@ A pro-book-ban PAC mails explicit images to voter homes

[redheadbaker]

A PAC vilifying [Pennsylvania] Central Bucks Dems is warning voters about sexually explicit images by mailing out explicit images

www.inquirer.com/education/central-bucks-books-ban-pac-stop-bucks-extremism-20230901.html

Last Thursday, Shannon Hiller came home to find her 13-year-old daughter upset and embarrassed. She told her mother she hoped she wasn’t in trouble.

Hiller’s daughter had opened an envelope that came in the mail — her attention grabbed by red lettering on the front that mentioned “Central Bucks School Libraries.”

Inside was a flier with a cartoon depicting oral sex, and a line drawing of a penis.

The images came from two books banned by Central Bucks following a controversial policy passed last year by the Republican-led school board: Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe, and This Book is Gay, by Juno Dawson.

“Extreme Central Bucks Democrats are fighting to keep these books in our middle school and high school libraries,” the flier read. “Request an early vote ballot to protect our children!”

The mailing was the product of a new political action committee promising to “expose” the Democrats seeking election to the Central Bucks school board in November — highlighting the culture-war battles that have engulfed the district since the pandemic.

[seeyalater52]

For fuck’s sake.

[livinitup]

I hate these book banning people.

[sonrisa]

Ffs.

we have Gender Queer. You really have to look for that one image (unlike that mailer). I can’t find it right now to check, but I think It isn’t even a penis in the book. It’s a dildo. So it’s not even a drawing of genitalia, when read in context. It’s plastic.
These same people have no issue with a million images of murder or violence which is so much more disturbing and awful than a dildo. (Or oral sex)

[chickadee77]

FFS indeed. So don't check out the damn book.

I came across all KINDS of "inappropriate" material as a bookworm kid that practically lived at the library. (Honestly, isn't that how most kids learned about sex in our age? Sneaking peeks at Kama Sutra, watching Cinemax when our parents were out for the night? Lolol). So you have a conversation with your kid (or not, as in my own case, because I didn't want my library privileges revoked).

Oh wait. That would be, like, encouraging critical thinking- or, at least, independent thought. Can't have that, dearie me. /s

ETA And, yes, they do want to rile people up, obviously, because politics is now another form of entertainment. Why send out the very image that is oh-so-offensive? Oh, because taking things out of context makes better entertainment than viewing the whole thing rationally. FFS.

[nsl]

A similar incident happened at our state capitol last year during a read-in and rally against book banning legislation. A so-called "protect the children" activist handed out flyers packed with explicit excerpts from books they objected to, including to young kids in the audience. Author Shannon Hale's young daughter (Hale is the author of a ton of award-winning MG and kids' books, including the Kittycorn picture book that's suddenly causing all kinds of issues with the crazies) was handed one even though she was clearly under 10.

Honestly, I think the people who do this sort of thing get off on it. They accuse us--school librarians, teachers, the LGBTQ+ community, and authors--of grooming kids and turn around to do that very thing assuming they'll get away with it because they've misdirected public attention towards another group.

[goldengirlz]

Sept 1, 2023 16:22:22 GMT -5 chickadee77 said:

FFS indeed. So don't check out the damn book.

I came across all KINDS of "inappropriate" material as a bookworm kid that practically lived at the library. (Honestly, isn't that how most kids learned about sex in our age? Sneaking peeks at Kama Sutra, watching Cinemax when our parents were out for the night? Lolol). So you have a conversation with your kid (or not, as in my own case, because I didn't want my library privileges revoked).

Oh wait. That would be, like, encouraging critical thinking- or, at least, independent thought. Can't have that, dearie me. /s

ETA And, yes, they do want to rile people up, obviously, because politics is now another form of entertainment. Why send out the very image that is oh-so-offensive? Oh, because taking things out of context makes better entertainment than viewing the whole thing rationally. FFS.

Not to mention that kids can (and will) find so much worse on the internet.

As a parent, I accept that shielding my kid will only go so far. Open conversations are a lot more effective.

