Dr. Chuck Tingle told readers today that the Texas Library Association has rescinded his invitation to be a featured speaker at the organization’s annual conference, slated for April 16-19. Another invited speaker, TJ Klune, is following him out the door in protest.
Tingle has discussed the situation extensively in a post on Tumblr and as a free read on his Patreon: “THE TEXAS LIBRARY ASSOCIATION TELLS CHUCK TINGLE TO STAY HOME BUT WE PROVE LOVE ANYWAY”.
Tingle accepted the invitation and had it confirmed by the Texas Library Association several months ago. However, in December —
i get a call from my manager and agent and publisher saying ‘the TLA have rescinded their invitation.’
turns out some things had been going on behind the scenes
at some point the TLA asked chucks INCREDIBLE HEROIC BAD ASS PUBLISHER if chuck would be okay with not wearing the mask, to which tor/nightfire/macmillan said ‘what the heck are you talking about of course chuck is going to wear his mask. this is how chuck presents himself’ (NOT EXACT QUOTE)
as you all know, my pink bag way is a VERY IMPORTANT SPACE. as an autistic buckaroo it is a boundary that allows me to express myself freely and relieve my chronic pain from neurotypically masking all day. i have talked about this for years, and it is why i consider my private identity a SACRED THING. it is literally a health issue.
fortunately THE PINK BAG is never really a problem when making appearances. i have spent years going on television shows, doing interviews, speaking at other conferences and conventions, hosting book events on tour, and even MEETING WITH LAWYERS in my pink face covering. it is always respected and that is very validating to my way.
when arriving anywhere i always take precautions. i always warn buckaroos ahead of time that there is a masked man coming. i always have someone go in ahead of me JUST IN CASE. again, there has never been an issue. at a big conference where i am a special guest there is ESPECIALLY not an issue because my face and bio are printed IN THE DANG PROGRAM
PART TWO: RESCINDED
a few days ago TEXAS LIBRARY ASSOCIATION suddenly messaged my publishers and said that chuck tingle is no longer invited. my invitation was rescinded. the reason given was that people could possibly be uncomfortable with my mask
right out of the gate i would like to say this: it is absolutely the right of the texas library association to disinvite someone from their conference. it is their event, after all, and they can ban anyone they would like, for any reason.
of course, that doesnt mean other folks HEARING THIS NEWS wont have their own opinions the TLA choices. if the TLA disinvites someone, their reasoning for doing this can be discussed and analyzed. whether or not they follow their own guidelines can be questioned, and certainly their kindness and tact can be considered
As Tingle explains later in his post, the decision to revoke his invitation was made by the organization based on their unwillingness to host a masked speaker, not because of complaints from TLA members or the public (in contrast with the “disinvitations” tendered sff writers like Larry Correia and John Ringo after some members of an event where they were announced as guests of honor protested in social media.)
Tingle justifiably notes, “I just gotta say buckaroos, it is incredibly rude to invite someone to be a guest speaker at your event, have them confirm and mark off their calendar and turn down other offers, then rescind their invitation. this is maybe the simplest of the points, but it is an important one.”
He goes on to ask why his means of coping with neurodivergence would not be honored by the TLA when it is a practice he follows at every public appearance.
second, (DEEP BREATH HERE WE GO BUCKAROOS) i personally do not think of my autism as a disability very often, but i also KNOW that despite these feelings it ABSOLUTELY IS. autism is important to be listed as a recognized disability because of the help some autistic buckaroos need regarding government programs and things like that. ALSO just because my neurodivergence has helped me in some ways (hyperfocus and a unique artistic sensibility for example). i personally need to step back and remember my battle with stress and chronic pain from having to neurotypically mask all the time. for as much as i love being autistic it has made some things very difficult.
in other words, i am perfectly capable of speaking and interacting with folks without this pink bag on my head BUT WHEN I AM IN THE CHUCK TINGLE SPACE I REQUIRE IT. i can ONLY use this space while covering my face. is not a want. it is a need. holding this boundary is more important than i can ever say. i will not, and can not, let these spaces cross.
