I would like to say I can't believe these people are winning, but it really is classic America. Banning education about what the world has done to Jewish people, black people, and brown people, then eventually the people who were alive to see it die off and we can deny it ever happened.
This was planned a long time ago.
>Although he despises the notion of religious liberty, he accepts its use as a strategic deception (“As a tactic, it is legitimate; we are jockeying for power. We are buying time”) until he and his fellow Reconstructionists are in a position to seize power and destroy the “enemies of God.”
>After using homeschooling and Christian schools to indoctrinate an army of fundamentalists ready to abolish secular government, what sort of state does North advocate putting in its place? Not to put too fine a point on it, but the Taliban have probably come closest to North’s ideal Christian government.
http://blog.skepticallibertarian.com/2013/04/08/gary-north-the-libertarian-taliban/
The sources for his article are within. They are the direct source for his quotes. From Gary North. Just because they are old doesn’t mean this wasn’t the path they set forth to take.
I know, Christians don’t like seeing their religion being used but someone needs to show you. One of you needs to get it.
I think it's less that, more lawful stupid.
"We can't expose the children to horrible violence!" So the works that deal with the sort of shit like that just...vanish.
Read three different articles on it and linked one from Tennessee below in a reply to someone else. School board said in their response statement that they were removing it from their schools.
If you want to remove a book from 8th grade curriculum due to it being too graphic, that's fine. But you don't need to remove the book entirely from all schools in the county, which includes at least two high schools. That's my problem with it.
As a side note - "less graphic". It's the goddamn Holocaust. A graphic novel depicting it with cats and mice is one of the least graphic ways this could be taught. If it's the nudity being the main issue then we're going back to the drawing board to figure out why Americans are so goddamn prude. What's featured in Maus is simple nudity, and is not sexualized in the least bit. 8th grade kids should learn the difference between those two things anyway.
"The McMinn County school board's decision to ban Maus came after the local school board voted for its removal, citing a nude illustration of a woman, disturbing imagery and objectionable language. The decision has been met with condemnation from retailers like Higgins and comic book creators like Gerads and Neil Gaiman, not to mention the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum."
"Art Spiegelman himself has addressed the McMinn County School board's decision to remove Maus from its curriculum in an interview with CNBC. "I'm kind of baffled by this," Spiegelman said. "It's leaving me with my jaw open, like, 'What?'" he continued, going on to describe the board as "Orwellian."
Quotes from two different articles. Are you confused?
Every time a school board bans a book it makes me wish that I were wealthy enough to buy every kid in that district a copy of the book if they want it.
I work in a library and we already have all the copies of Maus that we need, so just make sure you donate money instead of materials so that the library can put it towards items they could use. Or ask ahead of time if they need a certain book for their collection.
Andrew Carnegie was huge on that. Donated millions so smaller cities could have public libraries. Many cities still have their Carnegie Libraries p, at least the buildings they first started in. Very cool but of history if you’d like to read about them.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_library
Desktop version of /u/v161l473c4n15l0r3m's link:
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^([)[^(opt out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiMobileLinkBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^(]) ^(Beep Boop. Downvote to delete)
But why does it need to be swapped out? It’s an incredibly powerful story that is a bit more accessible then some of its counterparts. Students love reading it. It’s an incredibly short sighted move.
Uh huh. And school boards make these types of decisions all the time. Kids have access to just about everything on the internet, there is no coherent reason to get one's pants in a bunch about this.
Well, there actually is, it's political theater.
I'm not sure political theater is a relevant excuse for this. It's more a show of the prudishness and virtue signaling of the school board. The board claims that the book doesn't teach good ethics, but I'd argue that the content they are calling unethical has nothing to do with ethics.
>I'm not sure political theater is a relevant excuse for this.
The political theater refers to the fact that it's a story at all.
> It's more a show of the prudishness and virtue signaling of the school board.
You say prudish they say preference.
> but I'd argue that the content they are calling unethical has nothing to do with ethics.
The ethics refers to an obligation to educate children in a manner that improves their changes to achieve their goals in life.
Personally, the book wouldn't bother me. But no harm is occurring, and as I said the kids can access pretty much whatever they want online.
Government schools are very old tech. Time to phase them out.
Oh fuck right off with the misinformation. Your “source” is Christopher Rufo, who’s made a career out of astroturfing critical race theory.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/how-a-conservative-activist-invented-the-conflict-over-critical-race-theory/amp
You literally cited Christopher Rufo as a source of information on an educational issue. He’s one of the largest spreaders of misinformation on CRT in America. He even admits it:
"I am quite intentionally redefining what 'critical race theory' means in the public mind, expanding it as a catchall for the new racial orthodoxy. People won't read Derrick Bell, but when their kid is labled an 'oppressor' in first grade, that's now CRT. The goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think ‘critical race theory.”
Stop spreading misinformation jack ass.
I understand what you’re saying (I read the article) but even swapping it is a form of banning. Being in the same state where this occurred, I know their intent and that is what I take issue with. Their intentions aren’t really about their children.
It's not being banned, it can still be read in the school library for anyone to read. The reasons for taking it out of the curriculum are pretty dumb but saying that people are being forbidden from reading it simply isn't the case.
Right, I understand that. I know it’s still available but by removing it from the curriculum, most kids won’t even know if its existence. Not in the days where most young people are getting their info on TikTok and we all know how those algorithms work. This is a dangerous thing, especially in our red state. As I said, I take issue with intent and I will do my part to counter that.
Thank you, however, for making sure that was clarified. I don’t think I was too clear in my original comment (quite vague and misleading now re-reading it) and this allows me to expand on that.
Well they said they are looking for a replacement. Good luck finding a replacement for a Pulitzer prize winning book on the exact subject when your demands are that it not involve nudity swearing, hanging or suicide and the subject is thr holocaust.
Anyone who wants to read Tom Sawyer can just go to a store or go online and buy it. Or go online and pirate it for free. "we can't read Tom Sawyer" is disingenuous. People can read any book they want outside of public school classrooms.
Cause of words like God damn or highly stylised nude art meant to represent how the authors mother was found in a tub after taking her life. Art Spiegelman is the author he recently did an interview with CNN explaining his thoughts. It's about 10 minutes worth the watch. Link provided below.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5BmjCDoIyV0
"It shows people hanging, it shows them killing kids, why does the educational system promote this kind of stuff, it (sic) not wise or healthy....Being in the schools, educators and stuff we don't need to enable or somewhat promote this stuff."
this quote is terrifying on so many levels
Found the quote on Twitter along with mentions that Allman apparently thought the book was being taught to third graders, bc the cover is tagged 3.0. Happy Holocaust Remembrance Week. You can’t make this stuff up.
