This Is What Ignorance Looks Like

It's good for young kids. If we hand them a phone, tablet, or computer, they'll switch to youtube or roblox as soon as we stop looking. If they're holding a book, it's clear they're reading.. or spacing out, but probably reading.

 

name an indoctrinating book …

are you still running with that lame conjecture?

are you still running with ancient history?

 

What party do members of the KKK belong to now?

The KKK wasn't founded by the Democrats;

https://apnews.com/article/archive-fact-checking-2336745806

They're Republicans now:

https://psmag.com/social-justice/kkk-helped-create-solid-gop-south-96090

 

I wonder if that's really all that accurate. The last time I set foot in a library was probably around 2006, and that was because it was 100° and I had an hour to kill and wanted some AC. The last time I used a library as a library was in the early 90s? Somewhere around there.

Seems to me they may be obsolete. I even visited my alma mater at West Point in about 2008, where they had recently replaced the library, and I asked if they really needed to. They told me they gave it serious discussion, and decided to do it then, but when that building needs to be replaced, it probably would not be.

Thoughts?

 

Libraries are starting to go online. But libraries do offer meeting rooms and other activities. Even books are now available online, most of the time for free. But in the good ole days, the original search engine was those 3x5 index cards, organized by author, subject, and so forth. Then came computers where searchers were much easier. Now we have internet access, pretty much 24/7/365. So, public libraries are moving in that direction, but their basic function is still the same though.

 

Though I have not been to a library in a few years (for which, Covid must take much of the credit), I do not feel that online versions of all books, are the equal of having the tangible article in your hands. Perhaps it is that I came through school before there was any push to learn computing-- in high school I was forced to take the elective "typing," on a manual typewriter-- but I cannot as easily navigate a digital text, as I can, a physical book. I also do not much enjoy reading from a computer or, more often, my phone's screen; my eyes burn, all the time, from it. If I want to flip through a book of poetry, for instance, it will be in all ways, a more efficient, enjoyable, and effective process, if I have an actual book.

But there are other examples, when books are inarguably superior; such as, for example, any oversize books. The difference between a full color print of a painting, in an oversized art book, can be as much above the tiny photo of it, reproduced on my phone, as the original painting is beyond the large book's reproduction. For those into vintage books, their very qualities are peepholes, in themselves, into the past, which are poorly recreated, on a computer's monitor.

Then, there are the resources that libraries at least used to have, which are not as easily found online-- if they can be found, at all. My library had every one of my local newspapers on microfiche-- not all stories are available online. And what if you were interested in something beside an article, like some advertisement, or classified ad-- good luck, online. Not to mention, that even when one can access a catalogue online, which will allow one to order up either the item or a digital copy, there is often a charge for these things.

I am beginning to sound like an old fogey, but time was, you could easily find any phone number you wanted, in the free, local white page directory, or yellow pages. Those are now useless, as there are so many numbers not listed-- besides that most people use cell phones-- and so many different, overlapping books, it is just a preposterously disorganized, waste of time. Try to look up a person's info online and, instead of just getting a contact phone number, they want to sell you a background report on the person.

One more advantage of a book: you never have to charge it.

 

Newspapers do that option, it is just that you need to subscribe to the newspaper to get the full search of that paper specifically. My local library, the main one, has about a dozen or so newspapers from the LA Times to the NYT to the WSJ and the local major newspapers too, all in print. However, they only keep a weeks worth, and after that, everything is online, and again, to obtain the actual article, you need to pay a "fee" for the printout. Of course, in the really good ole days, it was microfiche with those newspapers and major magazines that libraries do have on file

I am getting old, so my eyes get easily more strained when reading books. So, I have gone with Kindle. I know, I know, it's sacrilege to do so, but it is easier for me on my eyes for some reason. But my problem is the current books are getting less and less interesting and the older books are costing more and more, especially the classics such as The Catcher on the Rye for instance, or any of Tom Clancy's novels.

But Libraries have been at the forefront of technology. And it think online access to books is a great resource of the library. For instance, having online resources means that those books, especially popular, scientific, academic, and historical books for high school and college students are easier to access, read, copy, and paste for references when writing papers, and so forth. And the library does not need to spend the resources to purchase them and runs the risk of someone not returning them. Or better management because that book can be shared multiple times in one setting by multiple users. As local tax dollars are more precious to libraries, libraries have to manage their resources more efficiently, and that can be achieved through the use of technology. It is also a better way to get young people introduced to the library easier and quicker since technology is now an integral part of education. Soon, tablets will replace old-fashioned books for school and tablets is how you will now turn in your homework or through the student portal by a certain time, much like online college courses.