ETA: And now ProBoards is showing me ads for R-rated comics. Thanks everyone. 😀

[jinkies]

This is my district. We got the mailer. We've made national news multiple times because of how crazy our current school board is.

We have the chance to flip the board in November and I'm cautiously optimistic. The current board is running scared and sending this kind of batshit stuff out.

They also just gave the superintendent, who is their puppet, a $90,000 raise (off cycle, his contract wasn't up for a few years) and extended his contract to ensure that he remains to do their bidding even if the board loses power. Meanwhile we have something like 150 unfilled support staff positions because the pay is so bad.

It's rough here. We are a very purple district/area so flipping is definitely possible. I'd say even likely bc the current board has been so epically bad.

[jinkies]

Some additional context about the current school board controversies:

www.nytimes.com/2021/11/16/podcasts/the-daily/school-boards-mask-mandates-crt-bucks-county.html

whyy.org/articles/central-bucks-school-district-considering-removing-books-libraries/

whyy.org/articles/pa-central-bucks-school-district-new-pr-firm/

whyy.org/articles/central-bucks-school-district-lgbtq-students-pronoun-policy/

whyy.org/articles/central-bucks-school-district-superintendent-abe-lucabaugh-salary-raise/

[wildrice]

Do they not see the irony of sending these images into homes with children when they don't want kids to see them in a library? At least in a library only kids who pick up the book will see them. And they will be seen in context.

[notreal]

Sept 2, 2023 7:43:24 GMT -5 wildrice said:

Do they not see the irony of sending these images into homes with children when they don't want kids to see them in a library? At least in a library only kids who pick up the book will see them. And they will be seen in context.

That's part of their plan. If people complain or object, since they are taken directly from the books they want to ban it will bolster their point that the books are offensive and should be banned

[MixedBerryJam]

Similar but different but a local (NOVA) R  brings his 16-foot  phallus sign and car-dealership flappy air guy that says f Biden to little league games. I’ll put it behind a spoiler but since I don’t know how to use the spoiler tag I’ll delete if I screw up. Bc Biden’s a groomer.

SPOILER: Click to show

[Jalapeñomel]

I’ve been following all this controversy in PA. This school board is bananas.

Also, I hope none of these book banning people ever go into a classroom, bathroom, or hallway, because they will see nine bajillion penises drawn everywhere.

[heygrey]

MixedBerryJam the irony of “stop grooming our children”…

[msmerymac]

jinkies the school district has always had such a good reputation. I used to work in Doylestown and a lot of my coworkers had kids in Central Bucks. The current board and their antics seemed to come out of nowhere, but don’t they think it will affect the desirability of that area?!

[jinkies]

Sept 2, 2023 14:29:33 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

jinkies the school district has always had such a good reputation. I used to work in Doylestown and a lot of my coworkers had kids in Central Bucks. The current board and their antics seemed to come out of nowhere, but don’t they think it will affect the desirability of that area?!

They truly do not care. I guess they think it will be more attractive to conservatives, so it would be a wash? (Or net positive in their mind?)

It used to be really hard to get a job in the district without connections because it was a desirable place to work. Now we can't fill positions. They are not seeing the connection between the culture wars they are perpetuating and the difficulty retaining teachers. But by all means, let's give the superintendent a 40% raise for no reason.

It's really sad. They have driven the district's reputation into the ground in such a short period of time.

[cattledogkisses]

It's odd to me that the book banning crowd focuses mainly, or in many cases solely, on sexual content as a metric for deciding something isn't appropriate. Of the books I can remember being disturbed and upset by as a child/teen, in every case it was because of graphic descriptions of violence, not sexual content.

[erbear]

Sept 2, 2023 14:29:33 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

jinkies the school district has always had such a good reputation. I used to work in Doylestown and a lot of my coworkers had kids in Central Bucks. The current board and their antics seemed to come out of nowhere, but don’t they think it will affect the desirability of that area?!

So this is interesting. I have long held the belief that the “good” school districts (you know, the ones realtors talk about bc they are white and affluent) have been playing the long game on this stuff for years. Building power, playing on parents’ fears. None of this is surprising to me after living in this area for 20 years.