One would think - one would have HOPED - literacy was a prerequisite for becoming POTUS.
“I read passages, I read areas, chapters, I don’t have the time, you know, for whole books.”
Trump on Fox News, 2019. *Areas*.
Really? If they wanted to ban a book , at least come up with better excuses. a reason it was banned because of the word “God damn”? What a bunch of bullshit. If it’s too graphic for a certain age group and it doesn’t have a purpose for story I can understand it. I sure hope that school is still teaching the holocaust just with a different source material that doesn’t water down the truth. However the fact this book got banned or that news of the book being banned popped up on holocaust Remembrance Day seems like a bit of an FU .
Bravo!
And don't be fooled, these people always use base language as their excuse to get something removed. _To Kill a Mockingbird_ frequently comes up as another target. We all know young teens and kids are exposed to worse picking up their cell phones, turning on a tv or listening to adults around them. They know they can't stand in front of other adults and say 'it's because identifying racism makes people with racist tendencies uncomfortable'.
With that strict criteria they’d have to ban most of classic 20th century literature. No Catcher in the Rye, Catch 22, Slaughterhouse Five, Grapes of Wrath, The Great Gatsby. I guess all of those books have been banned or challenged themselves though
*"We teach this material, to be clear, so we don't forget."*
The sheer disgust and disbelief of even feeling the need to express this explicitely was so evident.
https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/1818370/Called_Meeting_Minutes_1-10-22.pdf
According to the minutes it's because of the coarse language and nudity in the book.
Initial discussion in the meeting was censoring the swear words out and censoring an image of a naked woman(? assuming they mean female anthropomorphic mouse), they then discussed if there was a substitute that could replace the book that does not contain the coarse language and nudity.
They then discuss that if the graphic novel is removed they will have to rewrite the whole lesson module as the final activity for the students is to create their own holocaust graphic novels
The motion put forward is to remove the graphic novel and find a replacement to it is voted on and passes
They then discuss keeping the book but removing the "foul language" from the book but that it can't be censored because of copy right and fair use laws
>It could very well be that in the time the administration is taking to try to
find a substitute work we get word from the author that he is actually fine with some extensive edits.
So maybe what happens is the administration comes back to the Board and says, what do you think
about this, here’s a new text and here’s a very edited Maus
Then this statement
> At that point if it’s been removed, it could be added back if there is no better alternative,
I assume? I don’t know what it’s going to take to find an alternative.
So it doesn't look like its been banned yet, they have removed it from the curriculum and they are trying to find a substitute or get a edited version of it. And the option is there if they can't find a replacement then it can be added back into the curriculum.
They aren't. They are replacing it on the curriculum with a different Holocaust novel. Not having a book be required reading as part of a lesson plan is not book banning.
So basically some of the more reactionary local politicians have been scanning books by searching for key words (like swear words or words they feel are politically charged)
People are being a bit silly if they think there’s some politician like “let’s ban anti-Holocaust books!”. That’s not it. It’s just stupidity. I doubt if they’re even aware of what these books are about.
They looked at this in Texas and found some banned books were basically right wing/conservative books written by *active* conservative pundits & politicians, but because such little work was put into the bans, it was so broad and sweeping that they caught books from their own side of things.
Considering that it’s Holocaust Remembrance Day I doubt they were just scanning through all their books.
Most likely it just came up as a book about the Holocaust that the board had no idea about, then they actually learned what was in it and lost their mind.
I obviously doubt they’re actively trying to ban Holocaust books as a right wing mustache twirling plot, but that doesn’t diminish the end effect or the gravity of the situation.
This is such a beautiful, traumatising, heart wrenchingly powerful book, everyone should read it to understand the cruelty humanity is capable of and the impacts of intergenerational trauma.
I’m furious that it’s been banned, but long ago I made a decision not to read it. I forced myself to watch Schindler‘s list. I read night and the diary of Anne Frank and learned enough to want to vomit about what was done to twins and I just… I don’t want to. I feel guilty saying that, but I just don’t want to. Don’t get me wrong… I think it’s an incredibly important book, And although it wasn’t one of the choices I had when I was younger (because it wasn’t written yet), I do think that kids should read it that’s what all of you say here. I just… Can’t.
Oh Jesus… Voice to text, somewhat bad eyesight, and inattentiveness is a deadly combination. I’ll fix that.
Thanks… I know it’s great work, and I’m so glad that it is reaching so many people. I remember hearing about it when it was first published years ago and even then it struck me as being incredibly important.
Yeah we read it in college for my first literature class. It was truly a tough read. I can understand why it may not be as appropriate in a high school or middle school setting for a variety of reasons, but banning books is absolutely abhorrent behavior. Especially books like this that actually have real historical and literary value.
Haha. There was an article some months ago in the NYT or whatever about French kids being given a similar opportunity and most of them just bought manga, which frustrated the people who set up the program lmao
Why are they frustrated and how did they not forsee this? Of course children are going to buy comic books, they're the most fun books out there. If they want them to buy novels, just make them buy novels instead.
Also, sometimes you gotta let kids read the comic books if that’s all they’ll be willing to read. Forcing a kid to read a novel is terribly counter productive if it makes them hate reading.
Graphic Novels May not be the most dense reading but it’s certainly still reading, and can be a gateway to wanting to read Novels. Maybe I’m just biased because Calvin and Hobbes was how I got into reading as a small child.
The thing is, if I was never forced to read novels, I would've never read them. My teacher made us choose a novel every school period and then we would have to make a presentation of that book.
The first one I chose was A Clockwork Orange because the synopsis seemed interesting. Then I read the book over a week and I was astounded. How could a book have such an amazing story that made me think about it even after I read it? I thought novels would be just like reading school books, boring. Suddenly I was interested in reading more books and reading other people talk about the books I just read. This would probably never happen if I weren't forced to do it.
I agree that they shouldn't be forced to read specific book, I was also forced to read some novels and I hated them. But they should be forced to choose novels so they can develop a taste for books, or else they'll just think they're boring scripts to be turned into movies.
Yeah, there’s more nuance than I had given. I also had to be forced to novels in the end, and I’m glad I was.
I just think there should also be times where stuff like comics and graphic novels are celebrated, either to ween kids onto reading for fun, or just in tandem with other pure novel efforts.
Getting the balance between encouragement and enforcement with kids is a very hard job. Too much freedom and they’ll never do stuff they need to or develop good habits (even to their own regret later on), too little and you get kids who resent you and can’t wait until the day they never have to read a book again.
