What is a book burner to do when that pesky United States’ Constitution gets in the way of their censorship attempts? Get laws passed that circumvent them, of course.
This week is a look at some of the legislation recently enacted to take away the freedoms granted to citizens of the United States by the First Amendment to the Constitution.
We begin in Florida, where HB899 and SB1018 would grant any taxpayer the right to formally challenge school materials and even take a school board to court over an unsatisfactory decision. The bills would also seek to place parents- whether qualified or not on the subjects- to have a say on textbook selection committees.
That’s how the group known as Parents ROCK decided to react their failure to get four books banned from schools in Collier County, which included Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Beloved, Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban, and Lois Duncan’s Killing Mr. Griffin.
The group’s president admits that he has never read the books in their entirety and, based on that limited knowledge, felt confident to claim that they contain “graphic and sexual content, graphic violence, violence with women- both physically and verbally, and bestiality.” He also perceives their reach as far and wide in the school system, stating that the books are “found in the district’s middle and high school libraries” when, in fact, Collier County Public Schools’ district-wide library catalog shows that Dreaming in Cuban is only in high schools; The Bluest Eye and Beloved each have a single copy in a single middle school library, and the overwhelming majority– thirty one and nine copies respectively– are found in the high schools. Only Killing Mr. Griffin, which even the publisher recommends for seventh grade and up, has a highly-blasphemous presence in middle schools at a startling nine copies, plus three more at the PK-12 campus of Everglades City School. Nine copies of Killing Mr. Griffin are also found in high school libraries.
That’s it in the entire county. That’s a lot of subversive ammunition for the young minds of tomorrow to get their hands on.~
A district spokesman, Greg Turchetta, calmly responded to the group’s exaggeration of the situation by pointing out that the district’s library materials selection policy and the challenge form are both publicly available to anyone, which are quite clear on the process if one knows how to read at an intelligent level.
The district also posted a letter to its website sent by the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom in support of keeping the books in school libraries. At a recent school board meeting, however, three board members speciously instructed the district to remove the letter, according to Naples Daily News reporter Melhor Leonor on Twitter.
When asked what would satisfy Parents ROCK, they told WINK that it would be “when the district finally establishes a dialogue with us parents saying, ‘here’s the process that we went through in selecting these books’ and we want to know why they made it through that process.”
Rather than setting their torches to burn they should follow the fair and balanced process already in place and read the books in their entirety, as required by the policy, before getting their knickers in a twist. But I guess that’s too much work. It is a much better use of taxpayer time and money to go through the process of passing legislation and bogging down court dockets with frivolous lawsuits that will get thrown out by any judge worth their seat on the bench.
It should also be mentioned that HB899 and SB1018 would also require “all instructional materials used in the classroom” to “[p]rovide a non-inflammatory, objective, and balanced viewpoint on issues” and be “accurate and factual.” But if scientists and scholars worldwide agree to what is fact and what is fiction it will be up to these yahoos to have the final say. After all, history is written by the victors.
As noted by the National Center for Science Education, one of the groups behind the bills has some peculiar ideas about what constitutes accurate science education:
The website for Florida Citizens’ Alliance recently posted a list of “Examples of Acceptable/Proven K-12 Standards and Corresponding Curriculum,” which includes a link to something called Freedom Project Education Classical Judeo-Christian Online Academy, whose high school biology classes refer to “the Creator God” and use a creationist textbook (Exploring Creation with Biology, second edition).
If we want to talk about facts, let’s face the fact that these bills are nothing more than a way to empower ideologically-driven activists to shape what is allowed for public discussion and education, decisions that are best left to professional educators not power-hungry glory hounds and politicians.
We also have a situation in Michigan, where an informed citizenry is so feared that Governor Rick Snyder on Wednesday signed Bill 571, which will bar public officials from informing citizens about any upcoming ballot issues.
It was the last piece of business to pass the Legislature in December, which went from thirteen to a completely rewritten fifty-three pages in the final minutes and was passed with no public hearings on the many changes and with only Republican votes on the matter.
The bill was originally a simple regulation of campaign finance before being buried in sly wording on the speech restrictions. The intended purpose lost amid page after page of ideological and state-sponsored censorship, which carries a fine of thousands of dollars and up to a year in jail that is nothing short of a gag order which will prohibit officials from publicly discussing ballot proposals or millage issues in the sixty days leading up to an election. It has been blasted by municipal and school district officials as a violation of free speech.
A right-to-work advocacy group, The Michigan Freedom Fund, said that “thanks to Governor Snyder and state lawmakers, taxpayers can rest a little easier today knowing government bureaucrats and lobbyists won’t be spending their tax dollars to bankroll political campaigns or push for local tax hikes.”
Oh, the sweet duplicity of that statement.~
But it is already illegal for local and school officials to campaign in favor or against ballot proposals or millage issues, and the Secretary of State has investigated a couple dozen complaints over the last three years. They are, however, still allowed to talk about them and to give the public all information and sides to an issue.
No matter the intent, this legislation is specifically designed to keep voters uninformed on items such as school millages and funds for local law enforcement and fire departments. Local governments would not be allowed to pay for materials that would educate voters on the very issues that affect their lives. When we are restricted in what we are allowed to know and what we are allowed to speak about then the grip of control grows tighter. We will become a nation of mindless drones happily living within The Matrix, convinced that the world is perfect when in reality it is a desolate wasteland of a once intelligent and thriving population.
Sources: NCAC.ORG, CBLDF.ORG, Detroit Free Press, WXYZ
© 2016 R. Wolf Baldassarro/Deep Forest Productions
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