Feb 10, 2022
So, McMinn County School Board in Tennessee decided to remove
Maus - Art Spiegelman's classic graphic novel about the
Nazi Holocaust and historical memory - from their syllabus, on the
grounds that some simply sketched mouse nudity and a few very mild
swears would upset and corrupt their pupils, which is obviously
very reasonable and evidence of extremely well balanced
priorities. Actually, alongside the epidemic of attempts
across the US to remove certain sorts of books from school
libraries and curricula, it is evidence that an insidious
reactionary agenda is gaining traction.
In this episode we talk about the decision of the school board,
and look through the minutes of the meeting. Daniel even
gives an impromptu dramatic reading. We talk about where the
appalling decision comes from, and what it really means both for
the students and in terms of the wider culture. Along the way
we consider the lies of slimy propagandist Christopher Rufo and the
spluttering fanaticism of the increasingly unhinged James
Lindsay.
Content very much warnings.
Podcast
Notes:
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*
Episode
Notes/Links
Judd Legum
tweet about the banning of Maus
MCMINN COUNTY BANS “MAUS”, PULITZER
PRIZE-WINNING HOLOCAUST BOOK – THE TENNESSEE HOLLER
(tnholler.com)
"Continuing the recent spate of
conservative book-banning initiatives, The Mcminn County School
board just voted to ban the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel
“MAUS” by Art Spiegelman from all of its schools, citing the
inclusion of words like “God Damn” and “naked pictures”
(illustrations) of women."
Official Statment from the McMinn County School
Board
CNN, "Maus" author reacts to his book being
banned
Exposed by CMD,
ALEC Inspires Lawmakers to File
Anti-Critical Race Theory Bills
- The December ALEC (American Legislative
Exchange Council) workshop was led by the Heritage Foundation’s
Bridget Weisenberg and featured Heritage’s Jonathan Butcher and
Angela Sailor, Discovery Institute’s
Christopher
Rufo, American
Enterprise Institute’s Ian Rowe, and Woodson Center’s Robert
Woodson. Thirty-one state legislators from 20 states attended,
along with corporate representatives from Guarantee Life Insurance,
EDP Renewables, and State Farm Insurance.
- In order to combat the alleged threat that
critical race theory poses, speakers promoted curriculum materials
from Trump’s failed 1776 project and a
Goldwater Institute model
bill to make curriculum materials transparent. They
also discussed school privatization measures such as
education savings
accounts and charter
schools.
- ALEC highlighted a
New York Post
opinion piece written by Heritage
Foundation staff that argued, “The goals of the Black Lives Matter
organization go far beyond what most people think. But they are
hiding in plain sight, there for the world to see, if only we read
beyond the slogans and the innocuous-sounding media accounts of the
movement.”
- Several ALEC lawmakers in attendance got the
message. GOP state Rep. Beryl Amedee of Louisiana attended the
workshop and later co-authored an
op-ed arguing that critical race theory:
- “is an outgrowth, and little more than a new
version of, the Marxist ideology of class warfare with the end goal
of societal collapse and the re-making of society. If you know
history, it’s easy to both spot and identify. The problem for those
confronting this potential catastrophe is how they are explaining
their end goals for dealing with it.”
James Lindsay at New
Discourses, Groomer Schools 2: Queer Futurity and the
Sexual Abuse of Your Children
Dyer, Hannah,
Queer futurity and childhood innocence: Beyond the injury of
development
Abstract:
- Because it is so often said that children are
the future, queer theory’s attention to (and searing debates on)
queer futurity offers something new and important to studies of
childhood. Drawing on and deepening recent attempts to meld the
fields of childhood studies and queer theory, I dwell on the
contradiction that results from the synchronous assumptions of the
child’s a-sexuality and proto-heterosexuality to show how
emphasizing sexuality within a discussion of children’s education
is constructive. In the service of my interest in the renewal of
thought concerning children’s psychosexual development, I offer a
critical reading of the It Gets Better social media campaign
(particularly, its consequent critiques and revisions). I begin
with engagement of Eve Sedgwick’s 1991 seminal essay on queer
childhood “How to Bring Your Kids Up Gay” and then, from there,
trace contemporary queer theory’s use of the figure of the child
and consideration of the impact of “innocence” on childhood. In an
effort to consider the contemporary residues of historical violence
on theories of “healthy” child development, I also consider how
histories of colonialism and trans-Atlantic slavery extend into the
future and leave traces on contemporary theories of child
development.
McMinn TN school board minutes
for
January 10, 2022
The Advocate,
Mississippi Mayor Withholds $110k
in Library Funds Over LGBTQ+ Books
Maia Kobabe, The Washington
Post,
Schools are banning my book. But
queer kids need queer stories.
Distribute the Wealth
Worksheet
Image of the school board
members who voted to
ban Maus
- Mike Cochran- It doesn’t matter, it’s in the
curriculum, all this stuff keeps popping up. So, I want to read it,
you guys can fire me later, I guess.
- “I’m just wild about Harry, and Harry’s wild
about me
The
heavenly blisses of his kisses, fill me with
ecstasy
He’s
sweet just like chocolate candy
Just
like honey from the bee
Oh I
am just wild about Harry, and he’s just wild about me.”
- One of the discussion questions is define what
this word “ecstasy” means. My problem is, all the way through this
literature we expose these kids to nakedness, we expose them to
vulgarity. You go all the way back to first grade, second grade and
they are reading books that have a picture of a naked man riding a
bull. It’s not vulgar, it’s something you would see in an art
gallery, but it’s unnecessary. So, teachers have gone back and put
tape over the guys butts so the kids aren’t exposed to it. So,
my
problem is, it looks like the entire curriculum
is developed to normalize sexuality, normalize nudity and normalize
vulgar language. If I was trying to indoctrinate somebody’s kids,
this is how I would do it. You put this stuff just enough on the
edges, so the parents don’t catch it but the kids, they soak it in.
I think we need to relook at the entire curriculum.
Rufo's New York Post piece:
https://nypost.com/2021/05/06/what-critical-race-theory-is-really-about/
Christopher Rufo and the Critical
Race Theory Moral Panic (nymag.com)
How a Conservative Activist Invented the Conflict Over Critical
Race Theory | The New Yorker
Rufo tweet about Maus/McMinn
https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1486711700283740169
Judd Legum responds https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/status/1486736150295420939
Tennessee pastor held a
"witchcraft" book burning where followers were encouraged to bring
Harry Potter and Twilight books to hurl into the
flames: Right-Wing
Pastor Greg Locke Holds 'Witchcraft' Book Burning
(newsweek.com)
Book bans in schools are catching fire. Black authors say uproar
isn’t about students. (nbcnews.com)
Book banning in Texas schools: Titles are pulled off library
shelves in record numbers (nbcnews.com)
The critics were right: "Critical race theory" panic is just a
cover for silencing educators | Salon.com
Calls to Ban Books by Black Authors Are Increasing Amid Critical
Race Theory Debates (edweek.org)
Moms for Liberty has turned ‘parental rights’ into a rallying cry
for conservative parents - The Washington Post
Unmasking Moms for Liberty | Media Matters for
America
Friend of the pod Talia Lavin:
Brownshirts vs. the Board of Education - by Talia Lavin
(substack.com) &
How To Report Subversive Books And Teachers in YOUR School
(substack.com)
A. R. Moxon: Profanity and Obscenity | Revue
(getrevue.co)
Southlake school leader tells teachers to balance Holocaust books
with 'opposing' views (nbcnews.com)