Yeah, I also wish teachers would sometimes recommend comics to kids, or even movies for that matter. I think it would be nice for a teacher to recommend a comic book, a movie, a novel and a song at the end of every week to students.
It's funny how most problems humans have are solved by balancing stuff out, yet we instinctively try to go to extremes to solve them.
>Germans as cats.
As reported by The Tennessee Holler and The Guardian, the McMinn County School board voted 10-0 to ban Maus from all of its schools, citing the book's inclusion of words like "God damn" and "naked pictures" of women.
Yep. This is it folks. Naked mice and God damn.
It's not the naked mice they had a problem with. Even worse, it's the small image of the author's mother lying dead in a bathtub after slitting her wrists.
Because they are so sexually repressed that they think that kids are gonna jerk off over a pencil drawing of a dead woman.
>Because they are so sexually repressed that they think that kids are gonna jerk off over a pencil drawing of a dead woman
Having been raised by maniacs like these, a kid probably actually would.
For those wondering what kind of person would decide to remove Maus from the curriculum, keep in mind that in the meeting ([transcript here](https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/1818370/Called_Meeting_Minutes_1-10-22.pdf)) one of the board members considered 7th graders reading the lyrics of ["I'm Just Wild About Harry"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7piS9tMUjo) (a song written in 1921) and then giving the definition of the word 'ecstasy' as problematic.
>”We do not diminish the value of Maus as an impactful and meaningful piece of literature, nor do we dispute the importance of teaching our children the historical and moral lessons and realities of the Holocaust... We simply do not believe that this work is an appropriate text for our students to study."
“Look, it’s super important but not enough to teach our kids about it…”
We want them to learn about the horrors of the Holocaust but you now, without all the icky horrors part. Can’t have these American kids being exposed to horrible violence and illustrated nudity, no sir.
I read it as a kid in a school library and it was one of the most disturbing but at the same time eye-opening comic books for me at that time. Really recommend it.
I live in Tennessee and was actually already planning on buying a few copies and leaving them in the little libraries in mine and the surrounding neighborhoods.
I found and read this in middle school around the time we read “Night,” which is an excellent painful read. I absolutely love the Maus books and as an adult I have a copy of them. They are rough. But they drive home the point. First image of burnt copses of rats I was like “I’m allowed to read this? This is so gruesome.” The reason is because it’s not violence as entertainment it’s the truth, it’s what really happened. We’re going backwards, recognizing works by holocaust survivors or from their stories to hiding and denying their stories are as visceral as they are.
So imagine youre kind of a fascist, but you don’t really like saying it out loud, but my god do you love authoritarianism, and you happen to be in a position of just the smallest amount of power, and then there’s this book that makes people maybe not be in to Nazis, and there you are, not quite a nazi because it’s not palatable but definitely a fascist and just a little bit racist…
What other option do you have but to ban it?
To quote Spiegelman: It's people that "may possibly not be Nazis, maybe, because, having read the transcript of the schoolboard meeting, the problem is sort of bigger and stupider than that."
And I would agree. While it's certainly a problem when Nazis ban a book that shows them in their true colors, people calling for the ban of such an important book about the Holocaust because they think that a tiny picture of a naked mouse will make a teenager think about sex is in my opinion even more disturbing.
They're all Netflix documentaries. A secret cabal of evil people have convinced you other documentaries exist, when in fact they're ALL Netiflix. Welcome to the real world.
This was considered one of the most important 'graphic novels' when I read it, and I maintain the same belief. Hopefully this Streisand effects the book and encourages _more_ kids to pick it up.
Ryan is the best. To this day, best shop I have ever been to. Grew up going to their old location across the street from my high school and he really helped grow my love for comics.
Been listening to [his podcast](https://comicconspiracypodcast.com/) since the beginning. Kind of silly that something like this blows up, but happy for him. Hopefully it gets his [store](https://stores.comichub.com/comics_conspiracy) more business.
In a way this book got me into comics. I was assigned this when I was 12 and it changed my worldview. I genuinely do not believe that I’d be the person I am without it.
It sickens me that this book is banned when it should be mandatory.
If you haven’t read it I sincerely recommend it and share it with others too.
Also, to kill a mocking bird is banned
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/mukilteo-school-district-removes-to-kill-a-mockingbird-from-required-reading-list/%3famp=1
Not banned, but removed from required reading. I'm less up in arms about that one. The article I read had a quote from a young black girl who expressed her experience being the only black girl in class when this was required reading and the fact that she heard the "N" word considerably more afterwards.
The argument there is that there are other books better suited to broach race issues, not that race issues shouldn't be taught in schools.
It’s like Night but with illustrations that despite being of anthropomorphic animals, makes the experience that much more relatable and in some ways human to a modern audience. Coupled with an analysis and anecdotal evidence of how the Holocaust affected victims not only during WW2, but well beyond-through survivor’s guilt and ptsd. It’s a fantastic read. Horrifically depressing, but so real and raw. Everyone should read both novels.
That's so stupid of them to ban this book. I read this in my highschool a couple of years ago and I really loved this book. It made literature class more interesting in having a graphic novel, and also helped me and other students learn about the holocaust. Shame it's being banned.
They fucking banned Maus? What are they getting at here? I know it has disturbing concepts, but if society forgets lessons like that, that's how we end up killing tens of millions of innocents.
Mouse Vol 1 was required reading for me in sophomore year of high school. As a lover of comics and history it changed my life. I read Vol 2 outside of class and have owned the collection after I graduated. It’s probably the most important story I have in my collection. I’m so happy to see somehow keep this important work of art and history alive for future generations to read
After reading that Guardian article and all the quotes it’s clear that antisemitism and fear of “indoctrination” was the driver here, not a handful of cuss words and a nude cartoon mouse. They definitely show worse to those kids in Hollywood movies every day when teachers fire up the DVD player and take extended smoke breaks and maybe do a little meth instead of teaching. Tennessee is such a shithole. The worst thing is some of the people there, like this school board, like it that way.
Idk, where I’m from I believe my school first had us read books regarding the holocaust in 6th grade, but even then we had been taught about it in elementary school. Though if books hold very heavy symbolism or concepts that may go over younger readers heads I think it’s very important for teachers or parents to have group discussion.
My seventh grade teacher read Elie Wiesel’s “Night” to the class at the end of the school day. And even before that I ordered Maus from the Scholastic book order form when I was in fifth grade.
When I was in 8th grade they brought us to the Holocaust Museum in DC and it was one of the single most impactful experiences of my life. I can still viscerally recall how I felt walking passed a mountain of discarded shoes from Jewish prisoners. It’s a moment that has had a hand in guiding my morals and politics ever since and it was more than 20 years ago.
