Posts Made By: James Brown

Originally Posted by Greg Shaffer

LOL.....

Well, you might as well be a partisan political hack cause you sure arent much of an astronomer. That is two fine pieces of astro gear you owned for years and never used. 

So says the guy who took 10 years to mount my fine focuser to his 8” achromat!!  😎😎😎

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

Now, back to the subject:

And it is why I give money to the ACLJ:

https://www.foxnews.com/media/catholic-students-kicked-out-air-space-smithsonian-museum-pro-life-hats-we-had-almost-no-words

Typical leftist Christian hating bastards.  I hope that Jay Sekulow sues their asses for hundreds of thousands or even millions. 

Sounds like it was a couple of idiots at the museum, not the official policy:

"The museum responded to the incident saying the actions were not in line with their policies. "Asking visitors to remove hats and clothing is not in keeping with our policies or protocols," said Alison Wood, the museum's deputy director of communications. "We provided immediate training to prevent a re-occurrence of this kind of incident."

I agree that this sort of expression "policing" is indefensible and wrongheaded.  I disagree that it justifies a lawsuit.  No one was physically or emotionally damaged.  If I were the Smithsonian, I would invite the kids back, pay for their travel expenses (the Smithsonian is already free to enter) and humbly apologize.

I think my plan is consistent with your expressed wish: "for this crap to stop."  Also in my opinion, a high-profile lawsuit is more likely to exacerbate the polarization in the US on this and other contentious issues.  

Jim

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

No, I was referring to books like:
Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling"
"Reasons: banned and forbidden from discussion for referring to magic and witchcraft, for containing actual curses and spells, and for characters that use “nefarious means” to attain goals".

Who banned Harry Potter?  Definite family favorites in the Brown household.  For maybe books 4-7 we had to buy two copies on each release date so the boys would not fight over 1st dibs.  Not that it mattered, since they typically stayed up all night and read each installment from front to back in one go.  But then me and Ms. Brown each had a copy to read at a more leisurely pace.  Our 1st editions are quite worn with re-reading!

Jim

Originally Posted by James Brown

Who banned Harry Potter?  Definite family favorites in the Brown household.  For maybe books 4-7 we had to buy two copies on each release date so the boys would not fight over 1st dibs.  Not that it mattered, since they typically stayed up all night and read each installment from front to back in one go.  But then me and Ms. Brown each had a copy to read at a more leisurely pace.  Our 1st editions are quite worn with re-reading!

Jim

I should have said - where has Harry Potter been banned?  I googled it and find multiple stories about one whack-job priest banning the series in some Tennessee Catholic Schools.  Dumb idea on his part, but it is a private school.  I could find no stories naming public schools that instituted a ban.  Sure, lots of parents want to ban anything remotely non-biblical.  This gets press, like morons at the Smithsonian who ban pro-life hats get press.  But I could find no documented instances of a real public school ban.

Jim

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

Here's a list of banned books by year:
https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10
I think, and I believe the same to be generally true for for the position of the Democratic party, that it is up to the choice of the parent to decide what their child reads and what he or she does not. Thus, it's not up to to a particular parent to "challenge" a book on a shelf and then persuade the school board by way of a petition and/or expression of public outrage at a school board meeting to ban a book. 

Hi Rod:

I read that to be a list of "challenged" books.  Challenged v. banned is more than the typical semantic quibble we all do here so often.  Any parent can challenge a book.  The real question is which books were actually removed from the shelves in response to parental or other challenges?  I assume that the schools and libraries have some backbone and do not cave to every challenge. 

By the way, I agree that parents should not be challenging books other than actual pornography or dangerous non-fiction, like how to make homemade bombs.  Still, I remain curious as to how many public schools and libraries actually caved in to these challenges?  I am sure the answer is "some."  I doubt it is many. At least I hope not.

Jim

p.s.  I'm not seeing Harry Potter on those lists.  Lots of LBGTQ and race writing that I do not think should be challenged or banned.    

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

Let's just go over the most popular book that is being banned in some schools.  If you believe the bullshit that Rod is posting then you might want to do some research.

