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West Virginia bill allowing librarians to be prosecuted over 'obscene' books moves forward
(www.usatoday.com)
this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2024
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I'm trying to picture the worst thing that could happen to someone reading a book. You can always stop reading as soon as you sense your fee fees getting hurt.
Sure, but the only way to stop other people from reading is to take the books away.
Oh I agree, I just get a kick out of the mental gymnastics people use as the reason why books are evil.
It's the same kind of energy as the people who came up with the story of Adam and Eve, who were punished for SEEKING KNOWLEDGE and not just trusting what their superior told them. And the religious right still resents women even though Adam made the exact same choice (or perhaps more importantly, the whole thing was just made up in the first place).
But it's not really mental gymnastics making them go after these books. It's all about power and they know that their power depends on people remaining stupid as well as LGBT people remaining in denial because each one that willingly comes out of the closet likely won't continue supporting conservatives and might even bring a few others with them, if they are the "I hate this until it's someone I love, then I support this" type. As much as we hear about stories of families breaking up because of right wing bullshit, there's probably a nontrivial amount that decide their relationship is more important than arbitrary hate and don't stick in the "you're just one of the good ones" camp.
And I've come to see that the root of the issue is that people on the far right see the world differently from moderates who see things differently from the left. The difference is that the right knows they have to use arguments that resonate with their political opponents, even if they aren't very effective at it. Words are just one of their sets of tools they can use to either gain power or stall their opponents by making them counter another argument they don't really care about but still yell loudly.
Yes but justifying why you want people to stay stupid is what I mean by mental gymnastics, bypassing critical and rational thought through fear of whatever boogeyman they can dream up and convince they are in need saving from.
The Bible is a book and it's done some major damage.
Doesn't seem to have worked on most people who claim to have read it. The bits about being nice and caring about the environment seem to be completely missed.
The Catholic Church in Australia for example are refusing to compensate the father of a boy who committed suicide due to being raped by the now deceased Cardinal George Pell. If they believed anything they teach they would've payed the man and offered him councilling, not fight it in court.
I'd say it's book club members who haven't read it or only read some parts and ignore the rest are the ones doing the damage.