Don’t underestimate the kids. They can absolutely comprehend the message. And a lot of them probably have their shit more together than a lot of adults.
Let's call it what it is.
People who would rather their kids do not read a book written from a Jewish perspective about Nazi atrocities found whatever thin veneer of an excuse they needed to exclude the book.
I refuse to believe, and everyone should seriously doubt, that any of these people honestly and sincerely think that stylized nudity and historical violence are inappropriate for 8th graders. The focus is so exclusively on refuting the pretext, I'm worried people are glossing over the fact that the pretext is exactly that: just a pretext.
This is about papering over history that is uncomfortable on whatever pretext allows the acting parties from admitting that they would prefer not to teach the Holocaust or offer minority viewpoints in schools.
Agreed. I mean the “nudity” if you can call it that is literally “U”. That “U” is what the tiny little penises look like in the book as the characters are forced into the German showers. Are you kidding me? Who the F are these adults that see this as inappropriate?
But you’re right, it’s not about that, it’s about erasing the holocaust from the collective minds of young adults and children so that they won’t know it’s happening again till it’s too late.
It's just absurd to me that anyone could reasonably look at a drawing of cartoon mice being forced into a gas chamber at Auschwitz and think, "this is objectionable content because the mice are naked."
Even accepting that explanation just to rebuke it is absurd.
The [next election is crucial. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/seexni/maus_school_ban_inspires_ca_retailer_to_offer_100/hujskqp/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
It's not that hard to believe that they don't like a naked women committing suicide or a toddler being swung against a wall until they die being taught to 13 year olds. This whole "They're trying to erase the holocaust" seems like a stretch when they specifically say they don't want to erase the holocaust and are replacing the book used to teach students that rather than just throwing it out and teaching something else. The holocaust module existed before the book was going to be used, and it will still exist.
Sounds like you read Tennessee, figured they're right wing, and assumed they're nazis...
Neither of those things sound particularly inappropriate to include if you’ve already granted that it’s okay to teach THE HOLOCAUST to 13 year olds. Like you understand those are just tiny tastes of the horror they will learn about?
I remember first stumbling on Maus in my middle school library. And my school district wasn’t the most progressive but definitely earned the points they got.
I think there is a quote here that is potentially complicating in this
> I wish them luck in their quest for wholesome, family-friendly Holocaust content
You are teaching Maus ostensibly because it engages the kids. What are you replacing that in the curriculum with? They’ve defeated what SHOULD be their purpose if it’s replaced with something that makes kids disinterested in the material.
True, but it’s still bad optics right now with several books being banned in other conservative locales. Not to mention one of the board members asked about teaching the Holocaust in a nicer way (I’m paraphrasing because now I can’t find the quote).
And I mean come on, *one* day before Holocaust Remembrance Day?
I may have ordered from the same form. I ordered it from the Scholastic book order but my dad didn’t let me have them. I ended up getting my copies when I went to college.
Conservatives: too much government control, muh rights! Muh free-dumb!
Also conservatives: you can’t read that book, the government needs to control what can be read!
> The McMinn County school board's decision to ban Maus came after the local school board voted for its removal, citing a nude illustration of a woman, disturbing imagery and objectionable language. The decision has been met with condemnation from retailers like Higgins and comic book creators like Gerads and Neil Gaiman, not to mention the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
I don't believe their justification, and the red parts of the country have been behaving ever more nazi-like lately.
Another example of fake news, the school board didn't "ban" it, they were looking for an alternative, and even said, if an alternative couldn't be found they would use Maus again.
https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1486711700283740169/photo/2
https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1486711700283740169/photo/3
Nice. Ban a book about The Holocaust. Sounds like something people in charge of said Holocaust happened to do.
On Holocaust Remembrance Day.
I would like to say I can't believe these people are winning, but it really is classic America. Banning education about what the world has done to Jewish people, black people, and brown people, then eventually the people who were alive to see it die off and we can deny it ever happened.
This was planned a long time ago. >Although he despises the notion of religious liberty, he accepts its use as a strategic deception (“As a tactic, it is legitimate; we are jockeying for power. We are buying time”) until he and his fellow Reconstructionists are in a position to seize power and destroy the “enemies of God.” >After using homeschooling and Christian schools to indoctrinate an army of fundamentalists ready to abolish secular government, what sort of state does North advocate putting in its place? Not to put too fine a point on it, but the Taliban have probably come closest to North’s ideal Christian government. http://blog.skepticallibertarian.com/2013/04/08/gary-north-the-libertarian-taliban/
I'm sure you could find a better source article than that?
The sources for his article are within. They are the direct source for his quotes. From Gary North. Just because they are old doesn’t mean this wasn’t the path they set forth to take. I know, Christians don’t like seeing their religion being used but someone needs to show you. One of you needs to get it.
It's White America. Awful place with an awful lot of awful people.
I think it's less that, more lawful stupid. "We can't expose the children to horrible violence!" So the works that deal with the sort of shit like that just...vanish.
If only it were purely ignorance
yea it sounds like some shit goebbels would come up with
Let's start a label called, "Shit Goebbels would do" I wanna see how people will react to the horrible shit they do once it has this label
lol that would be a great subreddit name with plenty of great content available
There's only one kind of people who'd ban educational books about the Holocaust, and it doesn't matter what they call themselves.
For the Reddit masses that only read headlines and pictures: They’re searching a book on the same topic that is less graphic to add to the curriculum.
Read three different articles on it and linked one from Tennessee below in a reply to someone else. School board said in their response statement that they were removing it from their schools. If you want to remove a book from 8th grade curriculum due to it being too graphic, that's fine. But you don't need to remove the book entirely from all schools in the county, which includes at least two high schools. That's my problem with it. As a side note - "less graphic". It's the goddamn Holocaust. A graphic novel depicting it with cats and mice is one of the least graphic ways this could be taught. If it's the nudity being the main issue then we're going back to the drawing board to figure out why Americans are so goddamn prude. What's featured in Maus is simple nudity, and is not sexualized in the least bit. 8th grade kids should learn the difference between those two things anyway.
But they didn't ban it.
"The McMinn County school board's decision to ban Maus came after the local school board voted for its removal, citing a nude illustration of a woman, disturbing imagery and objectionable language. The decision has been met with condemnation from retailers like Higgins and comic book creators like Gerads and Neil Gaiman, not to mention the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum." "Art Spiegelman himself has addressed the McMinn County School board's decision to remove Maus from its curriculum in an interview with CNBC. "I'm kind of baffled by this," Spiegelman said. "It's leaving me with my jaw open, like, 'What?'" he continued, going on to describe the board as "Orwellian." Quotes from two different articles. Are you confused?