 

Did you learn USA history in school?

I did.

My kids did.

I bet all schools teach USA history.

 

I bet that's BS.

CRT is not a class taught below college level.
It's an elective college class.

 

Wow. How unAmerican. Did you vote for trump?
Are you trying to claim schools don't teach US history?

 

No!!!

 

Yeah? What's your intterpretation?

Use your dictionary.

 

So the DOI and constitution weren't written by men?

 

I'm not quoting anyone Alwayssa, I didn't just read the DOI yesterday you know. So who the hell is David Barton?

If the main purpose of the DOI just to "break away" as you claim, why did they waste the ink writing about natural rights and a form of government that recognizes Man's inalienable natural rights. Ink ain't cheap you know.

 

Sandy Shanks said: ↑
This isn't just about safe abortions. If Republican-chosen conservative judges can overrule years of scientific research because of their religious beliefs, our country is in serious trouble.

As Republicans have already found out the hard way -- election loses -- the majority of Americans feel that way.

This point will be supported by the forum's Republicans who dare not touch the issues in this report.
*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

First, a Trump appointed conservative judge in Texas tried to ban the effective FDA-approved abortion bill nationwide. After four years of intensive scientific research, the pill has been in use for 20 years with fewer fatalities than penicillin and Viagra.

Next, an appeals court nixed the Trump judge and ruled that the pill should have limited availability. The pill is a part of the most commonly used method for ending pregnancies in the United States. The appeals court consists of Republican chosen conservative judges.

Next, "Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. issued an order on Friday temporarily ensuring that a common abortion pill would remain widely available while the Supreme Court considered whether to grant the Biden administration’s emergency request to preserve the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug," the Times.

The Times continued, "The order was meant to maintain the status quo while the justices studied the briefs and lower court rulings. Justice Alito set a brisk schedule for the court’s consideration of the case. His order, an administrative stay, instructed the groups challenging the F.D.A.’s approval of the abortion drug, mifepristone, to file their brief by Tuesday at noon."

Republican appointed judges want to make the FDA moot. If the Republicans are successful with this, every FDA-approved drug will be at the mercy of every conservative judge in the country. Who then will research, test, and make available badly needed medication for Americans? Will Americans die because of the religious views of the Religious Right, an integral part of the Republican Party?

Who created this chaos? Who made this all possible for Republicans?

The chaos began when Republican appointed Supreme Court justices nullified Roe vs. Wade, which turned abortion-related issues over to the states and 870 federal judges.

As one might expect, Republicans created enormous chaos, and now that will spill over to the FDA and its authority and responsibilities.

The forum's Republicans will avoid this report. They never talk about what their party is doing. Is that due to inexperience? Lack of awareness? Reality aversion? We don't know because of their inability to communicate matters related to their party.

 

I may be going off on a tangent here, but I think it is an important one. Can you show me where in the Constitution the Congress of the United States is empowered to create an FDA in the first place? I ask because I believe much, more like most, of what the Federal government is doing in 2023, and for many decades now, is not Constitutionally authorized, and that is a problem. I can see some advantages in having an FDA, or some equivalent to it, but I also am a libertine when it comes to drug usage, and I think that adults should be able to take whatever sort of drug they wish to take. The whole my body, my choice thing.

 

So people don't have the right to safe food, water, ect?

 

Did you post in this thread, by error? I have a thread on judge Kacsmaryk's ruling on mifepristone (the abortion pill), but this is not it. This thread is on, generally speaking, the banning of books from libraries or schools. I did not see anywhere in your post, your delineating some connection between what you write about, and the thread topic. IOW, if my thread title had given you the wrong idea, this thread is not to simply for giving examples of what "ignorance" looks like, to each of us.
Thanks

 

Your premise is valid.

Here's some Trivia for you, since you brought up farts.

"trump' in British colloquial slang, means 'fart'.

 

I presume that usage was coined, in 2017 or later? That is, I take it, this is no coincidental match, with the name of our 45th President?

Speaking of farts-- did you see @Bowerbird 's post, about a book of Trump "poetry" coming up, in her search of books on farting? It kind of makes sense, as the array of books take a prismatic look at the phenomenon, from a "spotter's guide," to a book providing instruction for those wishing to increase the potency of their nether eructations. So The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump, I figure, must function as representing the sub-category, of "brain farts."