TLA not letting an autistic author wear the face cover theyve set up to express their neurodivergence in a safe, healthy way is–for lack of a better term–NOT A GOOD LOOK…
Meanwhile, Tingle wonders whether the objection to his mask is a stalking horse for objections to his queerness or political expression.
you MIGHT think chucks queerness and left leaning politics could be the issue with this organization, but they have had drag queens as past speakers (also featuring some GLORIOUS makeup and hair that covers almost all of their faces. VERY CURIOUS). regardless, the TLA do not seem like a conservative bunch.
if you are bisexual or an autistic person who is good at ‘passing’ you probably already know where this is headed, your dang spiderbuckaroo senses are tingling at FULL ALERT. i will say i do not KNOW the real reason why i was uninvited, and i do not have enough information to make any concrete statement of the real answer. there is only evidence that masks have been fine at TEXAS LIBRARY ASSOCIATION events in the past, but not much else to go on.
He also feels forced to consider another possibility:
… AGAIN, i do not know if this is the answer, but someone in my position might be VERY STRONGLY INCLINED TO THINK that a few well-meaning left leaning buckaroos think i am a joke and that this is a character, and that there is something problematic about my work because i am not really a real person.
any upstanding left leaning organization would OF COURSE allow a mask for a neurodivergent buckaroo with an unusual visual presentation, an autistic buckaroo who conquered his chronic pain ONLY by creating this important space… but what about a FAKE autistic buckaroo?
any upstanding left leaning organization would OF COURSE allow a mask for a queer LGBTQ activist standing up for gay and trans rights against a torrent of scoundrels hunting for his legal identity. its a matter of safety… but what about a FAKE queer activist?
let me be very clear for the 100th time: i am a real person. this is not a joke. i am not playing a character. i am really autistic and bisexual. tinglers are sincere and they are not ‘so bad theyre good’. they are just good. camp damascus is not ‘my first serious book’ because my queer erotica is serious. my art is important and real….
Tingle concludes:
i did not want to spend my whole family holiday worrying whether or not i should say something publicly or just lie down and shut my dang mouth. i had to consider HOW i should say it. i had to worry whether or not its worth standing up for myself in the face of the largest state library association in the country. i think buckaroos with differences are with me when i say: WE ARE SICK OF HAVING TO DO THIS WORK TO COVER FOR THE POOR BEHAVIOR OF LARGE ORGANIZATIONS WHO TREAT US BADLY
another option would just be to use kindness and common sense and happily accommodate artists with unique presentations to your conventions
Upon hearing about Tingle’s fate, sff author TJ Klune, who had also been invited to participate on a panel with Tingle at the TLA annual conference, turned down his own invitation.
And Tingle expressed thanks for the support:
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Chuck continues to be an awesome buckaroo
This has to be one of the strangest news stories I’ve seen lately — and not because it involves Chuck Tingle.
I wonder if someone invited Chuck Tingle to the event, knowing of his persona, not thinking there would be an issue. And then someone else found out (months later?!), looked him up, saw the mask, and rescinded the event? But doing it this way was very messy. That might be the only “logical” explanation. But it still makes no sense.
It is also possible that there are people working behind the scenes who think Chuck Tingle is faking it — and think that they can force him to reveal his real identity. Yeah, that worked out well for them, didn’t it? (Or maybe they think he really is Chris Pine? :D)
Another comment on this — for people who might not be familiar with Chuck Tingle and his public appearances.
Chuck Tingle always wears a mask to public events — a pink bag that says “Love Is Real” in all caps. You can believe that he does it because of his autism. You can believe he’s “just” protecting his privacy. You can believe that he does it as a gimmick. It doesn’t matter what you believe. He’s not going to pop in without a mask.
It’s Texas. I can almost believe that they’re genuinely uncomfortable about the mask, because they fear it might be to protect against covid. Or that he’s hiding an N95 mask under.
It’s an anti-mask, anti-vaccine, anti-social distancing state after all.
(And good for TJ Klune)
@Lis Carey
From what I understand, the TLA is not like that. They even had both a drag performer and an antiracist keynote speaker at their 2022 conference. And the 2023 convention used “Libraries Unite” as its theme.
So I’m thinking there must be something else going on here. But … I don’t know what it could be. Except maybe Extreme Failure to Google the Invited Author?
How IRONIC that in the state of Texas, the home and origin state of a famous fictional masked man, The Lone Ranger, would be so afraid to host another famous masked man, Chuck Tingle…
A clarification, Lis. The oppresive state government is “anti-mask, anti-vaccine, anti-social distancing.” Not the state as a whole. Texas A&M, where I worked for 37 years, heavily encouraged masking, tests, etc. and would have required it if it hadn’t been for Gov Racist’s totalitarian edicts. Most of the major metropolitan areas were also in the same boat, being hampered him and Lt. Gov Big Eye Norts Spews.