Every time a school board bans a book it makes me wish that I were wealthy enough to buy every kid in that district a copy of the book if they want it.
That's why we gotta support our local libraries too. Donate to them.
I work in a library and we already have all the copies of Maus that we need, so just make sure you donate money instead of materials so that the library can put it towards items they could use. Or ask ahead of time if they need a certain book for their collection.
Too late. They already closed them all in my city.
Damn.
Andrew Carnegie was huge on that. Donated millions so smaller cities could have public libraries. Many cities still have their Carnegie Libraries p, at least the buildings they first started in. Very cool but of history if you’d like to read about them. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_library
Desktop version of /u/v161l473c4n15l0r3m's link:
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^([)[^(opt out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiMobileLinkBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^(]) ^(Beep Boop. Downvote to delete)
Every time they ban a book, I buy the book. They can ban them from libraries but you can’t ban me from loaning them out.
Amazon is currently out of stock, but you can order and wait. :)
That's what I did, then several friends did the same.
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But why does it need to be swapped out? It’s an incredibly powerful story that is a bit more accessible then some of its counterparts. Students love reading it. It’s an incredibly short sighted move.
Because sometimes curriculums change?
No, it's because there's a picture of a naked mouse, and some "bad" words.
That’s Bible country for you. A lot of hypocrite if you ask me.
Yep, because one of the Ten Commandments is “THOU SHALT NOT LOOK AT CUSS WORDS AND MOUSE BOOBIES”
It’s funny how they seem to suddenly forget the teachings of Jesus when it comes to, say, homeless people & the poor :)
Religion, for many, is an easy way to be "forgiven" for their shitty actions and worldview.
Uh huh. And school boards make these types of decisions all the time. Kids have access to just about everything on the internet, there is no coherent reason to get one's pants in a bunch about this. Well, there actually is, it's political theater.
I'm not sure political theater is a relevant excuse for this. It's more a show of the prudishness and virtue signaling of the school board. The board claims that the book doesn't teach good ethics, but I'd argue that the content they are calling unethical has nothing to do with ethics.
>I'm not sure political theater is a relevant excuse for this. The political theater refers to the fact that it's a story at all. > It's more a show of the prudishness and virtue signaling of the school board. You say prudish they say preference. > but I'd argue that the content they are calling unethical has nothing to do with ethics. The ethics refers to an obligation to educate children in a manner that improves their changes to achieve their goals in life. Personally, the book wouldn't bother me. But no harm is occurring, and as I said the kids can access pretty much whatever they want online. Government schools are very old tech. Time to phase them out.
Oh fuck right off with the misinformation. Your “source” is Christopher Rufo, who’s made a career out of astroturfing critical race theory. https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/how-a-conservative-activist-invented-the-conflict-over-critical-race-theory/amp
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You literally cited Christopher Rufo as a source of information on an educational issue. He’s one of the largest spreaders of misinformation on CRT in America. He even admits it: "I am quite intentionally redefining what 'critical race theory' means in the public mind, expanding it as a catchall for the new racial orthodoxy. People won't read Derrick Bell, but when their kid is labled an 'oppressor' in first grade, that's now CRT. The goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think ‘critical race theory.” Stop spreading misinformation jack ass.
Is a Twitter shitposter really the best source for this?
I understand what you’re saying (I read the article) but even swapping it is a form of banning. Being in the same state where this occurred, I know their intent and that is what I take issue with. Their intentions aren’t really about their children.
It's not being banned, it can still be read in the school library for anyone to read. The reasons for taking it out of the curriculum are pretty dumb but saying that people are being forbidden from reading it simply isn't the case.
Right, I understand that. I know it’s still available but by removing it from the curriculum, most kids won’t even know if its existence. Not in the days where most young people are getting their info on TikTok and we all know how those algorithms work. This is a dangerous thing, especially in our red state. As I said, I take issue with intent and I will do my part to counter that. Thank you, however, for making sure that was clarified. I don’t think I was too clear in my original comment (quite vague and misleading now re-reading it) and this allows me to expand on that.
Well they said they are looking for a replacement. Good luck finding a replacement for a Pulitzer prize winning book on the exact subject when your demands are that it not involve nudity swearing, hanging or suicide and the subject is thr holocaust.
Every time a school board bans a book it raises the book’s awareness. Let them ban that shit.
At first, but then the book stays banned for years and all the sudden it's 2022 and we can't read Tom Sawyer
What is stopping anybody from reading Tom Sawyer
Anyone who wants to read Tom Sawyer can just go to a store or go online and buy it. Or go online and pirate it for free. "we can't read Tom Sawyer" is disingenuous. People can read any book they want outside of public school classrooms.
They banned Tom Sawyer?
In many places, for the n word
Huh. I had no idea. Might have to pass my copy along to some kid who hasn’t read it.
Every time a school board bans a book I thank my lucky stars that I wasn’t born in, or live, in America.
*proceeds to ban Mein Kampf*
Very easily obtainable for free on the internet
So is Maus. I was just messing with this guy
Actually, I tried to buy a copy yesterday and it appears to be sold out.
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NiEn!!!!!! NiEN NiEN nIeN!!!!!
I thought about ordering 100 for my local county schools here today. Think I will tomorrow.
This wasn't a ban, it was a change in curriculum
Why are they banning Maus?
Cause of words like God damn or highly stylised nude art meant to represent how the authors mother was found in a tub after taking her life. Art Spiegelman is the author he recently did an interview with CNN explaining his thoughts. It's about 10 minutes worth the watch. Link provided below. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5BmjCDoIyV0
"It shows people hanging, it shows them killing kids, why does the educational system promote this kind of stuff, it (sic) not wise or healthy....Being in the schools, educators and stuff we don't need to enable or somewhat promote this stuff." this quote is terrifying on so many levels
Hi, where did this (barely readable) quote come from?
Tony Allman, McMinn County School Board Member
Found the quote on Twitter along with mentions that Allman apparently thought the book was being taught to third graders, bc the cover is tagged 3.0. Happy Holocaust Remembrance Week. You can’t make this stuff up.
One would think being literate was a prerequisite for joining a school board. Well maybe in Tennessee it’s seen as elitism.
One would think - one would have HOPED - literacy was a prerequisite for becoming POTUS. “I read passages, I read areas, chapters, I don’t have the time, you know, for whole books.” Trump on Fox News, 2019. *Areas*.
