WEBVTT - How Book Banning Works 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.480 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know? 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:16.239 From House Stuff Works dot Com? Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:19.400 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. With me is Charles W. 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:23.000 Chub Bryant, and this is stuff you should know? Do 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:26.320 do do? Do? I just did my little test anchor 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:30.640 man move, getting the papers all in order, reading the prompter. 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:36.200 Wouldn't that be great? I don't feel so funny these days. Man, Well, 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:38.479 we need to get the teleprompter writer to douce let 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:41.960 your your jokes. I agree, everyone knows that, right. We 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:43.560 don't actually make any of this stuff up. We have 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:47.200 somebody right the show and we read it very very 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:54.960 um well rehearsed, practiced, labored podcast. That's right. What's it going, 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:57.240 Buddy good Man? It's good. I think this is the 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:01.480 second of two good topics today. Yeah. Part one a sexuality, 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:05.959 Part two banning books. Yeah, what do they have to 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:10.800 do with each other? Nothing? I thought I saw a 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:13.679 common thread. No that I've looked, I've forgotten it. But 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:18.800 there was something discrimination maybe, I guess. So maybe we'll 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:22.000 find out. It'll pop up. Possibly it'll be like the 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:25.120 Peewee secret word of the day. Oh yeah, isn't that 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:27.520 what it was called? I think so? Man, it was cool. 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:31.200 So you got an intro proper for this or chuck? Yes, 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:35.600 are you familiar with the last week of September? Yeah 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:39.080 you are, yeah, through it before. Yeah, it's after the 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:42.000 third week and before the first week of October. That's 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:45.839 exactly right. It just so happens that that very week 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:50.240 is Banned Book Week. Did not know that existed? Well? 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:54.000 It it does. Yeah. Yeah, you haven't heard a band 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:57.600 book week before? Uh no, I have. I've seen like 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:02.520 the subversive um display lays outside of b Dalton booksellers, 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:05.120 and you know, and basically the whole point of it is, 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:08.000 it's like, hey, people have tried to ban these books, 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:10.280 so make sure you read these because it means that 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:12.840 there's somebody out there he doesn't want you to. It's right, Hey, 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:14.680 look what I've got. I've got to kill a mocking 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:20.360 bird over here. Yeah that's attempted. Yeah. Yeah. So the 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:25.440 whole point of Banned Books Week is to celebrate intellectual freedom. 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:27.320 That's because there are people out there who would take 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:30.000 that away from you if they could. We know it. 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:32.359 You go back and listen to some of our podcast. 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:34.960 There's certain words that were beat out because the man 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:40.560 has us under his thumb. Thanks. Um So, I would 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:43.480 strongly recommend it's coming up. By the time this thing 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:46.800 gets released will be in September. That's right. We should 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:50.200 probably post something about Banned Book Week when it comes Okay, Yeah, 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:54.480 September thirty through October six. Actually, um, so, it's really 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.519 the first week in October this year. It's weird that 0:02:57.600 --> 0:02:59.440 they would put it in the last week of October, 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:03.680 first week of Octobria or last week of September. Yeah. Yeah, 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:06.600 that was confusing for a second. Let's let's talk bam books. Man. 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:10.080 More than eleven thousand books have been challenged since Josh, 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:12.600 that's just since eighty two they've been I was reading 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.680 about The Catcher in the rye. Um. It came out 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:18.799 in Wow, man, I wish I knew it came out 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:21.800 in either the late fifties or the early sixties. At 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:25.440 the late fifties or nineteen sixty because in nineteen sixty 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:28.680 a teacher who assigned it to his class for reading 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:33.280 got fired. Really yeah, um, it's one of my favorite books, 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:36.680 is it? Yeah? And it's one that I've reread several 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:38.360 times over the years, and it always takes on a 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:40.880 little different meaning depending on my age, which is interesting. 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:44.840 Have you read The Catcher's Companion? No, that's we got 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:46.800 that as a gift right now. I haven't read yet. 