So this guy went around reading books found in a children's library that he thought were disgusting. Then he looked up the names of the children who checked them out?
You know, my kid's kindergarten librarian would say "anything that gets them reading is progress." So maybe we should be encouraging more dipshits to be checking out more books.
The targets of the investigation? Three school librarians in Granbury, Texas. The allegation? They had allowed children to access literature — such as “The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison — that the officer, Scott London, a chief deputy constable, had deemed obscene.
Summary of The Bluest Eye from Wikipedia:
The novel takes place in Lorain, Ohio (Morrison's hometown), and tells the story of a young African-American girl named Pecola who grew up following the Great Depression. Set in 1941, the story is about how she is consistently regarded as "ugly" due to her mannerisms and dark skin. As a result, she develops an inferiority complex, which fuels her desire for the blue eyes she equates with "whiteness".
The novel is told mostly from Claudia MacTeer's point of view. Claudia is the daughter of Pecola's temporary foster parents. There is also some omniscient third-person narration. The book's controversial topics of racism, incest, and child molestation have led to numerous attempts to ban the novel from schools and libraries in the United States.[1]
Now, if he read the book, like he claims to have read it, he would know that the only obscene thing in the book is that it shows why things like racism and incest are, themselves, obscene. And that sounds like something kids should learn.
Unless, of course, this cop doesn't find one or both of those things obscene and rather finds the obscene thing to be telling people racism and/or incest is wrong...
Paul Hyde, a Granbury attorney who served on the volunteer committee tasked with reviewing dozens of school library books, said he informally advised two of the accused librarians early in London’s investigation and saw the toll it has taken on them.
“These women, that are amazing educators and librarians, have been terrified for over two years now that they’re going to get arrested, hauled off to jail on a felony charge of providing pornography to minors,” Hyde said, noting that one of the librarians left the district as a result.
“We lost a great librarian,” he said.
Anyone who thinks it's a non-issue because charges weren't filed should understand that intimidation is the point. It looks like the intimidation worked.
Drive out enough librarians and eventually youʼll find yourself needing to drive 4 hours to get a tool pulled or a melanoma whacked off since good dentists and doctors usually want decent schools with libraries for their kids.
I got minimal more to add (okay had more than I expected) except that's such a power tripping cop, like let's attack people who help kids expand their horizons. To be fair I'm extremely pro library, even had a chance to work in one for a summer yay small towns. Had to read to pass time in the long before internet era (well not much before really) with limited video games available.
Anyways libraries and librarians rock and don't need to be targeted for offering kids (or anyone) a way to explore a world or think in a new way.
Dream job lol. Do whatever you want, no strings attached, no requerements, no responsibility, and you are entitled to a higher position in any dispute with civilians. They aren't a part of the working class, they are a class of their own, lapdogs of the ones in power. How could this happen?
This is a MUCH BETTER use of Taxpayer Dollars then LITERALLY FEEDING STARVING CHILDREN IN AMERICA (which Republican States opted OUT OF because then they wouldn't have Tax Dollars to do THIS!)!
I am of the belief that people who spend this much time in the mindset of trying to find "inappropriate material minors are reading"are in fact, just pursuing a really weird fucking kink or getting off on it in some way.
I refuse to believe that this cop isn't stuck in some kind of pedo-adjacent sexual obsession.
Serious answer, probably because books from book stores aren't available to the poorest classes. Libraries are (and are meant to be!) a threat to every status quo.
This is specifically a school library, not a public library. And no, I do not support book-banning in any way, shape, or form. Just keeping the facts straight.
Because this is a boil-the-frog situation. The path is k-12 school libraries -> public libraries -> academic libraries and bookstores. The way fascists get the public comfortable with the idea of banning books is by starting with examples that look like "common sense" to the uninformed, and then ramp up the attacks as they gain institutional power.
Cop: these books made me horny, you should be ashamed of yourself for allowing me to get turned on by a book, in fact I'm going to confiscate all of them so no one else has to be turned on by this filth.
They've been doing stuff like this for years. In 1990, a Florida judge ruled that an album by 2 Live Crew was obscene, and police officers went into stores and threatened to arrest anyone who sold copies of the album. The obscenity law specifically requires a "lack of serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value" and they were able to get it appealed.
Reading the article it's actually more insane than it first appears. He's been doing it for two years. This wasn't an investigation ordered by a court, it was evidence he himself was compiling for his own legal complaint, which was dismissed when finally brought to the DA.
You don't find it newsworthy that a cop wanted to use his badge to (at minimum) intimidate librarians and (at worst) charge them with trumped up bullshit?
Why is this greaseball employed if he can't find something better to do with his time than to make sure people can't read the books he hates?
The point is to try to stop taxpayer money directly funding fascism. Unfortunately it's Texas, so there's no real way around that given the current state government.
Sure sure. Two librarians were harassed and one was driven out of her job because of the investigation. But there were no charges, so everything is peachy, right?