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“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. ”
Alvin Toffler – – American Writer, Futurist, and Businessman
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The freedom to read – – learn, unlearn and relearn – – about new people, places, ideas and concepts – – is under assault in the United States of America in recent years. States like Florida, under Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, has led the charge in challenging public schools and its teachers on what can and should be available for students to discover. For example, over 3,300 instances of books were banned in public school classrooms and libraries across the country between 2022-2023. Over 40 percent of all book bans occurred in school districts in Florida. The authors most frequently targeted were people of color, women and individuals from the LGBTQ+ community. This shocking NU normal should be triggering for ALL in the land of the free, home of the brave since the United States of America was founded on the principles and ideals promoting freedom of speech, thought and the pursuit of happiness. How is it that WE, the people, are now allowing those in political power to limit this freedom in an attempt to control access to information, ideas and concepts about what it means to be an American and a free thinking human?
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The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison was an important book for me during my childhood. It resonated immensely with my experiences as those like me. It is one of the books on the ban list.
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At this point, I must state the obvious. I am absolutely against these efforts to ban books in public schools or any institution of higher learning. Our educational environments have represented the one place where young people and others were exposed to a range of new ideas and concepts. They had the freedom to explore issues of identity, historical facts, people, places and things. Those who are trying to prevent access to subjects and authors they deem taboo are making biased judgements based upon their limiting beliefs and false notions of who we are as – – not only as Americans but as individuals. Denying the range of human experiences does not mean that they don’t exist nor does it undermine the fact that we have different human stories that are equally important to share and explore. This does not mean we should not have discussions about the age appropriateness of certain content and subject matters. Educators and parents have always done this.
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“Your education system has left you terribly ignorant. If you are going to take pride in your ignorance, don’t pretend like you know something.”
VC@circusfaery33 – legendary free-thinker & agent provocateur
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In addition, one of the most concerning points for me is that some of the subjects under scrutiny (banned books) focus on historical facts in these Americas. Some would like to re-write history in real time denying students the ability to assess our country’s past as well as current events. It feels very disingenuous and restricting forcing one to have a false sense of trUth. They are using propaganda and word salad verbiage to describe events to create a different narrative than what our brain interprets and eyes can see. Our leadership appears to be establishing the foundation for the new American indoctrination erasing recent and past historical facts. American history was not always as accurate as it could have been but now some are trying to completely deny that certain events and experiences ever happened. Oh my …
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Beginning in 1933, members of Germany’s Adolph Hitler’s Youth regularly burned books written by leftist, liberal prominent Jewish writers. (Photo: World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo, dated 1938)
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Many may wonder why you need to be concerned about this topic. If you don’t read (social media dominates how young people get their information), as some have professed, who cares if some books are not readily available? This sentiment is very naive sense those who think this way are not understanding the infringement on freedom of expression. There are serious red flags being raised when our leadership tries to stifle individual thought. It signals the beginning of a society more dangerous than most could even imagine (think communist China, Russia, Germany during WWII etc.) Perhaps we’re heading towards a black out of sorts – totalitarian world – where our way of life or even the illusions we’ve had about it will be permanently limited. It reminds me of one of my favorite books by author George Orwell, Animal Farm, which really focussed on a society where a select few were able to limit free thought and expression while they kept all the power and opportunities. Those in charge used propaganda to limit the ideas, opportunities and access shared with those less powerful. It is staggering what happens when the powerless realize the hypocrisy and injustice being perpetrated by the powerful elites. Let’s not forget that revisionist history begins with erasing the past and present.
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BANNED
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“History becomes far more interesting to study when the veil of racism is removed.”
Unknown
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Dear Americans – – we’re all in danger of losing something very valuable. Most countries and their governments have a goal to indoctrinate its populous according to its worldview, norms and cultural identity. The formal educational system is used to administer this indoctrination on the highest level. Yet, the content of the indoctrination and its accuracy in relation to trUth is another thing. The problem we’re facing now is that many don’t see the crisis coming. Book banning is a serious red flag signaling we’re on the precipice of the un-imaginable. There is no time to think about it. A collective reaction if warranted in order to thwart this extermination of free speech and thought. Otherwise, one day our children will wake up with no understanding of our history or who they are as human beings in this diverse world. The new American Indoctrination program would have done its job – well.
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3ACTunveiled 