“Tingle justifiably notes, “I just gotta say buckaroos, it is incredibly rude to invite someone to be a guest speaker at your event, have them confirm and mark off their calendar and turn down other offers, then rescind their invitation. this is maybe the simplest of the points, but it is an important one.””
I could not agree more. Incredibly rude, and unprofessional.
I would be really surprised if they weren’t leaned on, heavily, by the AG and gov.
I was at least half joking about the mask phobia.
However, public libraries rely on public funding, and heavy pressure from the state government seems all too likely.
“It’s Texas. I can almost believe that they’re genuinely uncomfortable about the mask, ”
I have no idea if it’s relevant to this situation, but it should be mentioned that a number of Southern states have anti-masking laws that came about in response to klan rallies.
Not all reasons to prevent masks are bad.
@bill–Yeah that’s totally a valid reason for banning medical masks and a pink bag that says LOVE IS REAL on it.
Besides, Klan rallies don’t bother to mask anymore, or hadn’t you noticed?
I read his novel, Camp Damascus, yes I borrowed it from my local library, and it is not even porn. The few love scenes are very PG 13. It is great that he as an autistic main character and her super powers from autism help save the day. I can see a problem with a masked speaker in a way but this is silly, they should have known that before he was invited.
@Lis — I don’t think any court has interpreted the laws I’m talking about as banning medical masks. If you know of someone being arrested and prosecuted for wearing a medical mask under those statutes, I’d sure like to know about it. Otherwise, I’ll just lump this into the “Lis is making stuff up again” category.
“Klan rallies don’t bother to mask anymore” — so the laws work?
@bill–Texas has shown a willingness to ignore what its own laws and and its own courts say, if it gets in the way of enforcing Paxton’s ideology. And since you’d have to have your head buried 10 feet deep in the sand to be unaware of the recent case I’m referring to, I am not going to waste time on your claims to be unaware of it.
“the reason given was that people could possibly be uncomfortable with my mask”
My those Texans are butt hurt about every little thing. I’ll pass on EVER going to Texas, and when I publish my book, I won’t make any appearances in that state, or in the Texas Library Association! God knows, they might take an exception to the fact I’m a short guy. How absolutely dare I!
Folks, this snowflake mentality really must be nipped in the bud.
I wonder what else of our personal freedoms and rights are going to disappear if the right wing gets control of Congress, Senate, and White House. VOTE! Seriously!
All men are supposed to be brothers, but I guess the old saying is true, most murders happen between family members!
FWIW, the Texas state law that forbade wearing masks as an anti-klan measure was repealed some time ago.
Texas law currently forbids any requirement that people wear masks.
So Texas is now a pro-choice state…with regard to masking.
Regards,
Dann
A poisonous snake is not dangerous, nor more than a loaded gun is dangerous – in each case, you must handle it properly. – Jubal Harshaw – Stranger in a Strange Land
There was a recent post on Xitter from Chuck Tingle reposting a comment from thewalrus-said — speculating on how it’s possible the TLA has been pressured by Republican state governments over queer and BIPOC books. Some state governments want their libraries to cut ties with the American Library Association (ALA)!
I have seen news items about GOP members wanting their state to withdraw from the ALA. There’s a lot of hot air that usually involves throwing around the word “Marxist lesbian.” According to the article linked in this paragraph, some state libraries have left the organization — including Texas libraries. This fact was gleefully reported by certain “publications.”
If I can believe we bisexual neurodivergent people are real and deserving of respect, I can also believe there are forces beyond the control of the TLA that made this happen and I prefer to believe that, rather than that a bunch of librarians decided to play a mean trick on an author and throw their professional credibility out the window.
@Dann665
” the Texas state law that forbade wearing masks as an anti-klan measure was repealed some time ago.”
Thanks Dann. I knew that several states and localities had such laws, but I couldn’t confirm one way or another if Texas currently had one.
@Anne Marble
“There’s a lot of hot air [about the ALA] that usually involves throwing around the word “Marxist lesbian.” ” — because the head of the ALA, Emily Drabinski, has described herself as a Marxist lesbian.
Something’s fixin’ to pound the TLA in the butt.
Although I do believe they were leaned on by the stupid state government, who DGAF about ND people, non-straight people, etc. and used the mask as an excuse.
I guess @bill never minds being wrong/on the wrong side of history.
When their three letter acronym (TLA) is actually TLA, they’re asking for Trouble Lasting Aeons.
