this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2025
501 points (98.5% liked)

News

28464 readers
5187 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Summary

Rightwing groups across the US are driving a wave of legislation to restrict books in school and public libraries, targeting content deemed “sexually explicit” or “obscene,” often affecting LGBTQ+ and race-related titles.

Texas leads with 31 bills and 538 book bans in the 2023–24 school year.

Proposed laws, like Texas Senate Bill 13, shift book selection power from librarians to parent-led advisory boards.

Critics, including librarians and legal scholars, warn these efforts amount to censorship, risk violating First Amendment rights, and reduce access in underserved communities.

(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Guns0rWeD13@lemmy.world -2 points 6 days ago
[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 119 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I heard there's one book in there that talks about a pair of sisters who get their father drunk so they can take turns raping him. Are they banning that one?

[–] Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world 63 points 1 week ago (62 children)

wow, the bible is fucked up.

[–] circuitfarmer@lemmy.world 31 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You have to go pretty far into the Bible to even get to the first non-incestuous relationship.

[–] ThomasCrappersGhost@feddit.uk 1 points 6 days ago

Doesn’t it start with one?

For clarity, I’m referring to Cain (?) knobbing his mother.

load more comments (61 replies)
[–] ZeroCool@lemmy.ca 50 points 1 week ago

And on the subject of burning books: I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength or their powerful political connections or their great wealth, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and have refused to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles.

So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.

― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country (2005)

[–] HappySkullsplitter@lemmy.world 43 points 1 week ago

They need to just get on with it, we all know what they want to do

Shit or get off the pot

[–] andrewta@lemmy.world 35 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I’m over 50 and they tried to ban Diary of Anne Frank when I was a kid. Sometimes they even succeeded.

Fucking idiots. Name one reason why kids shouldn’t read that book. They never could. Not a real reason anyway.

Over and over they try to ban books. The only thing that really changes is that they add books to the list.

[–] MiyamotoKnows@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

They don't like Diary of Anne Frank over guilt by association. They realize there are too many similarities between the way they "think" and nazism. Never fun to have a moment of reflection and realize you're a horrible human being so they lash out at it, incapable of deeper introspection or betterment.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] MiyamotoKnows@lemmy.world 24 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Conservatives simply hate free speech.

[–] PointyReality@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

No no, they love free speech when it allows them to use hate speech against others. They only hate free speech when others opinions disagrees with their own. That is the difference between left and right, left understand that free speech means we have to protect against hate speech, the right rails against censorship regarding hate speech as a vehicle against “oppression” so they can be the ones that can attack those that disagree with them with hate speech.

"Free speech" is I get to call you the F-slur. "Obscenity" is you discussing any aspect of your life that differs from mine.

The Constitution according to Republicans:

We The People....words words GET TO HAVE AS MANY GUNS AS WE WANT words words...The End.

[–] uuldika@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 week ago

So tired of hearing that the right is a champion of free speech.

[–] whatyousaidontwitter@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Man fuck these people trying to dictate what people should think

[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

You mean the Republicans or the fascists?

Jk, they're one and the same.

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

More of this shit again. Don’t they get bored with this same old schtick?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] boreengreen@lemm.ee 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I bet that the people that wanna decide on this stuff never intend to read the material they are banning.

Similar to how they never read their holy books, but know it's great.

[–] MolecularCactus1324@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (3 children)

In the age of the internet, it’s weird that they still feel the need to ban books. You can find anything on the internet.

[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

You can find anything on the internet.

Not for long.

[–] Soup@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It’s easier to censor the books first. Don’t worry, the internet and its content will be fucked with soon enough(more than it is).

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] rockettaco37@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Wonderful.... I wonder when this country is going to have Kristallnacht.

Honestly, the best thing for the planet right now would be not to have a US

load more comments