Allow me to present you with a selection I did not, earlier, get around to posting-- a golden toot, as it were:

 

Okay, trump is British for fart. That is kind of funny.

But, if you don't let that gas out once in a while it will travel up your spinal cord to your brain and give you crappy ideas.

"Pull my finger" - D J Trump

 

Wow! Imagination plus a buy into yet another Alex Jones conspiracy
https://www.thepinknews.com/2020/01...nspiracy-theory-infowars-debunked-first-lady/

Please don’t tell me you buy any of his fake medications too!

A while back now we had a bad batch of illicit drugs hit our market - they landed first time users into a permanent coma

Then there are drugs like these

https://www.rn.com/headlines-in-health/flakka-zombie-drug/

And the latest horror

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/h...g/news-story/05ab33fcfc3be6b2686c7973b644fca1

 

MORE BOOK BANNING (if anyone is interested in that topic):


The state of Missouri passed a law, prohibiting the visual depiction of genitals or anything considered "sexually explicit" in school books. Naturally, it is already against federal law to provide obscene or pornographic material to minors; so the problem here is that the law is vague in its explanations. Since being found to violate this law carries a penalty for librarians & other school officials of a year in prison or a $2000 fine, they will understandably want to give a wide berth to this obscurity. This will discourage the adding of new titles, and it is already contributing to the hostile work environment, for librarians, making it hard for the state both to retain as well as to attract, well qualified librarians. Hard to know how whether or not those side effects, are unintended.

This law does have exceptions, for art & science books, yet it still has led to the removal human anatomy texts, as well of books on the history of the Holocaust. In all, the law has led to the removal of hundreds of titles, from school library shelves.

Part of me actually felt that it was not such a bad thing, that a good number of these books were "graphic novels," of which I don't think highly, as "literature," I must confess. But maybe that's what it takes to get kids to read, these days; books do have to compete with phone & computer screens, and the internet.

But a major concern is that this law has led clearly to target books about, and authors who are, either people of color, or LGBTQ. Librarians also feel this limits their ability to provide literature with characters & story lines, to which their students can easily relate. The ACLU is currently suing, on their behalf.


https://www.kcur.org/news/2023-02-2...school-libraries-to-remove-hundreds-of-titles

<Snip>
In its lawsuit, the ACLU argues that the law violates educators’ due process rights because it uses vague language that invites government overreach and does not differentiate school employees' official capacity from their personal capacity — leaving them open to even more legal repercussions.

The law makes it illegal to provide students with visual depictions of things considered sexually explicit, including genitals and sex acts. There are exceptions to the law for works of art or materials used in science courses.

Federal and state law already prohibits providing obscene and pornographic materials to minors, according to the lawsuit. School districts in Missouri, it said, also have board-approved processes to choose appropriate library materials.

"Our school librarians are professionally trained to review all books that are placed on our shelves, and go along with the selection criteria that our school boards approved, ultimately, to curate a developmentally appropriate collection for each grade level that we work with," said Melissa Corey, president of the Missouri Association of School Librarians. "One of our major concerns is also not only looking at what's currently in our collection, but the potential for a chilling effect on what we would buy in the future."

The lawsuit states that the law prompted schools across Missouri to order hundreds of books removed from their shelves. Many of those books were written by or about minority or LGBTQ individuals, but also include many graphic novels, human anatomy books and Holocaust history books. The law has exceptions for art, anthropology and health, but librarians said they didn’t know where to draw the line.

In the St. Louis region, more than half of the books St. Louis Public Radio found were immediately removed were written by or about LGBTQ people or people of color. Corey said that makes it hard to meet students’ needs.

“Ultimately, school librarians want to develop representative collections,” Corey said. “So we want to make sure that we're reflecting our students' experiences within the texts that we do have on our school library shelves.”

 

Well, there goes biology books, nature books and documentaries, a few magazines such as National Geographic and such, and so forth. It can also be the Book or Solomon, or Song of Soloman in his love letters to his wife and how he describes her in great detail.

 

"hundreds of books from our shelves"- more likely a hundred copies than a hundred titles, hopefully.

Were these books written by or about people of color or by or about LBGTQ removed on the basis that they were by or about people of color or by or about LBGTQ, or is being by or about people of color or by or about LBGTQ incidental to them being removed from the libraries?