They’ve rescinded their rescission:
https://txla.org/news/tla-statement-regarding-author-chuck-tingle/
“As you may know, the Texas Library Association is currently planning and securing speakers for our annual conference in April. Last fall, we extended an initial invitation to author Chuck Tingle to participate as a panelist at our Evening with Authors event. We later offered Mr. Tingle the opportunity to participate in a different conference event.
This was a misstep that we regret, and it is counter to our mission to ‘unite and amplify voices…through intentional equity, diversity, and inclusion.’
I contacted Mr. Tingle’s publisher today to apologize and to ask whether or not he might reconsider participating in our Evening with Authors event. I hope Mr. Tingle will accept, and we can discuss what has transpired so that we may all come to a place of greater understanding.
TLA has spent the last two years fighting for the freedom to read and freedom of knowledge in school libraries, and we are always on the side of authors. We set a high standard for ourselves, and in this instance, we did not meet it. In the future, we will be more diligent in our processes and clearer and more thoughtful when discussing opportunities with potential speakers at our events. I am sorry for this mistake. We will learn from this and do better in the future.
Shirley Robinson
TLA executive director
Thanks, @Ita; that is good news
Glad they’re trying to make it right. Not in the least bit surprised it happened. Lots of people don’t like autistics. I can totally understand why he uses the mask. Nobody gives masked artists like Gene Simmons, Violent J and Sia trouble for doing similar things with regard to their public personae.
@lurkertype
“I guess @bill never minds being wrong/on the wrong side of history.”
I’d be interested in knowing what it is that I’ve said here that is wrong, or that puts me on the wrong side of history.
@bill
And as a Marxist lesbian I’d be interested in hearing you say the quiet part that comes after “the head of the ALA has described herself as a Marxist lesbian”.
As for the wrong side of history, you’re a habitual defender of people who want to ban books with queer content or that say things white supremacists find uncomfortable. You’re generally careful to do it in ways that don’t explicitly say you support them, and yet the pattern is there. And if those people weren’t on the wrong side of history they would feel the need to lash out in these loud but ultimately ineffective ways
@bill
Their response still comes across as hot air to me. It sounds like an excuse to dump on libraries and librarians in general. It’s not far from saying that if she is a Marxist lesbian, maybe that librarian in my town is as well. And to some, that gives them an excuse to be even bigger jerks to the librarians who have been serving their community for years.
BTW Chuck Tingle has responded to the latest turn of events:
@Sophie Jane — there is no “quiet part.” The “out loud part,” though, which I suppose I should have stated more overtly, is that it isn’t “hot air” to refer to Drabinski as a “Marxist lesbian” when she herself has said that she is a “Marxist lesbian”. It’s a relevant part of the conversation, given the influence that the ALA has (or, at least, wants to have) on school libraries. Marxism fails as a political philosophy, and is on the wrong side of history, and when librarians push it, society should push back, hard.
“you’re a habitual defender of people who want to ban books with queer content” I have never defended anyone who wants to “ban” (an inaccurate word) books solely because of queer content. But, as a parent (are you one?), I defend the proposition that some literature is so sexually explicit that it is not appropriate for young adolescents. Reasonable people can disagree about exactly where the lines that define “explicit” and “adolescent” are, but if you don’t agree at some level with that general principle, we don’t have enough in common to further discuss the subject. And when sexually explicit books that happen to have queer content (a correlation that seems to occur far more often than it does with books featuring heterosexual romance and content) show up in a school library, it’s just as appropriate to remove them as it would be to remove a Harold Robbins novel, for example.
I defend the idea that parents of kids served by libraries have the right, if not obligation, to be aware of the materials that are put in front of their kids; to criticize the choices made by librarians when they select “adult” material for young readers; and if necessary, overrule the librarians and remove the books through an appropriate process. There is nothing special about the title “librarian” that says that their choices of books for a given kid are better than the kid’s parents’ choices would be. Given that there is a movement within groups like the ALA to politicize libraries (Drabinsky’s first plank in her platform to become ALA president wasn’t funding for libraries, or literacy, or advocacy for readers as such, but was “Equity as action” and “organizing for justice”), it’s appropriate to examine what libraries and librarians do with a critical eye.
@bill–It’s rather worse than mere “hot air” to suggest that because Drabinski describes herself as a Marxist lesbian, and she’s the TLA president, it’s pushing Marxist ideas and values.