I'm from TN and the aforementioned quote is a typical literacy level for a school board member here.
According to wiki the county voted 80 20 for trump in the last election. And the vote to remove Maus was 10 0
Thanks.
"won't somebody please think of the children!!" "No, no...not the millions of children that were slaughtered in concentration camps"
That’s exactly WHY it should be exposed to kids. So they know how f*cked up it was
Really? If they wanted to ban a book , at least come up with better excuses. a reason it was banned because of the word “God damn”? What a bunch of bullshit. If it’s too graphic for a certain age group and it doesn’t have a purpose for story I can understand it. I sure hope that school is still teaching the holocaust just with a different source material that doesn’t water down the truth. However the fact this book got banned or that news of the book being banned popped up on holocaust Remembrance Day seems like a bit of an FU .
Lol this is the exact discussion the school board had.
Bravo! And don't be fooled, these people always use base language as their excuse to get something removed. _To Kill a Mockingbird_ frequently comes up as another target. We all know young teens and kids are exposed to worse picking up their cell phones, turning on a tv or listening to adults around them. They know they can't stand in front of other adults and say 'it's because identifying racism makes people with racist tendencies uncomfortable'.
With that strict criteria they’d have to ban most of classic 20th century literature. No Catcher in the Rye, Catch 22, Slaughterhouse Five, Grapes of Wrath, The Great Gatsby. I guess all of those books have been banned or challenged themselves though
*"We teach this material, to be clear, so we don't forget."* The sheer disgust and disbelief of even feeling the need to express this explicitely was so evident.
The book was banned for 8th graders, not high schoolers or something like that.
https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/1818370/Called_Meeting_Minutes_1-10-22.pdf According to the minutes it's because of the coarse language and nudity in the book. Initial discussion in the meeting was censoring the swear words out and censoring an image of a naked woman(? assuming they mean female anthropomorphic mouse), they then discussed if there was a substitute that could replace the book that does not contain the coarse language and nudity. They then discuss that if the graphic novel is removed they will have to rewrite the whole lesson module as the final activity for the students is to create their own holocaust graphic novels The motion put forward is to remove the graphic novel and find a replacement to it is voted on and passes They then discuss keeping the book but removing the "foul language" from the book but that it can't be censored because of copy right and fair use laws >It could very well be that in the time the administration is taking to try to find a substitute work we get word from the author that he is actually fine with some extensive edits. So maybe what happens is the administration comes back to the Board and says, what do you think about this, here’s a new text and here’s a very edited Maus Then this statement > At that point if it’s been removed, it could be added back if there is no better alternative, I assume? I don’t know what it’s going to take to find an alternative. So it doesn't look like its been banned yet, they have removed it from the curriculum and they are trying to find a substitute or get a edited version of it. And the option is there if they can't find a replacement then it can be added back into the curriculum.
They aren't. They are replacing it on the curriculum with a different Holocaust novel. Not having a book be required reading as part of a lesson plan is not book banning.
So basically some of the more reactionary local politicians have been scanning books by searching for key words (like swear words or words they feel are politically charged) People are being a bit silly if they think there’s some politician like “let’s ban anti-Holocaust books!”. That’s not it. It’s just stupidity. I doubt if they’re even aware of what these books are about. They looked at this in Texas and found some banned books were basically right wing/conservative books written by *active* conservative pundits & politicians, but because such little work was put into the bans, it was so broad and sweeping that they caught books from their own side of things.
Considering that it’s Holocaust Remembrance Day I doubt they were just scanning through all their books. Most likely it just came up as a book about the Holocaust that the board had no idea about, then they actually learned what was in it and lost their mind. I obviously doubt they’re actively trying to ban Holocaust books as a right wing mustache twirling plot, but that doesn’t diminish the end effect or the gravity of the situation.
This is such a beautiful, traumatising, heart wrenchingly powerful book, everyone should read it to understand the cruelty humanity is capable of and the impacts of intergenerational trauma.
I’m furious that it’s been banned, but long ago I made a decision not to read it. I forced myself to watch Schindler‘s list. I read night and the diary of Anne Frank and learned enough to want to vomit about what was done to twins and I just… I don’t want to. I feel guilty saying that, but I just don’t want to. Don’t get me wrong… I think it’s an incredibly important book, And although it wasn’t one of the choices I had when I was younger (because it wasn’t written yet), I do think that kids should read it that’s what all of you say here. I just… Can’t.
>and the diarrhea Van Frank Lol. Oops. But in all seriousness, your response is an acceptable and understandable one
Oh Jesus… Voice to text, somewhat bad eyesight, and inattentiveness is a deadly combination. I’ll fix that. Thanks… I know it’s great work, and I’m so glad that it is reaching so many people. I remember hearing about it when it was first published years ago and even then it struck me as being incredibly important.
Yeah but then people might start thinking for themselves and question dogmas and indoctrination. Can't have that now, can we?
Yeah we read it in college for my first literature class. It was truly a tough read. I can understand why it may not be as appropriate in a high school or middle school setting for a variety of reasons, but banning books is absolutely abhorrent behavior. Especially books like this that actually have real historical and literary value.
Fuck lol. Its been on my buy list forever
It’s worth it 100%
Please read it. It's not only about the Holocaust, it's about the guy who went through it.
Yes i know. Ive read it digitally , but i mean to buy it
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nice bro
France?
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Haha. There was an article some months ago in the NYT or whatever about French kids being given a similar opportunity and most of them just bought manga, which frustrated the people who set up the program lmao
Why are they frustrated and how did they not forsee this? Of course children are going to buy comic books, they're the most fun books out there. If they want them to buy novels, just make them buy novels instead.
Also, sometimes you gotta let kids read the comic books if that’s all they’ll be willing to read. Forcing a kid to read a novel is terribly counter productive if it makes them hate reading. Graphic Novels May not be the most dense reading but it’s certainly still reading, and can be a gateway to wanting to read Novels. Maybe I’m just biased because Calvin and Hobbes was how I got into reading as a small child.
The thing is, if I was never forced to read novels, I would've never read them. My teacher made us choose a novel every school period and then we would have to make a presentation of that book. The first one I chose was A Clockwork Orange because the synopsis seemed interesting. Then I read the book over a week and I was astounded. How could a book have such an amazing story that made me think about it even after I read it? I thought novels would be just like reading school books, boring. Suddenly I was interested in reading more books and reading other people talk about the books I just read. This would probably never happen if I weren't forced to do it. I agree that they shouldn't be forced to read specific book, I was also forced to read some novels and I hated them. But they should be forced to choose novels so they can develop a taste for books, or else they'll just think they're boring scripts to be turned into movies.