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:51.440 It's just like footnotes and extrapolations and explanations, like this 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:54.080 guy went into Catcher in the World of Catcher in 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:56.840 the Rye and like made footnotes of the whole thing. Definitely, 0:03:56.880 --> 0:03:59.360 it's actually thicker than The Catcher in the Rye nineteen 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:01.760 fifty one the way, okay, so fifty one. Within nine 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:04.520 years somebody lost their job because they assigned that book 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:08.880 to read. That's pretty common. Usually with UM book banning, 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:13.440 it comes out of UM, the public school system, UM 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:20.880 and library. So right, well that's it's usually school libraries. 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:24.080 So if you go on the internet and you look 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:27.920 for banned books, you're gonna find a lot of um 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:33.920 uh confusion. There's this body called the American Library Association, 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:36.880 and a lot of people think that they're in charge 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:41.480 of banning books. It's absolutely the opposite of the truth. 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:47.320 The American Library Association is a it's it's basically the 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:53.320 librarians lobby and they're committed to no censorship whatsoever. Yeah, 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:56.400 ask any librarian and they're they're gonna probably be in 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:59.279 favor of not banning books right. Um. As a matter 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:02.159 of fact, the l A maintains a library Bill of Rights, 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:04.960 and in this library Bill of Rights is a provision 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:08.880 for the free access to libraries for minors, which basically 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:12.120 says this, we have a bunch of books that we're 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:14.520 not going to make any judgments on. If we have 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:16.520 a book that you don't want your kid to read, 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:20.600 it's your job as their parents to monitor what they read, 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:23.120 and you can decide what they read or not. But 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:29.599 you that's it. Your opinion doesn't extend to anyone else's kids. 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:31.560 So that means that if you want to ban a book, 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:35.320 we're going to tell you no because you're responsible for 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:38.679 your child, but not everybody else's child too, Which means 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:41.239 in short, that the a l A doesn't censor books. 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:44.640 This is a big deal because this happens a lot. 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:49.360 There's eleven thousand challenges you said since since nineteen eighty two, 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:54.840 and I think there were in two thousand eleven. There 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:59.280 were three hundred and twenty six challenges last year UM. 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:03.120 A few of these are the Color of Earth series 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:09.600 by Kim Dong Hua and The Reasons Why, Nudity, sex education, 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:14.000 the Hunger Games trilogy, My Mom's Having a Baby, a 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:17.559 kid's month by month guide to pregnancy. But we certainly 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:19.240 don't want o kids to learn anything about that. No, 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:29.560 especially not with um mom uh, Brave New World by Huxley, insensitivity, nudity, racism, UM, 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:32.480 To Kill a Mockingbird, like we mentioned Harper Lee's classic 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:35.640 because of offensive language and racism. And those are just 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:39.320 the few of the nine I'm sorry, ten most challenge 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:42.159 books of last year, right. UM. You'll also find in 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:46.360 just about every list the most challenged series since two 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:50.479 thousand is the Harry Potter books. Um. They received sat 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:54.760 three thousand challenges. UM. And that was from up to 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:57.840 I believe like two thousand eight or nine, maybe two 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:00.520 of two thousand ten they were for two thousand to 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:04.560 two thousand and ten, they received three thousand challenges. And 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:08.200 and it was because it had satanic overtones or undertones 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:11.520 one of the two, that's how or midtones. People challenging 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:13.560 it felt at least so for the most part, when 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:16.480 you see a book being challenged, your band it's because 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.840 people are concerned about its influence on children. But as 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:23.960 we've seen, the American Library Association says, hey, man, kids, kids, 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:27.800 there's free There should be free access to information for kids. Yeah, 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:30.720 Julie Blooms Forever is one that's always on the list 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:34.000 too for that reason because it deals with a uh, 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:38.720 young girls burgeoning sexuality and the confusion and the awkwardness 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:41.680 and the thrill that comes along with that. And that 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:45.320 one isn't that was a great description. Yeah from a 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:47.640 forty one year old man with a beard. Well, dude, 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:50.000 that was fourteen once. The girls and boys are all like, 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:53.640 you know, we're all scared and awkward and thrilled. So 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:55.160 how do you how do you do this? Man? How 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:58.000 do you How do you issue a formal challenge to 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:00.240 a book? And what is that consist of? What does 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:03.520 it mean? It means that you have gone to a library, 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:07.920 a single library, and said I want to challenge this book, 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:11.440 and the librarian decides whether or not to ban it. 