It’s always been possible for parents to opt their kids out of particular books they feel are unsuitable for them. At least, back to the 50s and 60s. That’s not what’s happening now, no matter how hard you insist it is. The current furor is about individual parents demanding, and getting, books removed from schools completely because they’ve decided, not that their kids shouldn’t read it, but that no one’s kids should read it. The opinions of other parents, even the majority of parents, of teachers, and librarians are deemed not relevant if the one parent and outside groups like “Moms for Liberty,” with no stake on the community or in education are determined.
And yes, librarians do know better than people who want to remove from schools and public libraries books of:
Fart jokes, for very young children
Factual sex education
Books that say slavery was and is unambiguously wrong
Books that say, in keeping with the clear historical record rather than later mythologizing, that the Civil War was about the right to own human beings as if they were livestock
Books that portray LGBTQ, Latino, African-American, and other minority individuals as normal people who really do have different life experiences than cis white male heterosexuals who either aren’t, or aren’t old enough to recognize the phrase, “white ethnics.” (I am old enough to have spent the entire first half of my life as a white ethnic, and the second half being mildly annoyed when a form asks me to identify my ethnicity, and it offers as the only choices, “Hispanic/Latino,” and “white.”)
Books about the black experience in America
Books that suggest that the USA has or has ever had any flaws
I and others have provided links substantiating each and every one of these things, and you proceed to niggle, deny, and goalshift all over them, so I’m not going to bother doing it again, now.
But no, “diversity, equity, inclusion” isn’t a Marxist ideological point.
This happens when the GOP wants to ban books.
https://pen.org/escambia-county-florida-banned-books-list
“It has come to this: Escambia County, Florida, schools have banned the dictionary.
Five dictionaries are on the district’s list of more than 1,600 books banned pending investigation in December 2023, along with eight different encyclopedias, The Guinness Book of World Records, and Ripley’s Believe it or Not – all due to fears they violate the state’s new laws banning materials with “sexual conduct” from schools.
Biographies of Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey, Nicki Minaj, and Thurgood Marshall are on the list, alongside The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Black Panther comics by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The Feminism Book was banned along with The Teen Vogue Handbook: An Insider’s Guide to Careers in Fashion. “
@Lis Carey & Ann Marble
There are excesses. Criticize actual lists that actually ban books. Hundreds of them. Maybe thousands of them. Including books that were pretty common on high school reading lists for most of the past 60 years.
No reasonable person is going to disagree with your perspective.
That is one conversation. That is not the conversation that needs to take place.
There are a handful of books that present sexually graphic information that are being presented as appropriate for young children. We aren’t discussing edge cases where the disagreement is over whether the content is appropriate at 17 years or 18 years of age. We are talking about graphic information suitable for an adult magazine being presented as appropriate for 10-14 year old children.
The questions are pretty simple.
Would you provide a book to a 10-14 year old heterosexual girl that included detailed instructions on how to set up a Tinder account and then how to hide that account/app so her parents wouldn’t find out? Yes or no.
Would you provide a book to a 10-14 year old gay boy that included detailed instructions on how to set up a Tinder account and then how to hide that account/app so her parents wouldn’t find out? Yes or no.
For me, the answer is “no” in both cases. Sexualizing young children harms their development as they become adults.
Should public schools put Milo Manara’s “Click” or “Butterscotch” graphic novels in their libraries? If those works don’t belong in public school libraries, then neither do those same handful of books that provide similarly graphic sexual content that are the focus of the current concerns.
That is the conversation that is taking place.
Bringing up books that may appear on actual ban lists that do not include that level of graphic content is a tactic to niggle, deny, and goal shift the conversation away from the focal point.
Are there any limits that reasonable adults should put on the literature that public schools/libraries should purchase for use by young children? Yes or no.
As bill suggests, if the answer is “no” then there really isn’t much of a basis for having a deeper conversation about what those limits should look like.
Regards,
Dann
Fate pulls you in different directions. – Clint Eastwood
@Dann665–Links, please. There’re been too many lists made up of books that are utterly reasonable books for school age reading, unless one is of a certain, narrow, extreme political viewpoint.
Not even edge cases.
I’ve repeatedly offered links supporting that. I’m tired of dealing with whataboutism, goalpost moving, and sealioning from you and/or bill.
Time for you and/or bill to start providing links–and not from Moms for Liberty, and similar sources. Real sources.
@Lis Carey
I tried that some time ago. It wasn’t accepted (i.e. my response was moderated).
I have a post on my blog on the topic that will provide book names as well as examples of the graphic images I’m referencing. I’ll let you know when it is done.
