Book Banners Exist To Bully Librarians
Credit: legis.wisconsin.gov
November 28, 2023

During their moment in the limelight, the grossly misnamed astroturf group Moms for Liberty, had a slogan to the effect of "We Don't Coparent With The Government." But now, a Wisconsin state lawmaker wants the government to do the parenting for them.

State Representative Barb Dittrich has introduced a pair of bills that would bully librarians into doing the parenting for the parents:

The Wisconsin proposals would require librarians and school librarians to alert parents about what kids under 16 are checking out.

"I could just see the conflict brewing between certain camps and the libraries," said Rep. Barbara Dittrich, R-Oconomowoc, in an interview with WPR. "I'm a huge supporter of libraries, I love our libraries, and literacy is important to me. And I thought, 'There's got to be an easier way to solve this problem.'"

A separate proposal in the Legislature would repeal a statute that protects librarians from prosecution for obscene materials.

The bills come at a time when Wisconsin Republicans are again proposing what they call a "Parents Bill of Rights," which would, among other things, give parents the power to review instructional materials for their kids.

Excuse me for using the cliche, but where are the parents? Is it really too damn difficult for these right wing nut jobs to look in their child's backpack to see what books are in there? And what the hell are they hoping to accomplish anyway? Whatever they think they are protecting their kids from is readily accessible on cable or on the internet. And, frankly, if these people are too incompetent to check their kid's backpack, do you really think they are going to bother setting a V-chip or other parental control on these things.

The goal of such ridiculous and invasive laws are simply to try to intimidate people into following their fascist agenda, which is why they must be stopped.

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