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:15.760 So it's as simple as that. That's how book banning works. Um. 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:19.000 And you don't even have to use such lofty language 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:20.800 like I want to issue a challenge. You can just 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:22.520 say like, this book needs to be taken out of 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:26.560 this library. This book is filth um, this book is 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:32.560 pervasively vulgar. That's a big one um. And the librarian 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:36.560 at that moment decides whether a book gets banned or not, 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:39.240 and for the most party, they air on the side 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:42.439 of not banning them. But when they say okay, let's 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:44.960 take that book out, that book has just been banned. 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:47.679 So it doesn't mean that a banned. That a book 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:50.640 has been banned, it doesn't mean it's been banned across 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:54.080 the country, although some some countries have like banned books 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:57.200 in its entirety, like the country's entirety. But in the 0:08:57.320 --> 0:08:59.800 US and in the modern world, it usually means that 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:03.400 somewhere in the United States, there's a group of people, 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:06.120 whether it's kids in a school district or kids people 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:08.280 who are served by a public library who don't have 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:11.720 access to a certain book because one person found it 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:17.240 offensive and convinced the librarian to to make the decision 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:20.120 for everybody else based on that person's objections. That's a 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:22.560 banned book. Yeah, person or persons. A lot of times 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:25.880 it's a group pointed together with like a list, even 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:29.160 and they'll rally the troops and say, you know, come 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:32.520 on out from your your homes and let's get together 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:36.240 and submit a list. And the librarians, like you said, 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:39.240 most times will say no because they generally have the 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.720 courts on their side if it gets to that point. 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:46.520 For the most part, the courts like to defend the right, 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:49.200 you know, the First Amendment. But I mean, think about 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:52.680 that pressure, especially if like you are a school librarian 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:55.840 and the school board is telling you, like, hey, don't 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:59.319 forget what you employ you and we're telling you remove 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:04.240 this book, and the librarians like, no, Ts, that's that's 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:09.440 against the First Amendment. Um, so I should talk about 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:11.400 some of the laws. I think we should. Let's talk 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:14.600 about Do you want to talk about the history of it? Yeah? Um, 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:16.760 who wrote this one? I think this was Conger too, 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:21.319 and I don't think so. Yeah, it was a freelancer, okay. Um. 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:23.880 You know, basically since the days of Socrates, they've been 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:27.520 trying to ban teachings of some sort at the other. Um, 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:30.800 he was heavily scrutinized, and back then, if you wanted 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:33.800 to ban something, he just burned the few copies of 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:36.240 it that existed, and there was no problem. He was 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:39.080 made to drink hemlock for what? He for what? Yeah? 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:41.960 But yeah, like if there's two copies of a book 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:44.240 in existence, and you get both copies and you set 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:48.440 them on fire, and then what happened? What came along 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:50.400 well the printing press and all of a sudden you 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:53.160 had to officially try and ban a book because there 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:55.040 were too many to gather up and burn. And you 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:58.280 remember the Star Chamber Starry Michael Douglas. Did you ever 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:02.000 watch that? They were the real Star Chamber? Did you did? 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:05.000 There was a real okay, so the real Star Chamber 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:09.559 Um that was I think created in Stuart England Um 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:13.599 Stewart era England. Oh man, I probably shouldn't even say that, 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:17.920 because I'm not sure. In England in the seventeenth century, 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:20.760 there was a group of judges that were in charge 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:24.560 of like they were like the elite judges. They were 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:29.800 the censor board basically was one of their roles. And 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:32.720 then Henry the Eighth came along and got rid of them, 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:35.920 but he started his own kind of censorship with licensing laws. 