Did you hear that Florida has banned several books written by romance novelist Nora Roberts? Where will this stop? Dr. Seuss?

It’s total lunacy and I don’t see how anyone can defend it. They won’t stop. I know Florida is a very popular state now for retirees but I don’t think I could ever live in such a horrible place where they are making such illogical decisions.

That’s the last place in the world I would want to live. No right wing lunatic is going to dictate to me or my family what we can read or not read. They want to impress me then try banning auto weapons. Otherwise I’d rather live in the Arctic tundra. At least I wouldn’t be bothered by those morons up there.

Nora Roberts??? Really??? Soon enough, the list of not banned authors will be shorter than the list of banned authors.

Nora Roberts. Ffs.

The beginning signs or an uberlord wanting to run and conquer everyone.

You go to a library to pick a book to read, not to throw one in the bin. Unless you’re a Florida politician that is.

They’ve banned most of Jodi Picoult and Judy Blume as well. In my mind, Florida is a failed state at this point. I’m glad I don’t own there any more.

I thought the USA was a free country the Republicans prove that is not true, but then what other country can a mentally disturbed teen ager go into a gun shop buy a assault style rifle with no questions thank God they haven’t banned that!
Just don’t try and read a romance novel you don’t want that filth getting to your children.

@SQUEEKY2 and don’t florget Judy Blume! She talks about stuff like menstruating! Horrible stuff to put into the minds of teenagers. Teens definitely need protection from talk like that.

Only upside of book banning is that shortly the bible will be banned too, it speaking of incest, rape, prostitution, seduction, and so on.
I mean, surely there won’t be exceptions, Ron?

Only in schools. Nobody is stopping you from buying her stuff to read. I’m an avid reader, won’t read her nor Stephen King. Still, nobody says you can’t buy her books from Amazon or wherever and read. There are plenty more books to check out from school libraries in Florida, not sure why anybody is stuck on this one author.

^It’s a slippery slope.

@Acrylic It is many, many authors and many, many libraries. And not every kid or adult has money to buy books.

Soon to happen in a park or square in Florida !

Fascist book burning

It’s very similar to what most gun enthusiasts are so upset about, when it comes to banning certain firearms. (I know. They aren’t the same as books.)
If you ban one firearm, which ones are next? And so on, until there are no legal firearms.

For those who think books aren’t considered a threat, think about it. Nazi Germany, China, North Korea, etc. That’s a reference of what the conservative agendas is looking like…

This is the most dangerous type of “censorship.”

And they did try to cancel Dr. Seuss because the residents in Whoville were too white. The nerve of some authors!

https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/books/here-are-the-wrong-illustrations-that-got-six-dr-seuss-books-cancelled

I does not have to be right wingers, this happens whenever a dictator wants to control the minds of their population.

I think the book banning is horrible, but these are bans in schools not in bookstores or public libraries as far as I know. Kids can read the books. Parents aren’t going to go to jail for their child reading a book.

All school libraries can only have a certain number of books, it is usually a fairly small space, so there is always someone making a choice what to have an what not have on the shelves. The governor making an issue of it is definitely a problem though. I can’t believe it is happening in the United States of America in 2023. Republicans will argue schools are local, and then they will go along with this bullshit of banning books across the state in schools. They accuse Democrats of indoctrinating children, but that is exactly what Republicans want to do by controlling reading materials and wanting school vouchers to be eligible for religious schools. When you put it all together you see there is a method to their madness.

A lot of Republicans believe “competition will make schools better” but the people at the top and the billionaire Dominionists funding the politicians to push their goals of turning the US into a white lead Christian theocracy.

Some Seuss books were pulled from publication, I think the family or foundation pulled them. I really didn’t see a big problem with those books, but if the publisher or family or whoever is in control worries that the books are offensive, then so be it.

Any old port in a storm, any old non issue to dodge gun control / reform. Twenty seven kids killed in another shooting? Move on, nothing to see here. But we must avoid Nora Roberts at all cost!

I guess I’d have to see the actual rules that banned the books, where they are banned, why they are banned, etc. I’ve seen plenty of romance novels that were effectively soft-core porn. Not something I’d necessarily see as being appropriate in an elementary school, for instance.

I’m not generally a big fan of banning books for quite a few reasons. But I have to question why it is so important to so many people to allow smut and/or pornographic materials in our schools and especially with our youngest children.

“Where will this stop?”
– With the removal on wannabe fascists from government?

@seawulf575 Actually, according to this article, they were banned from high schools in the county mentioned in the article. So it would be 15, 16, 17 and 18 year olds. Not our youngest children.

@chyna So that article doesn’t say it was a Florida ban…not a new law that outlawed it. It says they were banned because of outrage by some activist group. So it isn’t the Florida government that is banning the books, it is a county board that is knuckling under to protesters. Sucks, doesn’t it? Kinda the same thing Conservatives have been squawking about for a while with the push for transgenderism in schools and normalizing drag shows for small children by local and/or state governments.

Ironically, your article had this statement:
“Yet local school boards and governments keep allowing objectors to control what other people’s children read based solely on their own opinions.”.

I believe the real issue is not the banning of books. It is getting away from the purpose of school in the first place. It is NOT supposed to be an indoctrination center either for the left or the right. It IS supposed to be a place where children can learn reading, writing, arithmetic, science, and other skills they will need in life as they grow up. All this push to include gender normalizations, worrying about what might be too racy for children, etc. is all distraction from what the kids should be learning.

@seawulf575 I agree!
Wow, we should mark this date down.

@chyna MAY DAY 2023! Maybe it’s the start of a trend? Okay, I’m getting ahead of myself.

@seawulf575 Many of the right wing politicians in power are giving permission and encouragement through their speeches and commentary for the extremists to go out and protest, to be disorderly, and sometimes these protestors do it with violence and guns. That same encouragement happens through our social media too.

It’s all mostly the same people screaming. Anti-mask, anti-vaccine, think the voting machines and vote in general was sabotaged, worried about books in schools, want school vouchers, etc. The politicians just use these people. The media (media includes fox news) use our extremists in society also for ratings.

@JLeslie Your statement and examples show you don’t believe the left does the exact same thing. Might want to check your premises.

I think the left does some of the same things, but definitely not the guns.

What is happening in Florida is that any parent complaining of a book, often one they haven’t read, is resulting in books being pulled from school and public libraries all over that county. It has created a chilling effect on learning and teachers have pulled all the optional reading books off their shelves in some schools out of fear.

This is not what the left is doing, sorry. This is an atmosphere of fascism. You have the right to control what your kids read; you don’t have the right to control what I choose for my kids to read.

I’m out of this thread. Life so many, it is strayed too far afield from any factual statements to be useful.

I was a voracious reader during my pre-teen years and my grands bought boxes of books for me at garage sales.
Many were spicy romances that were definately too mature. But banning is too much.

It’s not even the banning that troubles me so much as who is doing the banning. A politician is the last person you want doing that.