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It sounds like something you might have seen a sign for, cruising down a golden, sunlit highway, in your convertible, once upon a time. A motel, perhaps, in shades of seafoam blue-green. Ron DeSantis’s Fascist Paradise. (Well, except for the fascist part, that is.) And yet that appears to be what Florida’s becoming, and no, I’m neither kidding nor exaggerating.
Perhaps you read a recent series of articles and tweets that went viral. One by Amanda Marcotte, worth reading in full, is an excellent summary. Let me cite a little bit of it, which is shocking.
Did you get that? Teachers are removing or covering up…all the books. Until they can be “reviewed.” For what, precisely? We’re about to get to that, but first: if that sounds a whole lot like the Taliban, that’s because it is. We should never, ever see — in a modern society, a democracy, a liberal state, and I don’t mean that in a partisan sense, just as in “one founded on notions of liberty”…something like all the books in classrooms or libraries being covered up. (Like, for example, the way women are, under the Taliban, who also do things like ban books, which are dangerous and subversive, because they…enlighten people.)
We should never see books being covered up. This is literal, actual, very real Nazi style stuff. One of the very first things the Nazis did as they came to power was to get rid of the books. In open, loud, violent, symbolic book burnings. Seriously. Read this, for context.
And so symbolic attacks on books aren’t just some kind of minor-league thing to blithely, pleasantly ignore: they are a warning sign that a society is in troubled waters. A big, clear, blinking, neon red sign of such a thing. Nobody should take this lightly. Whether or not you’re a bookworm or not, because books aren’t just things made of paper — they’re living embodiments of all the values modern societies hold dear. Expression, association, movement, intimacy, equality, truth, justice.
In fact, the Nazi book burnings were one of the things that began to turn America against the Nazis. That was a contentious struggle at the time, as Ken Burns has so sagely documented in his new “America and the Holocaust” series — essential viewing. And now? Here’s America itself, banning, covering up, “removing” the books. Think about how bad that actually is. Big deal.
Now. Why is all this happening? As ridiculous as the reason is, you already know it, even if you don’t quite believe it. Let me quote Judd Legum again.
Think I’m kidding? Then let’s keep going — sorry, another long quote, but again, necessary.
It sounds like something you might have seen a sign for, cruising down a golden, sunlit highway, in your convertible, once upon a time. A motel, perhaps, in shades of seafoam blue-green. Ron DeSantis’s Fascist Paradise. (Well, except for the fascist part, that is.) And yet that appears to be what Florida’s becoming, and no, I’m neither kidding nor exaggerating.
Perhaps you read a recent series of articles and tweets that went viral. One by Amanda Marcotte, worth reading in full, is an excellent summary. Let me cite a little bit of it, which is shocking.
How bad is it? Just how dystopian are we talking? As the journalist Judd Legum pointed out, “Teachers in Manatee County have been told to remove all books from their classroom libraries. On Monday, for example, teachers at Bayshore High School in Manatee County received the following message: ‘Remove or cover all classroom libraries until all materials can be reviewed.’”A Florida law signed by DeSantis requires that every book available to students “must be selected by a school district employee who holds a valid educational media specialist certificate,” in most cases, the school librarian. This may sound reasonable on its surface, but as the situation in Manatee County shows, in reality, it’s about creating a bottleneck preventing books from getting into the hands of students.
Did you get that? Teachers are removing or covering up…all the books. Until they can be “reviewed.” For what, precisely? We’re about to get to that, but first: if that sounds a whole lot like the Taliban, that’s because it is. We should never, ever see — in a modern society, a democracy, a liberal state, and I don’t mean that in a partisan sense, just as in “one founded on notions of liberty”…something like all the books in classrooms or libraries being covered up. (Like, for example, the way women are, under the Taliban, who also do things like ban books, which are dangerous and subversive, because they…enlighten people.)
We should never see books being covered up. This is literal, actual, very real Nazi style stuff. One of the very first things the Nazis did as they came to power was to get rid of the books. In open, loud, violent, symbolic book burnings. Seriously. Read this, for context.