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:39.960 They basically said that the state had the opportunity to 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:43.320 censor things before they were even published. So that was 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:46.280 one of the earliest forms of straight up book banning 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:51.840 or book censorship. Good point, it happened a long time ago. Yeah, 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:55.200 so should we get to some landmark cases over the years. 0:11:56.679 --> 0:12:01.560 Two Board of Education Island Trees School District the Echo. Yeah, 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:06.360 that's a mouthful. Um. They said basically that you couldn't 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:09.960 remove library material just because like a school official doesn't 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:12.880 agree with the ideas. They said that the books on 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:17.920 the on their list were quote just plain filthy. Some 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:20.680 people said, now you were going to sue you for that? Well, 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:23.600 the Supreme Court said, so basically it has to be 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:26.960 pervasively vulgar. I guess that's why they use those words, 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:31.040 because that's what they can actually ban a book if 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:37.679 who finds it that? Um there, I think society basically well, 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:42.000 for for the most part, um as far as books go, 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:47.840 for banning a book really tough to do, as once 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:49.680 it reaches the Supreme Court, they're gonna be like, no, 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:54.160 it's a book, put it back, it's obscenity. That's not 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:58.400 protected at all. Right, Well, because the kicker there is 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:04.040 the number three rule that they decided, you know, should 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:07.720 be used to determine if something is I guess filthy 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:11.760 was it could contain no literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:13.880 And that's the one where you know, you can pretty 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:17.080 much say claim any book has value like that. That's 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:20.040 how we have hardcore pornography. Still, I'm sorry, so you 0:13:20.080 --> 0:13:23.840 can say this is art that's true. Um So that 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:28.319 that case, um Island Trees case or Pico case, I 0:13:28.320 --> 0:13:30.600 don't know what they call it. That was a really 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:33.440 big deal because it's a place in a school library, 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:39.920 and um it basically the Supreme Court said school libraries 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:43.440 are special places. Schools are places of inquiry, and so 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:48.400 their repository of knowledge, meaning their library, has special protection. 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:51.520 Like we understand that you're worried about the children's minds 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:55.520 being corrupted, but you don't get to decide that, Like, 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:58.360 this is information that's out there, and as long as 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:03.920 it's basically not like hardcore pornography, child pornography, obscenity like 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:05.959 it should, it has every right to be in there 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:09.040 under the first first Amendment. Amen, it was a big deal. 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:12.199 It was a big deal. Uh so was I remember 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:15.320 this one because I was on a newspaper staff at 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:18.640 the time and I got interviewed for the news. Oh yeah, yeah, 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:21.920 like the local news came out Hazelwood School District v 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:28.320 uh kur maya. UM. That was very famously when newspaper 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:31.720 high school newspapers basically were said to not have the 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:34.960 same rights as like if you were an adult running 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:38.440 a newspaper, and it was not a form of public expression, 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:41.160 so schools could, uh, in the end, kind of censor 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:43.720 what was going in these things, at least in like 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:48.040 school curriculum. I thought it was in the paper. In 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:50.360 the paper too, I'm sorry, I thought you meant in 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:54.560 these things meaning libraries. Yeah, no, no, in but it 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:57.720 was extended into classroom curriculum too like that, which was 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:00.160 a big deal. Yeah, as you read that article all 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:04.760 about Texas, Yeah, let's get to that. Yeah, okay, So, um, 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:10.920 Texas has this um very controversial textbook review committee that 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:14.800 wields a lot of power because textbook or Texas is 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:19.640 the biggest textbook buyer in the country, and so if 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:23.800 you're a textbook manufacturer and one state is ordering most 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:26.600 of your textbooks, you're just gonna print one and send 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:30.000 it to everybody. Yeah, it's basically Texas and California are 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:32.920 the two states that wield the most power because they 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:35.080 spend the most dough because they have the most school 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:38.760 aged kids basically exactly, so they basically say what Texas 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:42.680 decides goes in their textbooks goes in the textbooks for 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:45.480 a lot of other states as well, not just Texas. Right. Yeah. 