1,626 Books Were Banned in 2022...We Reviewed Them All
1,626 Books Were Banned in 2022...We Reviewed Them All
The "Invisible Library" dataset is free to download. It contains detailed information on book bans by school district across the United States up to June 2022.
A snippet " The Topic Concentration chart above lends the clearest picture into the implied rationale behind the bans. Namely, the bans are not and have not been about the physical removal of a book from a shelf. The bans instead are meant to:
Virtue signal by people in positions of institutional power to voting-age parents interested in school choice, parental rights, and wedge social issues to the detriment of non-voting age students
Reject and exclude topics that challenge a perceived status quo from the public discourse (e.g. non-heteronormativity, non-cis identity, non-traditional gender roles, and non-Judeo-Christian books are targeted) "
As a retired librarian, I know that this is nothing new. What is new is the organized and vicious manner people use these days.
Before a crank might complain and we would bring out our intellectual freedom statements and policies. Let the rant go on a bit, then let the complainant know that as a public library we pride ourselves on the fact:
We have something to offend everyone and that is a mandate that we defend.
With people becoming more violent and unhinged, it is scary to be the holder of the knowledge and the force that protects intellectual freedom.
The battle continues.
Thank you for your service.
Since you're retired, you may not have been aware, but do you know about Montana pulling out of the ALA because of bullshit right-wing politics?
I grew up in the 80s and remember all the panic and censoring of music that was being paraded in front of us in America that led to parental warnings being put on albums. I had never heard of "2 Live Crew" until I was told not to listen to it. So of course me and all my friends bought it to listen to it.
It's awful to see that people on my generation grew up to be idiots trying to do the same shitty thing that we grew up with to our own kids.
I remember rather enjoying hating Tipper Gore and all that ludicrous PMRC bullshit. I don’t think we ever took it that seriously… it’s not like they actually managed to ban anything; they just slapped some really effective “buy me!” labels on a few records.
Today’s version feels more insidious. I never felt like Tipper Gore was one step from decompensating and starting a race war. These folks, though—there’s violence just under the surface.
Land of the free
Well, the Puritans didn't escape persecution to Americas, but felt they didn't have enough freedom to persecute others according to their views and went to find that.
It any book would be banned, all religious texts (bible, quran) should be first
My younger son has been seeking out banned books to read. In one of them, Looking For Alaska, he reported that the section which caused the ban was a few lines on one page. And even that was tame.
I'm going to have to show him this list to help him choose what to read next.