Regards,
Dann
When there is no such thing as truth, you can’t define reality. & when you can’t define reality, the only thing that matters is power. – Maajid Nawaz
All the information in the world is available to anyone who has access to the internet, including that posited in the above comment. So, it’s not about the information, it’s about the act of making it available, right? And who should and should not facilitate the acquisition of information by children and youth?
Books are inherently dangerous. They contain ideas, some of which might be new or challenging or just opposed to what young people are being taught at home. I think that’s a feature rather than a bug.
@Cheryl S.
You are correct. The information is available via other, private resources. That isn’t the issue.
The issue is whether public employees should spend precious public resources acquiring and presenting material that is inappropriate for children.
Private authors/creators should be free to create. Private publishing and distribution companies should be free to publish/distribute.
That is doubly true for works created for and sold to adults.
Parents should be free to purchase whatever they deem appropriate for their children as long as the result is not abuse of their children.
Trustworthy public employees should demonstrate reasonable discretion and avoid purchasing/presenting age-inappropriate works to children.
Reasonable people should be able to discuss (and probably disagree – hopefully civilly) where the lines are drawn. But the lines do exist.
Regards,
Dann
History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is… – Thomas Jefferson
When I was 12, I got a book that provided details on drug terminology and dealer practices (the Hardy Boys’ Detective Manual was great fun); I didn’t become a drug dealer. In my junior high library, I found a book with detailed instructions on creating a revolution using the Marxist-Leninist cells (a book by a one-time Socialist candidate for office in California, by the way (a book I shouldn’t need to identify by name, gospodin)); I have rarely overthrown a government. Meanwhile, my eyes glazed right over the orgy and the homosexual relationship in “Rendezvous with Rama.” Children will take what they need from books and disregard the rest (la, la, la); everyone seemed to be reading “Flowers in the Attic” in 10th grade, but very few seemed to have that kind of relationship with their brothers or sisters.
On a separate note, I note that I’m always puzzled by people who assert that justice is a suspiciously Marxist value – why turn over “justice” to the Marxists – it’s our value, and we shouldn’t treat it as foreign (back before Nixon sold out, he argued that civil rights for African Americans was not an issue that he would let the Soviet Union take the high ground on, leading to his support of the Civil Rights Act of 1957).
(on an unrelated issue, it’s great to see that the Puppies have had at least one successful author come out of their movement. In a hundred years, Larry, Brad, JCW, Vox and the rest can share a footnote in some scholarly work on Dr. Tingle’s career)
@ Johan Copperton
The books you list (or imply) are why I indicated upthread that in the case of some (many? most??) of the books being banned, I would agree. The Hardy Boys’ Detective Manual was a lot of fun.
With respect to justice, in my lifetime, marxists have regularly pursued “justice” but rarely pursued justice. Just as marxists have subverted useful words like “liberal” and “progressive”, they seek to subvert the idea of “justice” while generally advocating unjust policies. Of course, even a stopped clock can be correct twice per day – depending on the clock.
In the case of Ms. Drabinski, she described herself as a lesbian marxist in a comment that was relative to her position with the ALA. Her sexual preferences are irrelevant to her position. Her support of marxism, an ideology known to cause mass poverty and mass graves, should have given the selection board a reason to skip over her application. But the world is a big place. [/shrug] I’d give the same questioning look to someone in the same position trumpeting their existence as a “heterosexual capitalist” or “throuple monarchist”. None of those labels is of any utility for a position that should be focused on expanding funding and utility of libraries (among other things).
Regards,
Dann
Fate pulls you in different directions. – Clint Eastwood
Who decides what’s inappropriate? Parents? For their children or for all children? What about school boards? You? Me? The Catholic Church (they’ve done it before)?
And why is a particular work inappropriate? Because it contains dangerous knowledge like drug dealer terminology? Or has a lesbian character exploring Marxism? Or is it because it contains the potential for igniting thinking?
Maybe we should all read Fahrenheit 451 again before we decide that libraries shouldn’t purchase work that might be deemed inappropriate.
@Johan: That bit about “justice” reminds me of how Pat Robertson gave credit to Satan for freeing Haitians from slavery in the 19th century (https://www.cnn.com/2010/US/01/13/haiti.pat.robertson/index.html).
@Lis Carey
My response to your request is posted on my blog.
Regards,
Dann
This tagline deleted due to lack of interest.
@Dann665–No, sorry, not buying your claim that OGH isn’t letting you give reasonable answers here. Nor am I accepting your kind invitation to take the conversation to a space that you control.