Thanks so much for inviting us. This was insightful and made me think. I especially liked the questions and answers related to what we can do to prevent such banning. In addition to buying (a helpful step, for sure), we can hire teachers and librarians who are widely read and who can defend books because they have read the books and have worked to understand them and teach them creatively.
I kept thinking about the articles I used to show my college lit classes where you argued that "censorship punishes curiosity" and the way the presentation of history as before Columbus and after Columbus helped them see the world in a new way. This is partly the motivation for censorship--allowing people to be curious and to think and explore is scary for those who want a myopic, singular history doctrine. Thanks again!
I will attend. This is one of the most crucial issues of the day. I have many questions, I submitted one when I registered, please consider discussing any of the below:
1) the response of the writing community to the fatwa stabbing of Salman Rushdie on August 12 this summer. The public silence about this horrific event affects everyone.(I submitted when I registered) Is the silence driven by safety concerns for the speaker, safety concern for Rushdie, political implications of appearing to side with one political side or another.
Can you please consider discussing:
2) how do we distinguish between the importance to not ban books vs. the need to address the dangers of not regulating conspiracy theories like q-anon & Fox “news”.
Interpretation of 1st Amendment: it restricts censorship but does not allow yelling "fire" in a theater. Is it possible to distinguish between the two without reference to politics (who decides what is conspiracy, and what is freedom of speech? What decides what constitutes a
*real* “fire in the theater”)
3) how do you keep the reading community informed about the current list of banned books, and about the importance to disseminate banned books? Should we have ongoing information available to the reading community on the current/latest banned books and their literary value according to the literary community?
4) discussion of book bannings is crucial to prevent slipping from a situation where (a) books are banned so that sales go down to (b) PTA's restricting access for kids to important formative books including math books in Florida to (c) zealots rushing on stage in Chataqua, NY and stabbing one of the greatest contemporary writers alive, to (d) imprisoning dissident writers in police states.
5) distinguish the real reasons behind the banning of specific books, rather than the official propaganda-driven justifications (e.g. the propaganda reason for your book being banned was “too much sex for young minds” the actual reason was two-fold: giving an honest portrayal of youth angst and awakening ala “The Catcher in the Rye” and “Rebel without a cause”, as well as the open inconvenient portrayal of the community of Native Americans as integral an part of the American world.
I will attend. I have many questions, I submitted one: to discuss the response of the writing community to the fatwa stabbing of Salman Rushdie on August 12 this summer.
Can I also ask to you discuss how one would distinguish between the need to not ban books and the need to address the dangers of no regulation against q-anon and other conspiracy theory venues.
great. see my very long-winded edit to my comment. Do I have a big mouth? (rhetorical question, I'm old enough to have come to terms with a lot of my flaws)
I don’t know how to do zoom but I wish you would ban Fox and that evil judge fron Georgia. Or whatever and ban DeSantis and Abbott etc from ever opening their mouths.
Enjoyed the Zoom You're looking good. But you never talked about your pivot foot.
Was this event recorded? I sure would like to watch it.
It was recorded but I haven't heard about what they plan to do with it.
Thanks so much for inviting us. This was insightful and made me think. I especially liked the questions and answers related to what we can do to prevent such banning. In addition to buying (a helpful step, for sure), we can hire teachers and librarians who are widely read and who can defend books because they have read the books and have worked to understand them and teach them creatively.
Thank you. I thought it went well. It's hard to know how it's going withouse seeing the audience! Abd yes, supporting teachers is key.
I kept thinking about the articles I used to show my college lit classes where you argued that "censorship punishes curiosity" and the way the presentation of history as before Columbus and after Columbus helped them see the world in a new way. This is partly the motivation for censorship--allowing people to be curious and to think and explore is scary for those who want a myopic, singular history doctrine. Thanks again!
I agree.
Do you have an idea how long this will last? I have it on my calendar but I can't find anywhere an estimate of duration.
I'd guess around an hour.
OK thanks. Really looking forward to this.
Thanks for sharing/promoting; worthy of attention & would otherwise not have known about. On my calendar now & very much hoping to be there!
How interesting! I'm going to Zoom in.
Cool!
I will attend. This is one of the most crucial issues of the day. I have many questions, I submitted one when I registered, please consider discussing any of the below:
1) the response of the writing community to the fatwa stabbing of Salman Rushdie on August 12 this summer. The public silence about this horrific event affects everyone.(I submitted when I registered) Is the silence driven by safety concerns for the speaker, safety concern for Rushdie, political implications of appearing to side with one political side or another.
Can you please consider discussing:
2) how do we distinguish between the importance to not ban books vs. the need to address the dangers of not regulating conspiracy theories like q-anon & Fox “news”.
Interpretation of 1st Amendment: it restricts censorship but does not allow yelling "fire" in a theater. Is it possible to distinguish between the two without reference to politics (who decides what is conspiracy, and what is freedom of speech? What decides what constitutes a
*real* “fire in the theater”)
3) how do you keep the reading community informed about the current list of banned books, and about the importance to disseminate banned books? Should we have ongoing information available to the reading community on the current/latest banned books and their literary value according to the literary community?
4) discussion of book bannings is crucial to prevent slipping from a situation where (a) books are banned so that sales go down to (b) PTA's restricting access for kids to important formative books including math books in Florida to (c) zealots rushing on stage in Chataqua, NY and stabbing one of the greatest contemporary writers alive, to (d) imprisoning dissident writers in police states.
5) distinguish the real reasons behind the banning of specific books, rather than the official propaganda-driven justifications (e.g. the propaganda reason for your book being banned was “too much sex for young minds” the actual reason was two-fold: giving an honest portrayal of youth angst and awakening ala “The Catcher in the Rye” and “Rebel without a cause”, as well as the open inconvenient portrayal of the community of Native Americans as integral an part of the American world.
I will attend. I have many questions, I submitted one: to discuss the response of the writing community to the fatwa stabbing of Salman Rushdie on August 12 this summer.
Can I also ask to you discuss how one would distinguish between the need to not ban books and the need to address the dangers of no regulation against q-anon and other conspiracy theory venues.
We'll be talking about those topics!
great. see my very long-winded edit to my comment. Do I have a big mouth? (rhetorical question, I'm old enough to have come to terms with a lot of my flaws)
I don’t know how to do zoom but I wish you would ban Fox and that evil judge fron Georgia. Or whatever and ban DeSantis and Abbott etc from ever opening their mouths.
Hahahaha.