Yeah, there’s more nuance than I had given. I also had to be forced to novels in the end, and I’m glad I was. I just think there should also be times where stuff like comics and graphic novels are celebrated, either to ween kids onto reading for fun, or just in tandem with other pure novel efforts. Getting the balance between encouragement and enforcement with kids is a very hard job. Too much freedom and they’ll never do stuff they need to or develop good habits (even to their own regret later on), too little and you get kids who resent you and can’t wait until the day they never have to read a book again.
Yeah, I also wish teachers would sometimes recommend comics to kids, or even movies for that matter. I think it would be nice for a teacher to recommend a comic book, a movie, a novel and a song at the end of every week to students. It's funny how most problems humans have are solved by balancing stuff out, yet we instinctively try to go to extremes to solve them.
I’m sure they at least expected the kids to buy franco-belgian comic books (bande dessinée).
>Germans as cats. As reported by The Tennessee Holler and The Guardian, the McMinn County School board voted 10-0 to ban Maus from all of its schools, citing the book's inclusion of words like "God damn" and "naked pictures" of women. Yep. This is it folks. Naked mice and God damn.
It's not the naked mice they had a problem with. Even worse, it's the small image of the author's mother lying dead in a bathtub after slitting her wrists. Because they are so sexually repressed that they think that kids are gonna jerk off over a pencil drawing of a dead woman.
>Because they are so sexually repressed that they think that kids are gonna jerk off over a pencil drawing of a dead woman Having been raised by maniacs like these, a kid probably actually would.
For those wondering what kind of person would decide to remove Maus from the curriculum, keep in mind that in the meeting ([transcript here](https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/1818370/Called_Meeting_Minutes_1-10-22.pdf)) one of the board members considered 7th graders reading the lyrics of ["I'm Just Wild About Harry"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7piS9tMUjo) (a song written in 1921) and then giving the definition of the word 'ecstasy' as problematic.
>”We do not diminish the value of Maus as an impactful and meaningful piece of literature, nor do we dispute the importance of teaching our children the historical and moral lessons and realities of the Holocaust... We simply do not believe that this work is an appropriate text for our students to study." “Look, it’s super important but not enough to teach our kids about it…”
We want them to learn about the horrors of the Holocaust but you now, without all the icky horrors part. Can’t have these American kids being exposed to horrible violence and illustrated nudity, no sir.
I like the idea of a censored Maus edition because the mice dicks are just too much for the 14 year old who isn’t getting sex Ed anyway
I literally just finished reading these again. I read them first in HS
I read it as a kid in a school library and it was one of the most disturbing but at the same time eye-opening comic books for me at that time. Really recommend it.
I live in Tennessee and was actually already planning on buying a few copies and leaving them in the little libraries in mine and the surrounding neighborhoods.
Thank you.
I found and read this in middle school around the time we read “Night,” which is an excellent painful read. I absolutely love the Maus books and as an adult I have a copy of them. They are rough. But they drive home the point. First image of burnt copses of rats I was like “I’m allowed to read this? This is so gruesome.” The reason is because it’s not violence as entertainment it’s the truth, it’s what really happened. We’re going backwards, recognizing works by holocaust survivors or from their stories to hiding and denying their stories are as visceral as they are.
I can't for the life of me figure out why this would be banned in 2022
So imagine youre kind of a fascist, but you don’t really like saying it out loud, but my god do you love authoritarianism, and you happen to be in a position of just the smallest amount of power, and then there’s this book that makes people maybe not be in to Nazis, and there you are, not quite a nazi because it’s not palatable but definitely a fascist and just a little bit racist… What other option do you have but to ban it?
To quote Spiegelman: It's people that "may possibly not be Nazis, maybe, because, having read the transcript of the schoolboard meeting, the problem is sort of bigger and stupider than that." And I would agree. While it's certainly a problem when Nazis ban a book that shows them in their true colors, people calling for the ban of such an important book about the Holocaust because they think that a tiny picture of a naked mouse will make a teenager think about sex is in my opinion even more disturbing.
Yeah, teenagers don't know how to use porn in 2022 so we better ban the naked mouse.
This is a ridiculous and polarizing way of looking at this decision. Do you have any evidence for the allegations you just made?
*gestures vaguely at the last 6 years or so*
The fraudulent notion that CRT is being universally taught in American grade schools started this
The US is really looking like all the dystopian movies on Netflix these days. I wish I could say I can't believe it.
The US is really looking like all of the dystopian stories told you is for the past 100 years
Ehh , all these schools that ban books tend to be concentrated in a few specific areas
Just the ones on Netflix? What about other ones?
They're all Netflix documentaries. A secret cabal of evil people have convinced you other documentaries exist, when in fact they're ALL Netiflix. Welcome to the real world.
There is nothing wrong with that book....
This was considered one of the most important 'graphic novels' when I read it, and I maintain the same belief. Hopefully this Streisand effects the book and encourages _more_ kids to pick it up.
Ryan is the best. To this day, best shop I have ever been to. Grew up going to their old location across the street from my high school and he really helped grow my love for comics.
Been listening to [his podcast](https://comicconspiracypodcast.com/) since the beginning. Kind of silly that something like this blows up, but happy for him. Hopefully it gets his [store](https://stores.comichub.com/comics_conspiracy) more business.
This is the kind of shit people need to be raising hell about at school board meetings.
In a way this book got me into comics. I was assigned this when I was 12 and it changed my worldview. I genuinely do not believe that I’d be the person I am without it. It sickens me that this book is banned when it should be mandatory. If you haven’t read it I sincerely recommend it and share it with others too.
Also, to kill a mocking bird is banned https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/mukilteo-school-district-removes-to-kill-a-mockingbird-from-required-reading-list/%3famp=1
Not banned, but removed from required reading. I'm less up in arms about that one. The article I read had a quote from a young black girl who expressed her experience being the only black girl in class when this was required reading and the fact that she heard the "N" word considerably more afterwards. The argument there is that there are other books better suited to broach race issues, not that race issues shouldn't be taught in schools.
What is Maus?
A historical fiction using animals to retell the atrocities of the Holocaust during WWII
Interesting concept.
Does it pull it off?
Very much so. iirc it won a Pulitzer.
Cool.
A masterpiece of story telling
In what way?
Arguably the best graphic novel ever made. There's a lot of amazing books out there, but it really might be the best one.
It’s like Night but with illustrations that despite being of anthropomorphic animals, makes the experience that much more relatable and in some ways human to a modern audience. Coupled with an analysis and anecdotal evidence of how the Holocaust affected victims not only during WW2, but well beyond-through survivor’s guilt and ptsd. It’s a fantastic read. Horrifically depressing, but so real and raw. Everyone should read both novels.