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:47.600 I looked at the expense of the textbook, and I 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:51.480 think one of the manufacturers said something like several million 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:55.200 dollars can go into a like a major biology textbook 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:58.560 because of like the illustrations and everything that goes into it. 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:01.400 And they're like, we can't make one of these for 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:04.400 Texas and one for other states. It's just everyone's gonna 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:07.600 get Texas version of the truth exactly. So Texas has 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:11.640 this committee that is largely conservative that um starting and 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:17.240 I think two thousand nine, uh, basically held hearings on 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:21.000 revisions that they wanted to see done to social studies curriculum. 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:22.880 These are elected people too, by the way, which is 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:26.520 important because apparently a lot of them can buy their 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:29.920 way right on that list. Okay, so social studies, you've 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:33.840 got history, sociology, economics, and UM. A lot of the 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:38.360 stuff that they were adding in there were like, um, 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:41.080 I guess kind of slanted everything toward a little more 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:43.840 towards the idea that the founders of the United States 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:49.200 were Christian. UM, that the the they one of the 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:50.840 things they wanted to get in there was not just 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:54.920 Martin Luther King's non violent civil rights protests, but the 0:16:54.960 --> 0:16:58.800 Black Panthers violent civil rights protests were another one. Um. 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:02.480 And if you're a conservative, you're you're like, well, okay, 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:05.160 I agree with a lot of what these people are saying. 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:09.800 The problem is is what they were saying was that 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:14.040 there's a liberal slant too academia, and that they were 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:17.600 taking it upon themselves to correct that by putting a 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:21.840 conservative slant. Yeah. One of the other amendments was to 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:25.760 cut Thomas Jefferson from a list of figures who inspired 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:28.960 revolutions of the late eighteenth century in nineteenth century, and 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:31.920 they said, let's replace him with Thomas Akenis and John 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:37.000 Calvin instead. Another one in economics, UM, they wanted to 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:41.919 add Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek, champions of the 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:45.520 free market economic theory, to the list of economist study 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:49.160 we talked about, well, Milton Friedman in one where basically 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:53.320 he's Chile as a laboratory for UM reagan Omics. Before 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:58.120 Reagan was president to trickle down economics. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:00.439 I remember that. Um and then and one of the 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.040 ones that was shot down by a Democrat Mayvice Knight 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:06.760 wanted to introduce an amendment requiring students study the reasons 0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:12.240 for the Founding Fathers protecting religious freedom by not saying 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:15.560 one religion is good above all else, and that was 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:17.679 actually struck down. They said you can't put that in 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:20.640 this book. Right. She was a Democrat who introduced it. Yeah, 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:24.639 there was public The Conservatives said no, well they you know, 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:28.000 basically vote along party lines. So the vote was tended 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:30.040 four or whatever it is. So it was a big deal, 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:33.040 like it had. It was one of those things that 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:38.360 kind of went under reported and underestimated. But there's a 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:40.359 really good documentary out there that came out and I 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:45.640 think two thousand nine, The Revisionaries, UM and I think 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:48.159 it's up on Netflix streaming right now. It is Scott 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:51.040 Thurman and uh Al I saw. I was a trailer 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:52.680 but it looked pretty good. And I mean it was 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:55.000 a big deal. It's not just like some people in 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:59.200 Texas want to change some textbooks. It's like has natural implications. 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:02.840 It an info war basically, and that's what book banning 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:05.160 is based on in a lot of ways as well. 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:09.560 It's like, if you can remove a different viewpoint, especially 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:13.400 when when it's being presented to kids, then you can 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:17.200 keep that viewpoint from taking from German aating in there 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:23.840 and they're emerging mind or worldview, and so books like UM, 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:28.480 Daddy's New Roommate gets banned. Yeah, about a boy whose 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:31.600 dad has a new boyfriend. Now he's a divorced dad 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:35.120 and his new roommate moves in his gay and UM 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:38.160 Sarah Palin herself asked for that to be removed from 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:42.800 the library when she was UM the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:44.719 Oh yeah, I remember that. And that guy came out 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:49.840 and said that woman is my mortal enemy and thanks 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:52.600 for the press. That's what he should have said to UH. 