This book "Gender Queer" is one of the biggies for the left that they love and the one that gets so much support from LGBTQ advocates, as they whine and moan about how outraged they are that some schools are banning.

Here's the book and what is in it and you can tell me if this is appropriate for elementary school kids:

https://theiowastandard.com/shocking-images-from-book-gender-queer-which-is-stocked-in-school-libraries-across-iowa/

Did you like the page where it had cartoons of young boys giving other boys blowjobs or is that over the top with you guys?

I'm sure that you wouldn't have minded one bit when your son was 7 reading this crap in school, right? 

I think you might have missed the point I was trying to make in my discussion with Rod.  

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

Let's just go over the most popular book that is being banned in some schools.  If you believe the bullshit that Rod is posting then you might want to do some research.

This book "Gender Queer" is one of the biggies for the left that they love and the one that gets so much support from LGBTQ advocates, as they whine and moan about how outraged they are that some schools are banning.

Here's the book and what is in it and you can tell me if this is appropriate for elementary school kids:

https://theiowastandard.com/shocking-images-from-book-gender-queer-which-is-stocked-in-school-libraries-across-iowa/

Did you like the page where it had cartoons of young boys giving other boys blowjobs or is that over the top with you guys?

I'm sure that you wouldn't have minded one bit when your son was 7 reading this crap in school, right? 

That book seems appropriate to me for some high school kids or maybe late junior high, and it looks like that is in fact the target audience.  It might be a useful book for gay and trans high schoolers who are suffering through an incredibly awkward time.  I would much prefer frank discussion and support to repression, depression, and possibly suicide for gay and trans high schoolers.  How about you?

That said, I would be fine requiring parental consent before checking out that book to junior high students.

Do you have any evidence that it is on the shelves for 7 year old children, as you implied in your last line?  I would be surprised, as I do not think that even the most liberal librarians and educators think this level of sexuality is appropriate for 7 year old children.  I think you are just making that age up for shock value.

Jim  

Originally Posted by James Brown

That book seems appropriate to me for some high school kids or maybe late junior high, and it looks like that is in fact the target audience.  It might be a useful book for gay and trans high schoolers who are suffering through an incredibly awkward time.  I would much prefer frank discussion and support to repression, depression, and possibly suicide for gay and trans high schoolers.  How about you?

That said, I would be fine requiring parental consent before checking out that book to junior high students.

Do you have any evidence that it is on the shelves for 7 year old children, as you implied in your last line?  I would be surprised, as I do not think that even the most liberal librarians and educators think this level of sexuality is appropriate for 7 year old children.  I think you are just making that age up for shock value.

Jim  

Also, Rich - I believe you were not blessed with children right? 

I have fathered two young men.  The huge destructive "sexuality" risk faced by me and my wife, and I think most parents, is/was dealing with the incredibly pervasive, insidious, destructive, unavoidable, and dehumanizing scourge of internet porn.  The potential for internet porn to skew a young person's idea of proper sexuality is at least a billion times greater than the dozen or so books that might be on the library shelves dealing in a reasonably thoughtful manner with these topics, like the book you linked for example.

Makes you wonder about the motivation of those calling loudly to ban books, doesn't it?

Jim

Originally Posted by James Lacey

You mean your point wasn't that you support homo-erotic imagery in elementary school library books? Haha. Nothing like Rich's downright bizarre tangents.

Roger that.

Also, as you know, the gist of the book Rich linked was not erotic.  It was not stimulating at all!  It seemed to me to be the kind of thoughtful book that might help a queer teen deal with what must be horribly complex and difficult sexuality issues in high school.  

Perhaps we should just lock those teens in an asylum, like we did in the good old days?

Jim

Originally Posted by James Lacey

Yeah, I don't have a problem with the book at all. However, it is reasonable to debate its presence in a school library. I would be OK with it being removed and letting parents decide if their child would benefit from it—no need to turn this into a culture war.

Agreed.  Alas, this is what so many are wired to do, here in the US in 2023...