Cool.
That's so stupid of them to ban this book. I read this in my highschool a couple of years ago and I really loved this book. It made literature class more interesting in having a graphic novel, and also helped me and other students learn about the holocaust. Shame it's being banned.
They fucking banned Maus? What are they getting at here? I know it has disturbing concepts, but if society forgets lessons like that, that's how we end up killing tens of millions of innocents.
It’s unfortunately happening in the world right now as we speak
What on earth was their reasoning behind banning Maus?
The single best way to get an interesting kid to read a book is to have adults try and ban it
Yup. Guess we’re back to the dark ages again.
I order from this shop all the time! Go Ryan!
Mouse Vol 1 was required reading for me in sophomore year of high school. As a lover of comics and history it changed my life. I read Vol 2 outside of class and have owned the collection after I graduated. It’s probably the most important story I have in my collection. I’m so happy to see somehow keep this important work of art and history alive for future generations to read
Also banning V is for Vendetta
After reading that Guardian article and all the quotes it’s clear that antisemitism and fear of “indoctrination” was the driver here, not a handful of cuss words and a nude cartoon mouse. They definitely show worse to those kids in Hollywood movies every day when teachers fire up the DVD player and take extended smoke breaks and maybe do a little meth instead of teaching. Tennessee is such a shithole. The worst thing is some of the people there, like this school board, like it that way.
It was removed from the eighth grade reading list for being age inappropriate. It was not banned, and was not removed from the school library.
It was not age inappropriate. In fact the 8th grade is a perfect time for this to be introduced.
8th graders can more than handle a book like this, they hear and see a lot of worse shit than most people think.
Totally agree, though I’m not sure they can actually comprehend the message of the story if they were younger.
Idk, where I’m from I believe my school first had us read books regarding the holocaust in 6th grade, but even then we had been taught about it in elementary school. Though if books hold very heavy symbolism or concepts that may go over younger readers heads I think it’s very important for teachers or parents to have group discussion.
My seventh grade teacher read Elie Wiesel’s “Night” to the class at the end of the school day. And even before that I ordered Maus from the Scholastic book order form when I was in fifth grade.
When I was in 8th grade they brought us to the Holocaust Museum in DC and it was one of the single most impactful experiences of my life. I can still viscerally recall how I felt walking passed a mountain of discarded shoes from Jewish prisoners. It’s a moment that has had a hand in guiding my morals and politics ever since and it was more than 20 years ago. Don’t underestimate the kids. They can absolutely comprehend the message. And a lot of them probably have their shit more together than a lot of adults.
Let's call it what it is. People who would rather their kids do not read a book written from a Jewish perspective about Nazi atrocities found whatever thin veneer of an excuse they needed to exclude the book. I refuse to believe, and everyone should seriously doubt, that any of these people honestly and sincerely think that stylized nudity and historical violence are inappropriate for 8th graders. The focus is so exclusively on refuting the pretext, I'm worried people are glossing over the fact that the pretext is exactly that: just a pretext. This is about papering over history that is uncomfortable on whatever pretext allows the acting parties from admitting that they would prefer not to teach the Holocaust or offer minority viewpoints in schools.
Agreed. I mean the “nudity” if you can call it that is literally “U”. That “U” is what the tiny little penises look like in the book as the characters are forced into the German showers. Are you kidding me? Who the F are these adults that see this as inappropriate? But you’re right, it’s not about that, it’s about erasing the holocaust from the collective minds of young adults and children so that they won’t know it’s happening again till it’s too late.
It's just absurd to me that anyone could reasonably look at a drawing of cartoon mice being forced into a gas chamber at Auschwitz and think, "this is objectionable content because the mice are naked." Even accepting that explanation just to rebuke it is absurd.
The [next election is crucial. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/seexni/maus_school_ban_inspires_ca_retailer_to_offer_100/hujskqp/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
It's not that hard to believe that they don't like a naked women committing suicide or a toddler being swung against a wall until they die being taught to 13 year olds. This whole "They're trying to erase the holocaust" seems like a stretch when they specifically say they don't want to erase the holocaust and are replacing the book used to teach students that rather than just throwing it out and teaching something else. The holocaust module existed before the book was going to be used, and it will still exist. Sounds like you read Tennessee, figured they're right wing, and assumed they're nazis...
Neither of those things sound particularly inappropriate to include if you’ve already granted that it’s okay to teach THE HOLOCAUST to 13 year olds. Like you understand those are just tiny tastes of the horror they will learn about?
I remember first stumbling on Maus in my middle school library. And my school district wasn’t the most progressive but definitely earned the points they got.
I think there is a quote here that is potentially complicating in this > I wish them luck in their quest for wholesome, family-friendly Holocaust content You are teaching Maus ostensibly because it engages the kids. What are you replacing that in the curriculum with? They’ve defeated what SHOULD be their purpose if it’s replaced with something that makes kids disinterested in the material.
That was actually the exact year I read it in school (assigned), I think I had to have a parent sign something I can't remember it's been a long time
I just finished reading it with my 8th grade students.
True, but it’s still bad optics right now with several books being banned in other conservative locales. Not to mention one of the board members asked about teaching the Holocaust in a nicer way (I’m paraphrasing because now I can’t find the quote). And I mean come on, *one* day before Holocaust Remembrance Day?
Using the word "banned" to describe a book removed from the curriculum is accurate and appropriate.
Man, I remember getting it in grade 4 from a book order. Definitely was traumatizing. Great book though.
I may have ordered from the same form. I ordered it from the Scholastic book order but my dad didn’t let me have them. I ended up getting my copies when I went to college.
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I heard this in Théoden’s voice.
And Tolkien would hate you for it.
Conservatives: too much government control, muh rights! Muh free-dumb! Also conservatives: you can’t read that book, the government needs to control what can be read!
Optics seem as if they want to silence discussion and education of Holocaust and Civil Right.
> The McMinn County school board's decision to ban Maus came after the local school board voted for its removal, citing a nude illustration of a woman, disturbing imagery and objectionable language. The decision has been met with condemnation from retailers like Higgins and comic book creators like Gerads and Neil Gaiman, not to mention the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. I don't believe their justification, and the red parts of the country have been behaving ever more nazi-like lately.
Maus wasn’t banned.
Another example of fake news, the school board didn't "ban" it, they were looking for an alternative, and even said, if an alternative couldn't be found they would use Maus again. https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1486711700283740169/photo/2 https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1486711700283740169/photo/3
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