Let me say it again. One of the very first things the Nazis did was burn books, by authors they considered dangerous, subversive, antithetical to their ideology. That’s the difference between us and them. Nobody’s burning books — LOL, “books” — by Tucker Carlson or who have you. They’re right there for everyone to read, as absurd as they are. Who does things like burn, ban, cover up books? It’s a pretty good sign you’re dealing with actual, real deal, bona fide fascists.On May 10, 1933 student groups at universities across Germany carried out a series of book burnings of works that the students and leading Nazi party members associated with an “un-German spirit.” Enthusiastic crowds witnessed the burning of books by Brecht, Einstein, Freud, Mann and Remarque, among many other well-known intellectuals, scientists and cultural figures, many of whom were Jewish. The largest of these book bonfires occurred in Berlin, where an estimated 40,000 people gathered to hear a speech by the propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, in which he pronounced that “Jewish intellectualism is dead” and endorsed the students’ “right to clean up the debris of the past.”
And so symbolic attacks on books aren’t just some kind of minor-league thing to blithely, pleasantly ignore: they are a warning sign that a society is in troubled waters. A big, clear, blinking, neon red sign of such a thing. Nobody should take this lightly. Whether or not you’re a bookworm or not, because books aren’t just things made of paper — they’re living embodiments of all the values modern societies hold dear. Expression, association, movement, intimacy, equality, truth, justice.
In fact, the Nazi book burnings were one of the things that began to turn America against the Nazis. That was a contentious struggle at the time, as Ken Burns has so sagely documented in his new “America and the Holocaust” series — essential viewing. And now? Here’s America itself, banning, covering up, “removing” the books. Think about how bad that actually is. Big deal.
Now. Why is all this happening? As ridiculous as the reason is, you already know it, even if you don’t quite believe it. Let me quote Judd Legum again.
Did you get that? Now we’re seeing an even stronger, truer signal that, yes, this is real deal fascism. What signal is that? Teachers are being criminalized. Teaching is being criminalized. Why is that bad — exactly, precisely, even though it’s intuitively obvious? Let me spell it out for you — sorry, long quote, but a very necessary one.Florida teachers are being told to remove all books from their classroom libraries OR FACE FELONY PROSECUTION. The new policy is based on the premise that teachers are using books to “groom” students or indoctrinate them with leftist ideologies.
Did you get that? To consolidate their power, the Nazis criminalized dissent. Against their ideology. But even that’s a poor way to put it, because, of course, dissent again fascist values just means you believe in, LOL, democracy, and its fundamental values of freedom, justice, equality, truth, and so forth. The Nazis didn’t just make dissent a crime — they criminalized believing in democracy itself.As the Nazis worked to consolidate their power and build a cohesive “national community,” suppression of dissent played a key role. In 1933, the Nazis issued a decree that required Germans to turn in anyone who spoke against the party, its leaders, or the government (see reading, Outlawing the Opposition in Chapter 5). That decree, “For the Defense against Malicious Attacks against the Government,” stated:
Whoever purposely makes or circulates a statement of a factual nature which is untrue or grossly exaggerated or which may seriously harm the welfare of the Reich or of a state, or the reputation of the National government or of a state government or of parties or organizations supporting these governments, is to be punished, provided that no more severe punishment is decreed in other regulations, with imprisonment of up to two years and, if he makes or spreads the statement publicly, with imprisonment of not less than three months.
If serious damage to the Reich or a state has resulted from this deed, penal servitude may be imposed.
Whoever commits an act through negligence will be punished with imprisonment of up to three months, or by a fine.
To enforce the decree, the Nazis set up special courts to try people who were accused of “malicious attacks.” In December 1934, the government replaced the decree with the “Law against Malicious Attacks on State and Party,” adding a clause that criminalized “malicious, rabble-rousing remarks or those indicating a base mentality” against the Nazi Party or high-ranking government or party officials.
Think I’m kidding? Then let’s keep going — sorry, another long quote, but again, necessary.
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