire intervening time they've essentially done nothing to prepare, so on d-day they can make a dramatic gesture by covering shit with sheets and use their kids as pawns.
"Sorry Jimmy, you can't use the books, the bad men won't let you!  Tell your parents what the bad men did!"

You obviously know nothing about education

You're the expert clearly. >

As I said, in my local district they were doing this in August. I guess you just like fascism. >


As I said, in my local district they were doing this in August

Cool.  That has fucking nothing to do with the article, but cool.

I guess you just like fascism.

Thaaaaaaats it.  Fascism.  plonk >

Nothing new, soft book bans have been around for decades.  Only time it's ever reported is when it fits a certain narrative. Hell, Reddit is notorious for swinging the ban hammer just for simply belonging to the "wrong" subreddit. >

Nothing new, racism has been around for decades....... Nothing new, sharia law has been around for hundreds of years..... >

Did any of you actually read the article? It’s porn. They said no porn and it has to be age appropriate. The only logical conclusion here is that A. this teacher had a bookshelf full of porn or B. they posted an image in hopes that it would make people so upset they wouldn’t do further research. Either way very concerning >

Get bent >

Did you have any intelligent discourse to add? Any mature rebuttal? Or is “get bent” the best you can do in your infinite anger >

You first, troglodyte.