Cowardly DE school board cancels entire summer reading list over LGBT-inflected YA novel

That study does not indicate that ‘education is a poor choice for reducing/eliminating bullying’

In fact, the sort of education that reading the books in question would provide fall neatly into that ‘cultural’ aspect that the study indicates has effectiveness.

You were thinking about the bullying program bit, weren’t you? :wink:

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Sorry, didn’t mean to leave your expertly crafted response unattended, it was a busy day.

So, shall we continue?

Yet your first post was…

First, the title of this article is inflammatory. Banning the reading list is their call to make, and it’s the journalist’s job to not put emotions on display. Don’t be Kotaku or Polygon, please.

Also, since I pointed out that given the context of the actual story the hyperbole in the headline was accurate I’ll assume your effective reply to point one is: ‘I, AgentBJ09, agree that the headline was appropriate and it’s perfectly fair for blog posters to use hyperbole in the same way they have during the entire lifetime of their blog’

So, that was fun.

Moving on to point two!

You said:

Second, most of what’s on that list is boring to read, and from what I know of some of them, they’re likely only there for progressive reasons versus literary ones.

To which I responded…

Really? You have the ability to arbitrarily decide what’s boring (and therefore relevant) and you’re pretty sure you know that some of them are only there for ‘progressive reasons’.

Explain to me what these reasons are and why they’re bad.

I’m intrigued.

To which you responded.

Perhaps the reason you get ‘jumped on’ is because you make wildly inaccurate statements as fact and then when you’re asked to support it with logic and/or evidence you’re unable to do so?

Until I have evidence to the contrary, I’m going to interpret your response as…
'I, AgentBJ09, agree that point 2 wasn’t actually a point but was just my personal opinion and it really wasn’t worth bringing up.

To which I of course agree!

Last, you made a third point!

You don’t confront bullying through education, unless your goal is not the bullies but the people in the middle who don’t care and who you want to demean. That I’ve seen, trying to force re-education on people and kids who are simply living their lives and doing their jobs. See also: diversity training.

Let’s just put it out on the table and say that the opinions of the people who put together this list were probably paying a lot more attention to the nuances of said books than a couple of crazy religious parents who oppose treating homosexuality with dignity or a school board who thinks that it’s okay to get rid of the list because it ‘has swears’

I’ll also point out that your response has little to do with my rebuttal OR your initial post, but here goes that too.

Third, most of those books have little literary substance to them beyond ‘progressive’ ideas that kids can and should make their own choices about, versus being told what to think about them. That’s what opinions are for, and opinions on social topics are still permitted, last I checked.

So, the whole point of not having every book from the perspective of exactly the same white boy over and over again is because that’s part of the problem. There’s no HARM in having a story with an interesting gay, female, or other character. Yet somehow one book gets resisted by a horrible parent because it treats a ‘different’ person with dignity and that person’s opinion not only is factored in, but it’s resulting in the banning of the whole list.

Horrible parenting should not be propagated to all of our children, yet that’s precisely what’s happening.

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Good gravy.

I’ve read “Daughter of Smoke and Bone”. It’s got “angels” and “demons”. The angels are the bad guys. You’re probably right.

I’m getting a real kick out of your comments recently @William_Holz, it’s good to read such thoughtfully thorough rinsings from such a considerate and naturally kind person.
Bravo!
…maybe should be a private message but I dont have much truck with them on a public board.

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I have been a little snarky the last couple of days, haven’t I? :smile:

Thanks!

Juusst the right amount.

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