This is what a high school student told the Granbury ISD School Board. Wow.

[kpete]

[yardwork]

1. Well said. Let's celebrate that student. I'd like to know more about them.

[jimfields33]

6. Banning books means no chance of getting the book.

I’m thankful that is not happening.

[Mariana]

8. No, that's not what it means.

Smoking is banned in airplanes, public buildings, restaurants and so on, even though people can smoke in many other places.

If the school district doesn't allow a particular book in the schools, then the school district has in fact banned that book.

[yardwork]

11. Books are being banned in schools and libraries.

People discover books by browsing bookshelves. Some of my happiest childhood memories are of "library hour" when, as an elementary school student, we were allowed to browse the school library and check books out. That building had previously housed a high school, and the wise librarians had left a lot of interesting books on the shelves that wouldn't normally have been available to elementary school-aged kids. And that is why, as a fourth grader, I read mind-blowing books by Edgar Allen Poe, Virginia Woolf, and many others.

If schools and libraries remove those books, people won't find them. They won't know they exist. Just because something is available for sale on Amazon doesn't mean people will find it and read it.

[Marthe48]

15. title dropping

Last edited Sat May 27, 2023, 11:46 AM - Edit history (1)

The school and library might not be allowed to have the book, but people who want their kids to learn will give their kids access and their kids will tell others. With the Internet, maybe banning a traditional print book won't be as successful as it was in the 1930s and earlier.

There are a number of websites that offer free access to literally millions of books

Gutenberg Project
Internet Public Library
Internet Archive
Library of Congress
OPLIN (Ohio Public Library Information Network)
I worked at a public library when the Internet was just starting up. The Ohio library systems linked, so you can log in to your home library and from there, link to other libraries linked in. This is a nationwide, by now, worldwide network of resources.

With a bit of effort, there are a number of ways to access books. If you can't get them in your state, ask friends and relatives to send copies. Start book clubs. Read to your kids.

Ending this, it is ironic that people seeking knowledge will end up hiding in catacombs like the early christians had to.

[yardwork]

18. Well-educated, progressive parents will ensure that their children have books.

But poor kids, kids being raised by bigoted parents, etc., won't have that opportunity anymore. Sure, some enterprising kids will find a way, but many others won't.

And that's the intention of these book bannings, to ensure that it's difficult to learn something new or be challenged.

[Marthe48]

26. I hope that kids keep surprising us

And I hope the well-educated, progressive parents create ripple effects and reach as many children as they can, until this current mania is done.

I know that the access to Internet is not available for all homes, and that's a shame. It is easy to forget that not everyone has the world at their fingertips. States make decisions about acceptable use of the Internet in libraries. If there are limits to the banned books,determined people will find a way around the roadblocks.

[edisdead]

19. That isn't the point of a library.

That one could get a book if someone else gives it to then undermines the point of a library

[Marthe48]

27. Not sure what you mean

Public libraries were established to have a collection of books available for the public, who might not have been able to afford their own copies. Libraries and their use have evolved from housing collections only certain classes of people could view, to being open to the public, to becoming social and cultural centers, to having Internet access, to whatever the next step will be.

I collected books my whole life, and I have the books my grandmother and parents kept. I was lucky to buy a dozen boxes of books from an old school, and then another large collection at a yard sale. The varied inscriptions tell me so much. Many of the old books are gifts. Some were given as prizes from the teacher for good work. Having books and sharing books was important to the generations before us, who understood that education was key to success.

If we can't afford the books, and the libraries and schools are not allowed to offer it, then the next step is to share copies, give copies, leave copies on a bench and trust fate will get it to a person who needs to read it. Buying and sharing books augments what the libraries and schools ought to be able to do.

[Walleye]

2. The problem is today's Republicans don't want to be known as the good guys

They want to be known as the mean selfish strong guys. And doing so they come off looking very much like weaklings. Being thought of as the good guy never enters their heads

[yardwork]

12. That is such an important point.

What we're seeing is a circling of wagons in defense of a mythical white, paternalistic, Christian Nationalist fantasy. There is no longer any pretense that kindness or tolerance are valued traits. It's about who can grab the most.

Sadly, at least half the country seems fine with this.