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:58.200 In the meantime, in Texas, UM Mary Helen Burlonga UM 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:02.680 has tried repeatedly get Latino figures UM included in textbooks 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:06.639 as role models for the large Hispanic population in Texas, 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:10.000 and she's been repeatedly denied, to the point where in 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:12.800 two thousand ten she stopped out of a meeting saying, 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:15.439 they can't just pretend this is white America and that 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:19.320 we don't exist. These aren't experts, these aren't historians. They're 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:25.200 just rewriting history. So pretty hard words. Do you want 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:28.960 to hear some other challenged authors, Let's man, because there's 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:32.359 there's challenges all over the place, apparently Judy Bloom of course, 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:36.720 Robert Cormier or Cormier. Uh did you ever read I 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:39.600 Am the Cheese when You're growing up? Or The Chocolate War? 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:45.159 I think I read that one great books band many times. J. K. Rowling, 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:48.720 she is, uh, like I said, she is, I guess 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:50.919 of the devil because a lot of people have a 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:54.760 problem with the Harry Potter books. Um, Katherine Patterson Bridge 0:20:54.760 --> 0:20:59.240 to Tera Bethia, I'm Stephen King, maya Angelou can't have 0:20:59.280 --> 0:21:03.560 any of that. Yeah. The Alabama State Textbook Committee said that, um, 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:07.639 I know why the Cage Bird Sings encourages bitterness towards 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:12.080 white people. R. L. Stein who was sort of like 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:15.640 a Stephen King for kids, Yeah, goose bumps. Yeah, and uh, 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:17.440 I think I actually worked on one of his little 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:21.280 TV shows. The Nightmare Room was a nightmare room, I 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:24.520 think so. Uh yeah, back in the day. And John 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:29.320 Steinbeck of course, Yeah, in Nine of Mice and Men, 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:33.119 was banned in Chattanooga because Steinbeck was well known for 0:21:33.200 --> 0:21:37.320 his anti business attitude. UM. And then Alvin Schwartz was 0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:39.800 number one, and he wrote one of my favorite sets 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:42.800 of books, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. I 0:21:42.880 --> 0:21:45.320 never heard of this, oh man. They were scary with 0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:49.680 the most ghastly illustrations you've ever seen. They're awesome and 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:52.119 in those bands just because they're scary and ghoulish. I 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:57.480 guess so I was probably satanic too. Um. So we 0:21:57.480 --> 0:22:03.040 were talking about how if if a book is challenged, UM, 0:22:03.119 --> 0:22:05.679 it's probably if it gets to the Supreme Court, Supreme 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:08.280 Court is probably gonna rule in favor of the librarian 0:22:08.320 --> 0:22:13.240 who said no. Um. But that's that's not the case 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:17.960 with obscenity, like obscene literature, like it is specifically excluded 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:22.680 in US case law from First Amendment protection. And that's 0:22:22.760 --> 0:22:26.760 kind of emerged over the years, um, starting in eighteen 0:22:26.880 --> 0:22:31.400 seventy three with the con Stock laws. It basically said 0:22:31.440 --> 0:22:36.879 like you can't sell obscene literature in interstate commerce, right, 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:40.199 and then people are like, okay, well then we we 0:22:40.280 --> 0:22:43.080 won't or don't enforce it or whatever, and it just 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:47.320 kind of went went enforced or unchallenged for like three 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:50.359 quarters of a century, and then in the fifties you 0:22:50.440 --> 0:22:55.639 had um Roth versus the United States, where all of 0:22:55.680 --> 0:22:58.520 a sudden, we're like, wait, we need to start explaining 0:22:58.600 --> 0:23:03.120 what obscenity is because you can't just say that's just whatever. 0:23:03.960 --> 0:23:06.360 That's what they started as though, Like in the fifties 0:23:06.359 --> 0:23:10.399 they basically said obscenity pornography basically is what that means 0:23:10.960 --> 0:23:16.639 um has utterly or is utterly without um social value. 0:23:17.920 --> 0:23:20.679 That was a big quote, So that basically was a 0:23:20.760 --> 0:23:24.560 mark against anybody who's pro obscenity, right, And then in 0:23:24.600 --> 0:23:28.639 the seventies there was one called Miller versus California, and 0:23:28.680 --> 0:23:31.000 this guy basically sent out a mass mailer chuck of 0:23:31.480 --> 0:23:36.560 an advertisement for his adult magazines. So everybody got him 0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:42.199 old people, kids, housewives, business meant everybody who went to 0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:44.320 their mail that they opened it up and like there's 0:23:44.480 --> 0:23:50.640 like basically obscene advertising. And so California arrested the guy 0:23:50.840 --> 0:23:55.480 and it went to trial, and the Supreme Court said, okay, um, yes, 0:23:55.560 --> 0:23:59.119 obscenities not protected, but we need to say what obscenity is, 0:23:59.160 --> 0:24:01.640 and they came up with this three point test called 0:24:01.640 --> 0:24:05.240 the Miller tests, which is has that one problem you 0:24:05.280 --> 0:24:07.080 were talking about it. Yeah. The third one is no 0:24:07.280 --> 0:24:11.960 no artistic merit basically literary, political, or scientific value. Which 0:24:13.040 --> 0:24:16.919 it's probably the terms that they nailed this guy for. Yeah, 0:24:17.040 --> 0:24:19.080