[Walleye]

13. It makes me sick to see the selfishness surrounding the student loan forgiveness

They act as if every penny is coming out of their own pocket. It’s Me! Me! me me. I am constantly reminded of the JFK speech. “Ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country”. And that is the Christian concept when you think about it

[yardwork]

14. The written words attributed to Jesus are completely ignored.

There's a Mean Jesus that these people worship who hates gay and transgender people, abuses women, pushes the poor and sick aside, tells lies, steals from
people and celebrates how clever he is, and destroys the Earth in the name of immediate gratification.

This is the false god that the Jesus of scriptures warned about.

These people are worshipping Mammon.

[calimary]

32. But they're reliably the first to take to the "holier than thou" podium

and carry on about how “Christian” they are.

It’s not for me to judge but I’m tempted to point out that they’re the types who Our Lord drove out of the temple, and later showed up to condemn Him and call for His crucifixion.

Fourteen years of Catholic school still pushes me straight over to that opinion.

[Axelrods_Typewriter]

39. There are also many on the right who believe they recieve "new prophecy" about the current state of

the world. I'm pretty much a lifelong agnostic, but doesn't the bible say that anybody trying to add to it is completely full of BS?

[yardwork]

40. I don't know, but even the Old Testament (their preferred source) warns of false prophets.

Holding up the bible (sometimes upside down), their behavior closely matches all the things the bible specifically warns readers not to do.

And let's pause to consider how Fox News and the internet would have reacted if a Democratic president held the Bible upside down during a speech. That's got to be some kind of indication of a demon, right?

[NNadir]

3. Big, big, big, big KNR.

[dalton99a]

4. Kick

[Wounded Bear]

5. K & R...nt

[Lonestarblue]

7. Granbury ISD is in Texas, southwest of Ft. Worth.

They made the news a few years ago after an investigation revealed that the school board owned a private plane that at least one member used for personal trips. They sold the plane after the investigation, but buying a plane with taxpayer money seems excessive even for Texas! They supposedly purchased the plane for student flight training, but the assistant superintendent, who convinced the district to buy the plane, used it for frequent travel with his family and the district paid the cost.

[Beachnutt]

9. Granbury is where Elmer lived..

So not everybody is like Elmer in that area.

[DFW]

10. What a perfectly worded statement!

The only place I ever visited that confiscated every bit of printed matter at its borders (the former "German Democratic Republic," or East Germany), is indeed not remembered as "the good guys," including just about everyone who remembers having lived there. Obviously, the few surviving members of the Party (SED--Socialist Unity Party of Germany) elite, who mooched off the public till, and awarded themselves privileges that the rest of the people never enjoyed (travel, luxury goods from the West, e.g.), still pine for the old regime. What deposed absolute monarch wouldn't? But deposed absolute monarchs aren't remembered by history as "the good guys," either.

[calimary]

22. Man-oh-man did I love that album when I was a kid!

I played it til it was sandpaper.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

16. People who are scared of books are sad people

[NoMoreRepugs]

17. The utter shame those ADULT school board members

SHOULD have felt is going to stick to them the rest of their lives.

[samnsara]

20. wow.....i dont remember being that aware during HS!

[Major Nikon]

21. ...

[Upthevibe]

23. Kick. n/t

[keithbvadu2]

24. If you ban books for certain parents' rights, you deny parental rights for those who feel their chil

If you ban books for certain parents' rights, you deny parental rights for those who feel their children are mature enough to read the material.

.

[vlyons]

25. Wow! Outstanding! Give that kid a scholarship

[republianmushroom]

29. Nailed it.

[housecat]

30. The millions of adult magats might as well had the books banned, because they

sure never read any. For the kids on the left, growing up with books was like playing or eating dinner. Everybody did it, because it was a natural part of growing up and being healthy.

[The Jungle 1]

31. All the books are in a data base.

Why can't parents just flag the books they don't want THEIR child to see?

[Celerity]

33. Here is the video of the Granbury ISD student quoted above

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Chrisdutch]

34. Book banning fighter

Please run for President in 2032.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

35. Granbury where?

[FakeNoose]

36. It's a complicated way of saying it, but he's not wrong

If the school board is actively engaged in banning books from the school libraries, maybe they've already given up on being called the "good guys."

[Blue Owl]

37. K&R

[uponit7771]

38. K&R,